Rendering images digitally and finding style.

[AngelinaKizz]

I have been a photorealistic artist pretty much my entire life. I dove into colored pencil in 2015 and fell madly in love with color work. I love the finished look of traditional medium, and I strive for an overall vintage feel to my portraits.

I’ve only been illustrating for a very short amount of time, aside from doodles here and there. I know I have a TON to learn. Right now, I feel one of my major hurdles is rendering my digital images. I like the look of traditional media, and I don’t want things to look too smooth. Im not a fan of the plastic 3D feel that many illustrators use these days… you know the look I’m describing right? I like texture, and I like soft pallets, though my images still tend to end up very bright and colourful. I really dislike the look of overuse of the airbrush, though in my pencil drawings, the colors have to seamlessly blend for photorealism. I’m not striving for a photorealistic illustration, but trying to find balance in how I render digitally. I guess what I really want out of this, is to work digitally but have it look like I worked traditionally. Some texture without being too busy.

Has anyone else progressed from photorealism into illustration? Do you have recommendations on which classes to watch for improving rendering skills? I’ve watched the color and light classes and magic of color. My day job, I’m a hairstylist, so im very well versed in the color wheel and is it all day long. I’ve made mood boards of my inspiration illustrations/illustrators, and I’ve even done practice copies to achieve their feel. I know it’s practice, but I feel like I need more tools to help my practice become more effective.

Here’s 3 pieces I did before I lost the use of my dominant hand, so you can see my typical style. Any thoughts and guidance would be greatly appreciated.

[StudioHannah]

@AngelinaKizz The thing that gives that plastic-y feel in digital art sometimes is 1) using smooth brushes and 2) the techniques one employs with those brushes. Toward the first problem: brushes... if you want a more traditional feel, find brushes that have some texture to them. There are some great ones at J-brush and True Grit, and whatever program you're using should have some built in, too. Toward the second problem: techniques... Once you've used an opaque brush to block out the colors in your piece, render it using those textured brushes, and also use layers to your advantage. Layers are one thing you have in digital art that you don't have in traditional art, so if your piece is lacking texture, sometimes just throwing a textured photograph of some cool paper over it and setting it to Multiply, and making it more transparent, can do a lot. Hope this helps! Digital can be made to look pretty traditional when you use the right techniques!

[AngelinaKizz]

@StudioHannah thanks so much Hannah! I use procreate, and find that the layers tend to trip me up the most. I end up a layer hoarder, and find that that causes its own issues. I’ll definitely look into broadening my brush packs, lately I’ve been using the Derwent pencil as I like the texture it provides. It feels more like I’m using my pencils, just on my iPad. Thanks for your thoughts

[Asyas_illos]

@AngelinaKizz yep same advice here, you gotta get more brushes and just keep experimenting. This made all the difference for me when I made the transition to digital a few years ago.

[StudioHannah]

@AngelinaKizz I adapted into the digital world when I was 16, and layers really confused me for a bit, but they're excellent once you figure out how to incorporate them into your workflow. I use just a handful in any given piece, but being able to use different texture layers or experiment without actually messing with the underlying art is great

[AngelinaKizz]

I went shopping for brushes, and bought the haze long water color brushes, and I can see using these quite heavily. I, getting much closer to results I feel like I’m trying to emulate. Thanks so much for the advice.

Here’s my little doodle, it’s not dynamic, or anything special, I really just wanted to play with brushes.

[Asyas_illos]

@AngelinaKizz good for you! Yes most brush sets are rather cheap I have bought I think four or so sets of brushes but I tend to go back and forth between only a handful of brushes betwixt them.

[Nyrryl Cadiz]

@AngelinaKizz hi! These are beautiful.! I think you already have great rendering skills. I don’t think you need any rendering classes at all. Your work is already amazing.

As for a digital tool that will give you a traditional media look, you can try procreate. It has the best brushes that can mimic traditional media that I’ve come across. But if I’m being honest, I don’t think there’s any digital tool that can really replicate the feel of traditional media yet. My one advice to you might be to stick with traditional.

Btw, you said you made these before you lost your dominant hand. Are you currently an amputee? If you don’t mind me asking.

[AngelinaKizz]

@Nyrryl-Cadiz
Thankyou for the kind compliments on my work.

I’m not an amputee, and the story is a rather long one, but the coles notes…
I had a major injury to my dominant hand right before covid lockdowns. Our lockdowns meant any non essential medical appts were only done over the phone. While my initial injury was addressed in a hospital, I saw the wrong type of dr (a cardiologist… again super long story) and he missed everything and told me it was just a sprain. My injury required surgery, but I was written off and not seen. My injuries now, are irreparable aside from fusing my wrist solidly into one non mobile piece. Because of all of the damage to my hand, I cannot hold a pencil, I can’t rock my wrist back and forth, and too much movement in my fingers causes my wrist to dislocate. So I’m forced to be a lefty now.

[Nyrryl Cadiz]

@AngelinaKizz i’m so sorry to hear that. That must’ve been very hard for you. I hope you’re doing well.

[Larue]

@AngelinaKizz Oh my goodness!! That is a heart wrenching story. So sorry to hear this. Good on you for moving forward and not letting this stop you, you must have a very strong desire to create!