Tips on Edge control and focal points
-
In yesterday's 3PP podcast, I was listening hard when the guys were talking about some of the qualities that separate amateur and professional work. (My ears really perked up when @Lee-White talked about the red flag of compositions that rely on reflections in eyes and mirrors. I totally tried that on 2 pieces this year. oops.)
Anyway, I feel like edge control is something I need some deliberate practice with. Does anyone recall seeing that topic addressed clearly in one of the classes, or do you know of an exercise that might help me pay more attention to that? Working within a selection was a lightbulb moment for me in Will's 10 step digital painting class, but I'd like to study more. I'd love to hear anyone's insights on this.
-
@Valerie-Light I haven't gone through enough courses yet to direct you to a good one for this, but I have done a helpful exercise for it. Take a photo that has a limited focus, so some or a bunch of the background is extremely blurry, and copy it. It's kind of tedious, but you only have to do it once or twice. It really gave me an aha! moment about just how out-of-focus you can go, and practical experience with how it feels to paint/draw that way. It kind of gave me permission to do it, too. Makes it easier to apply to artwork. Once you've gone as blurry as you can go, it's a lot easier and pretty fun to play with the spectrum of focus in an image. Hope that helps!
-
@MarksByMallory This sounds like exactly what I need to do! Thank you so much for your answer!
-
@Valerie-Light You're welcome! Hope it helps. Let me know, I'd love to see what you come up with! Always inspiring to see how others work through stuff I'm working on, lol
