PS Graphics - Starting from scratch

[Vikki]

Some good stuff here.
I never was good at creating original art, unless I was given an assignment.
However, I used to draw all the time, until I got a computer.
Here's something that I started, but quit working on. The interesting thing about this is that, it was done upside down. Meaning, I turned the photo upside down, and worked upside down on the drawing. The technique is from the book "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain" (cool book). I would flip back and forth as I worked on blending and drawing. You can see that the drawing is in different stages of completion. (The photo is of my much younger sister).

[jeaniesa]

WOW!! That's VERY impressive Vikki! Your restoration work is wonderful - and you can DRAW too!!
Jeanie

[DJ Dubovsky]

Vikki
That's fantastic!! Guess that work upside down theory works. Have to check out that book.
DJ

[Lorraine]

Vicki -- that drawing is absolutely beautiful. On my best day with a pencil and paper drawing, I couldn't do that, nevermind on a computer. Thanks for the tip about turning the photo upside down. I'd never heard of that.

Tom -- thanks for your compliments about my submission.

DJ -- Thanks also for your compliments and for your offer to help me learn Photoshop. I'm nowhere near the point that I could ask a question. Right now, I just play around with it, get crazy, and go back to PSP

Kathleen -- Thank you as well. Yes I did make a dollhouse from a kit. It's very small. I didn't electrify it, and it still took me two years to complete.

I'll be back when I can, and hopefully with something I've done in PS.

[Hankster65]

Wow, Vikki, that drawing is awesome! It reminds me of the one you have on your web site of the little girl with the pony tail on top of her head. I downloaded that one some time back and really admire it.

[Vikki]

Thanks everyone. I started out using a computer to draw....(Geoworks) somehow it evolved into photo restoration.
About the book: You would be amazed at the artist you are, if you tried the techniques in this book. The whole theory is that we have preconceived ideas of how things look, which prevents us from drawing what we actually see. You don't need the book to try it, but the book has a lot of before and after examples that are very impressive.

[DJ Dubovsky]

Sounds like the same principal as making squares on a picture and drawing only what you see in each square. For the same reason you stated about having preconcieved ideas about how a face should look for example. It's the same principal when you see children draw and color. Things are solid colors vs shades of light and dark or the eyes will wind up on the top of the forehead. To a child eyes are at the top of a face so that's where they put them. I think we carry these ideas into adult hood unless taught otherwise.
DJ

[Sam]

we have preconceived ideas of how things look, which prevents us from drawing what we actually see

Vikki - that is SO true. I'm sure too that a lot of people get put off drawing at school - because they're not "natural" they think they can't and give up. Whereas in fact with the right teacher, I believe everyone could draw.

But even in art school you don't get taught how to draw any more. I think it's a great shame.

[kathleen]

vikki,

its beautiful. and so is your sister.

[Trish Watson]

Hi!

I'm new here, in fact this is my first post I've tried and I'm not too sure how to post to this gallery, but I'm sure I'll learn.

I have a number of images done in Dabbler and Painter (from scratch.) I don't know if I have any done in Photoshop.

Ah hah!

I suppose I just attach one or more of my files to this post!(??)

Trish

[Trish Watson]

Something went wrong. I'm gonna try again.

I've decided to send Lone Elk. I't is a pastel done in Painter.

I have studied art in school and on my own. This came from an art book from which I studied. They are books with subjects and assignments for you to draw so you can learn. I used to find them useful to draw from when I was working long hours and unable to get out and do studies or attend classes.

Painter allows a more natural feel to doing art. I love the textures possible.

Trish

[Sharon Brunson]

Beautiful, Trish. I love the heavy coat on the elk.

Sharon

[Trish Watson]

Vicki

That book (Drawing on the Right Side...) is wonderful and by the way so are your skills at portraiture. I was thinking the other night while retouching and restoring a damaged eyeball how lessons learned sketching portraits came in handy. Any attempts I've done at portraiture have been a real hit or miss affair. I hold those who create portraits and watercolors in high regard. They are skills I never was able to master. My watercolors never were blessed with the happy accidents of which watercolorists often speak. Funny, you mentioned you used to sketch more before the computer -- me too!

The principles of squares mentioned in one of the other posts is another way to help you stay focused on what's in front of your eyes rather than what's stored in your left brain -- the hemisphere much better at math.

I used the squares method to draw the Lone Elk I submitted. I had not done any drawing for a long time when I did Lone Elk and using the squares method gave me the structure I needed to stay focused appropriately.

The sea picture attached was a study I did from no source other than mental meandering.

Trish

[Trish Watson]

Thanks, Sharon!

Trish

[DJ Dubovsky]

Trish
Your work is absolutely beautiful!!!
The water looks so real with the spots of green showing through the foam. I love the vivid colors of the Elk and surroundings. They both look great. Both are true testiments to your artistic talent.
DJ

[CJ Swartz]

Trish -- Wow!! Your "mental meanderings" add up to a lovely image. I really like the elk image also. Keep making the time to create more images -- whether by hand or on the computer.

[Trish Watson]

Thanks, CJ!

Trish

[Vikki]

Just lovely Trish! I especially like the sky. I just love watercolors. Nice job on the elk too. You certainly have some talent!

For me, using squares is a good idea too. I think I need these type of visual aides as I don't think like a true traditional artist (I'm guessing). I may have too much left brain stuff going on.....one of my other favorite things to dabble in is Access databases - which is a total mind shift.

I'm usually in awe of others artistic talent, and wish I had the "gift", but still, the little bit that I have seems to come in handy once in a while, as you mentioned, for these restorations.

