Master Study Fails and Get back up agains...
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@chrisaakins How much effort does it take to make a break through in your art? I was thinking of this today. I did an art challenge last week and now started a new project which needs a ton of research, sketchbook work, hard thinking and what feels like starting from scratch again. Keep up your hard work, new attempts, experimenting, it will always take you up to your next new level. When you get up there you'll take a break, admire the view and then be thinking about the next highest branch. So much to explore. Keep going Chris. This exercise is great and moving in the right direction.
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@demotlj Not so much actual watercolor behavior, but more specific to the blending look in the source drawing above. When he said "watercolor/gouache" I'm assuming it's the blending of the colors which does have a bit of a watercolor feel to it (but it's definitely not straight up watercolor).
I'm REALLY looking forward to the procreate 5 update when we might actually see real water color brushes
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Here is take two also in sketchbook. Not feeling PS right now. I did find an inking brush I love. Much better. Still have no idea how to color.
Things that worked :
I liked the lines I got. I am satisfied that I could create the lines he got with enough practice, but I like my linework so no need.
The anatomy is better. I still like the ethereal quality he created.I can't figure out a good textured shadow brush.
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@Judy-Elizabeth-Wilson It took a month or two for me to get really comfortable with my new linework style. It's a sketchy style that allows for fluidity and expression. I feel like that was a major breakthrough. I am a quick study on many things, so I think that is why I am very frustrated with my digital work. If I had done the study in pencil and then in Copic and ink I think I could have nailed it the first time. But dang it the digital pen does not have the same feel as ink on paper. It makes it frustratingly slow for me.
And coloring. Ugh. this is a great opportunity for me to grow. I REALLY wish I could take a few hours with someone over my shoulder teaching me how to properly use the layers and what they can do. I also need to be patient. I feel like I am learning a new language and I sound really stupid when I am used to sounding like I know what I am talking about. How prideful is that??? Ha!
So like I said this is a good lesson for me to learn. Maybe it will help me be a better art teacher to my students.
@Aleksey that sounds like a good plan. I feel like I have a lot of the basics of drawing and composition down but I need to learn the technical aspects of creating digital art. Too bad I don't live in New York. I would love to meet up and trade advice and draw together.
@jdubz I do. I had begun to feel so overwhelmed by it that I thought I would learn a lot of the basic techniques on a simpler program that has many of the same capabilities. I see my students using Procreate with ease. Maybe I should talk my wife into getting a new iPad Pro and then steal it for ProCreate. But I know that I really just need to bite the bullet and learn CC.
Sorry for all the complaining. I really do appreciate everyone listening to me in my struggles!
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@chrisaakins Oh wow! Much improved already! And don't feel bad about your first one not looking right. My first master study was... truly awful, lol
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@Braden-Hallett you should post it. BARE YOUR SOUL!!!
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@chrisaakins procreate has a free artist handbook you can download on ibooks or from their website. I read it itβs great and some things translate over to photoshop. Also Udemy gives you like 75% off on your first online class, I bought a photoshop class (itβs a design class but still) was $12
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I love it! This is encouraging, I've just started doing master studies again and BOY am I rusty!
I kinda wanna do a thread like this of my own, or maybe there could be a community thread for everyone to post theirs in?I think your second take is REALLY close, huge leap there from the first one. Right on!
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@chrisaakins you almost got it. I can see that you need more work on the form but youβre in the right direction.
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@chrisaakins Great improvement! I was going to say, don't be so hard on yourself, it's only the first one, but you whipped out the second try before I could encourage. lol.
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@chrisaakins Just like mine the first one is always a kick to the gut LOL. But with your first one I can see you are headed on the right path. Compare your first to your second. Huge improvement already.
When I was working on mine, I already had some gumroad tutorials from Matt Dixon which really helped me understand the way he colors/paints his pieces. Do you know if your artist has something like that just to catch his process?
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@chrisaakins Your second study is much improved and the line work is really good. If you have trouble with linework in digital try Lazy Nezumi it will plug into photoshop and Autodesk sketchbook and gives very stable line work or you can do the line work traditionally and then scan it and colour it.
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Great job @chrisaakins. Are you utilizing the eraser tool at all in helping with edges and gradients between light and shadow?
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Super improvement. I wish I could learn from my mistakes that quickly!
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@TessaW No??? Is that a thing? Like I use the eraser tool if I bleed into an area I don't mean to, but that is all. Is there another technique?
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@chrisaakins Have you ever done charcoal drawings, where you use a kneaded eraser to get soft highlights and transitions back into the drawing, or use a harder rubber eraser to get sharper details? It's sort of the same concept.
For example, on your master-study's torso- you could have shaded that in, in one solid block, and gone in with a large soft eraser to get that soft gradation from light to shadow. Additionally, you could go into the face with a small hard eraser and erase in some hard edges between the light and shadow. This is of course if you have a separate layer on top of a base.
It's one way of many to work, but it does end up being a pretty efficient process, in my opinion.
Here's a video- starting around 1:40 shows one way to use this:
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@TessaW I know exactly what you are talking about. Great idea!
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@Chip-Valecek I don't think so. He did show his work in a grey scale. I may try that.
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@chrisaakins And one other note- if you do end up using some form of the method, you can use erasers with textures in them to help with style consistency.