Artz! I does them! (WIP post)

[shadesofmauve]

I was inspired by Charlie Bowater's tutorial/watch-me-paint thing floating around Tumblr, and a skin tone bit that evilsherbear posted. That, combined with a slight decrease in my stress-level, were just what I needed to pull out the art I abandoned months ago -- and change how I was working on it completely.

It's much, much easier, now.

The tutorials hit that perfect sweet stuff of "Enough new things to try without being overwhelming," and lead direction to a big realization (which, like many epiphanies it left me feeling slightly dumb) -- namely, that if I attempt to paint digitally more like I paint in, well, PAINT, I won't be trying to learn as many new things at once and it'll be much more natural, therefore I'll be better at it. I'm not sure now why I didn't start off that way -- maybe because I thought I'd be frustrated trying to make pixels behave like paint and that I should use the media to it's strengths or something -- but ah well. I was also terrified of opening the rabbit hole that is photoshop brushes, sure it'd be way too complex for me, and I was sick of managing all of my oh-shit-I'm-afraid-I'll-ruin-it-layers.

So I collapsed those damn layers. And I stuck with one brush -- but a much more natural one. And I made a skin tone chart (well, borrowed one for Joker, made one for Rhi, since she wasn't quite represented).

And, well...


I went from this... (sorry about overly saturated colors; artifact of half-assed jpg export)


To this:



The several month gap also made it much easier to notice things like the fact that I had his arm on backwards. There's still a hell of a lot to do (argh, hands! How do I paint open mouths? Will I be able to fit Marvin the Martian on his sock? etc), but I feel like I'm going somewhere. I'm excited to put the deep shadows back in, but I'm going to wait until I've got a rough background so I don't wander of into the wilds of screwed up lighting. Er, don't wander off more than I usually do, anyway.

And I had a lot of fun doing it!

Comments

[baxaronn.livejournal.com]

aaaah, cuties. <3

I've seen this before - in Boot Camp Thursday, I think? - and I'm really glad you've picked it back up again. And, you know, that you're doing it in a way that makes you happy instead of frustrated! That is important too.

[shadesofmauve]

Yeah, I plastered it all over bootcamp and my own LJ when I was frustrated with it (you may not have seen it here because I put most sketchy and WIP art behind an opt-in filter so people don't get bored/disgusted -- I'm afraid I'll overwhelm people with stuff that looks basically the same or incomprehensible sketches, so I mostly inflict it on the willing and a few arty people I added whether they like it or not).

Hopefully this time around it'll be easier to see actual *progress*!

I'm really pleased with Rhi's expression -- she's such a cute uncivilized 5'10"* killing machine, sometimes. His needs quite a bit of work.

*I dither about whether she's 5'10" or 5'11". I get neurotic about strange things.

[opalgirl28.livejournal.com]

Yay, it's this again! :D It's looking great.

(Also, not directly related, but I've been seeing a lot of Fem!Shep art and I'm so pleased to see that you draw Rhi with the body of a soldier who's in top form instead of the... stick model we get in-game).

[shadesofmauve]

Every time I see waif-Shepard art Rhi's arms get a tiny bit bigger. :P

It's a bit of a sore point. FemShep's arms in game are actually slimmer than mine, and I'm fairly petite and carry all my fat AND muscle from the waist down. My arms are NOT capable of holding and firing a sniper rifle, let alone punching people for a living.

I really want to do more muscular Shep pics, too -- it's fun! Gotta even out that balance a bit!

[opalgirl28.livejournal.com]

Rhi looks *great* ;). Teeny criticism that might change when you add in the shadowing/more detail: right now, she kind of looks like she's got no neck.

Positive: Yay you for not drawing a ~ripped~ Joker. He probably has to keep himself in some degree of shape for various reasons, but he probably wouldn't have a body to match Dude!Shep's.

I'm petite in the sense that I'm short (5'4) and have a pretty compact/sturdy frame--overall, FemShep's limbs are smaller than mine and the recoil from a shotgun would knock me on my ass. I couldn't go round for round with Jimmy (and not just because I don't box).

I have a whole rant brewing about the maleShep model versus the FemShep model (I just need comparison images to really make a point).

[shadesofmauve]

We're height buddies! :P

I've got the 'sturdy peasant' build from the waist down and nothin' at all up top. When I saw someone complaining about femShep having beefy thighs I was all o_O "But she's basically me with more boobs." She needs that leg muscle to pound around in full armor with an arsenal on her back.

Huh. Now I want to draw a slightly more scandalous scene just so I have an excuse to draw leg muscle. :P

I see what you mean about the head/neck/body. I think the outline is correct and shading will 'push' her body back, but I'll play with moving it. And possibly posing my boyfriend. That's always a riot.

I want to de-beef Joker's arm (the one he's not leaning on), and in the sketch it was clear he had a tiny bit of a belly, so I want to make sure I capture that. Anyone who's spent a lot of time on crutches should have some arm definition (and you can work with weights around limits), but I figure there aren't really any good ways for him to work on aerobic fitness while deployed -- swimming pools and elliptical trainers aren't exactly standard on a frigate.

westrider was at my place this weekend and got quite a chuckle out of listening to my plans to debeefcake Joker in his not-quite-cheesecake scene. I started with harsher lines, so pecs'n'all looked much more defined!

EDIT: I totally agree re: Shepard models, but if I rant there I'll be repeating myself, I think. Looking forward to reading it if you make a point-by-point comparison!

[stasia]

Yay! This is great!

... only, isn't his collarbone a bit low?

So, link to the tumblr with the tutorials? *looks hopeful*

Stasia

[shadesofmauve]

Collarbone: Yes, I think you're right! Looks like it needs to go up and out a little. And unlike with the last methods (the scribbling), with this one I can just massage it right into place. So much more forgiving.

Hmm. His arm holding hers looks a bit too beefy. Have to fix that too.

I've lost track of tumblr but bookmarked the originals:

Charlie Bowater on vimeo
Used the brush, and the giant reminder to paint like I paint, basically.

Navate's skin tutorial on deviantArt
Borrowed color swatches as jumping-off point, since I was having trouble choosing tones.

[uglynoodles.livejournal.com]

Progressing well! Let me know if you'd like any critiques. :3

[shadesofmauve]

:)

Hmmm... I'm pretty much always open to crit, and I love scouring others' art-brains. There's a lot I can see that I want to fix, though; I don't want to waste your time. So, basically: if you don't feel it'd be a waste of time if it turns out I've noticed already, crit away! :)

Noticing now, for instance, that his eyes are uneven. What I get for working zoomed in. :P And I know his mouth is wrong, but don't know what to do about it atm.

[sinvraal.livejournal.com]

There's a super useful tool/filter in PS called "Liquify". Have you ever used it? It's a tightly controlled gridwarp effect allows you to make minor adjustments to things. It's a great way to tweak without having to repaint anything.

[shadesofmauve]

I've used it, but I'm not great at using it. I'll keep playing, though!

[virusq.livejournal.com]

<3