[Trish Watson]

Vikki,

Consider yourself a Renaisance Person (capable of readily utilizing both left and right brain.) I can't help but see significant talent in that portrait of your sister as I'm sure others on this forum would be quick to agree.

While nobody loves well done art more than me. The minimalism of an unfinished sketch is also very refreshing -- the art always is in a state of becoming and conveys only the essence of the subject. I love looking at the sketchbook examples of the great artists. I have many sketches never pushed to full completion and probably never will be. I like them as they are. Your sketch of your sister falls in this category -- it is lovely just as it is.

Trish

[Mike L. Whitten]

Well I'm no artist but I will put one of my digital drawings up for critique or whatever.
Tools used:
Wacom Intuos2 6x8 graphics tablet
Paint Shop Pro
This image is featured in the Paint Shop Pro Users Group Gallery this month.
http://www.pspug.org

[DJ Dubovsky]

Mike
That's really good. I love the eyes. They seem to be staring right through you and almost glowing in their intensity. Very nice work.
DJ

[Mike L. Whitten]

Thanks DJ... for the words of encouragement.
I have a few more of my drawings on my website, nothing special just some doodling.

Thanks again,

[JustChecking]

lovely things here so far (yes, i'll spoil it )

i just bought a tablet today (just graphire3... still, coool ), and still getting used to it...

i'm building a new version of my web, and part of it will be "artsy animals" gallery; so far i had just "filtered" pics of animals for that, so i wanted to add there few of my "paintings"... here's some duck or what it should have been... i don't know already

[dslinger]

I am sometimes called upon to ilustrate or draw in my job...equipped only with a mouse

One of the first projects I worked on here was medical software which needed intricate medical illustrations. Often I would be given a black and white line drawing and asked to make the chambers of the ehart or some such thing.

Actually, that was a lot of fun, and it was neat trying to use Photoshop to make realistic looking 3D objects with the right colors and textures.

So, here's something I've been sitting here doing for about 1/2 hour.

Too much to tell you each step, but I will say, like others here, sometimes it's difficult to draw unless I have a specific assignment. So this time, I envisioned a stucco room, looking out at a night sky and a full moon. Then I just started making different layers and trying to figure out what realistic stucco would look like. It's just a matter of trial and error, really.

How about a drawing challenge? With specific assignments?

Donna

[Punch]

Nice image Donna. The stucco looks pretty good. Very mysterious !

I second the call for a category just for artwork from scratch. Here is a link to another thread on a similar subject: Photoreal techniques?

...Kent

[Punch]

Here is an image I've been working on for a while from Photo-art challenge #22. The challenge is to create a piece which is basically an airbrush painting. Started it with just a mouse in airbrush mode, trying to use masks just like with physical airbrushing. Got an Intuos2 tablet and it works better than my real airbrush [Real one has no undo command]. It's almost painless to create masks also.

I first took the original image and converted it to cmyk to get the black channel which I used for my template. [I've since decided there are better ways] There have been discussions on other forums I go to often whether drawing with a projector was cheating. The consensus was that if you created art with it, it was fine, so I consider having a good reference to paint over is fine.

I just need to finish up the blouse and decide it is done [but I have never been good about quitting on an artwork]

Cheers... Kent

[dslinger]

thanks Punch- of course now I'm looking at it and wondering why I put a big orange up in the sky LOL guess it needs some tweaking. Loving your 'airbrush', great technique on her hair!

Donna

[T Paul]

I like the idea of a drawing challenge...what a great what to improve your drawing skills. I'll start a thread in Doodles Forum. PM me with your ideas for possible subject matters.

~T

[T Paul]

JustChecking,
First time with a graphic tablet…you catch on fast. Very nice graphic image. By the way, I believe your duck is a Tern.

Dslinger,
Very nice stucco room. The wall is very realistic, but the night scene isn't as believable. Still an excellent job for only a ½ of work.

Originally Posted by dslinger

of course now I'm looking at it and wondering why I put a big orange up in the sky LOL guess it needs some tweaking.

Well I wouldn’t call it a big orange (smile), but a little tweaking might help (smile).

Punch,
What a beautiful airbrushed image. I especially like all the warm colors in her hair. As for that undo command, I wish many things in life had it as well (grin).

[Mark Adams]

I was learning to map images to objects and did this for giggles. I used a couple of maps which could have been rendered from scratch, but I realize this may disqualify me from the competition, so NO WAGERING ON THIS ONE! I did it with the Gimp so there may not be much interest, but here is a quick rundown of the steps:

1. Open the earth map I donwloaded from somewhere on the Internet (see below).

2. Map it to a sphere, size the sphere.

3. Ditto with the cloud map. It's an actual cloud map, though I don't see why a similar effect could not be achieved with some basic painting or creative use of a cloud filter. But then, it also looks pretty cool, if way unnatural, without clouds.

4. copy the sphere layer, select the sphere and enlarge it 5 pixels. Fill with white and blur. Shift it toward the light source a bit and reselect the circle (sphere) and cut it out. This creates the "atmosephere" once can see around the Earth from space. You've seen that, right?

5. Create a black layer and scatter some light points across it.

6. Add some small colored dots to represent distant stars. You might want to keep them on a separate layer. I didn't and therefore, I can't control their appearance as I would like to.

7. "Fog" some clouds on a new layer. Adjust the opacity to create that space dust you see in space. You did notice all that dust in space, yes?

8. Add a supernova to represent a nearby star/light source (optional).

There you go. Not very artsy, but WAY GEEK! :-)

Mark