First Smudge

[BitG]

hey guys, I have been reading a lot of the smudging tutorials the last few days; and I finished my first one up tonight.

I was wanting to get some feedback on it, because to me, it looks too real, and doesn't really look like a smudge at all.

Thanks for any feedback..

http://i44.tinypic.com/9vlif4.png

[Kraellin]

i'm not the resident expert on smudge painting, but i'll give ya what i've seen (and done a little of). smudges can be really smooth or really rough, almost like pallete knife art sometimes. mostly around here, though, they tend to be smooth and clean. smudging can be like using a simplifier filter. mostly, smudges are never noisy or grainy, though i'm guessing someone could come up with one that would be the exception. in other words, there isnt a hard line on what is and what isnt a smudge work.

yours is a smudge, especially in the hair. the face was done very lightly, but still mostly qualifies. but, i can see almost no effect on the clothing. have a look at some of palms1's stuff. she's really good at it. and be brave; it's digital

[Sweetlight]

I'm doing good at the rough stuff but I am having a hard time getting the smooth down. Yours is nice.

[BitG]

Yea, I see what youre saying about the clothing... I tried to go in the direction of the clothing, but it seems to have just blurred it out, doesn't really looked painted.

Thanks Sweetlight

[palms1]

BitG
yes it is a smudge, and it has the photo realistic smudge look to it, There will be a day when you want to achieve this look and guess what ? you wont get it , that is the way it goes
Such a lot depends upon the brush, strength, the image ( i think this one was probably too well lit ) and any sharpening that is done at the end ( try adding paint daubs settings 1,4 on this image, and you will see more brush strokes or usm etc ) also warm the image up a bit that helps and finally a painted background will finish it off

the thing is keep practicing, each image that you do, you learn more and gain more confidence, i regularly changed brushes till i found the ones that i was most happiest with.

about your clothing to me i would work out do i

1. try and keep the texture but using a real small brush and doing each bit individual

2. use a high opacity and smooth it all out ( this tends to look more painted )

3. do option 2, and then use the history brush at about 20% opacity to bring some of the texture back in

decisions decisions

keep up the good work

Palms

[BitG]

Awesome! Thank you for the great tips palms! I will keep up with the practicing and use your techniques and show you guys what I come up with!

Thanks again,
Grant

[DannyRaphael]

First of all, wonderful photo. Helps a lot to start with a super pic.

Originally Posted by BitG

to me, it looks too real, and doesn't really look like a smudge at all.

One of the challenges of this style.

What a lot of artists do is keep the main facial features and hair looking fairly realistic, while "arty-ing up" clothes, background, etc., getting away from photo-realistic colors and adding texture where you can get away with it.

Since I don't do smudging myself I am offering this interpretation as "food for thought" on adding texture, colors, giving the BG some personality, etc. so the final result does not look like a photo.

As Palms suggested, practice, practice, practice... will take you down the road to success. Keep up the good work; you definitely are going in the right direction.