Master Study Fails and Get back up agains...
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WARNING!: the fail level might be too graphic for tender-hearted perfectionists.
So I want to be able to do comic art in addition to children's lit. I have yet to figure out how to achieve the look I want. I really love Ron Kosa's style and would love to emulate it, so I did a master copy. First one ever done digitally.
Oh boy...
It is pretty pathetic. I thought I was a pretty good artist when it comes to anatomy and line work. I have a lot to learn from Mr. Kosa. His economy of line is amazing and I could not capture it. His lines are graceful. Mine are... well, less than graceful. As far as colorizing...I kinda gave up and didn't finish. I realized too late that the background layer should have been done last. I had to basically give up on this one because when I did a multiply layer to preserve the drawing, it made all the colors darker when I tried to capture the color of the original. I also have NO IDEA whatsoever as to the brushes he uses to get the watercolor/gouache look he does.
Any thoughts? My watercolor brush doesn't cut it.
Mine looks like Picasso got drunk and drew a comic book with Matisse.
He did his on ProCreate and I did mine on Autodesk Sketchbook. I am guessing I might need to redraw this in Photoshop.
Questions:IN Photoshop...
What brushes would you suggest?
What order would you do this?
How would you get the gradient in the background? -
How many attempts have you done to do a master copy?
instagram and twitter: @artofaleksey
alekseyillustration.com -
Love that you shared this. Learning mode is beautiful at all stages. Thank you!
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@Aleksey It was my very first attempt. I shared it to make everyone feel better about themselves
NOw that I think about it, I don't think I ever really tried traditionally. So my very first one. -
Do you have the CC subscription? The reason being is Kyle's brushes now come with it, and his water color brushes are the best I've ever seen/used (at least so far).
I'm wondering if he used smoothing pens for some of the sweeping things like the tail on the iPad - Procreate has some built in smooth inking brushes that you might not be able to replicate without doing a lot of shorter, quicker lines.
The gradient in procreate would be pretty easy because you'd just need to lay down some quick splotches of color, then use the smudger. Frankly the smudge tool in procreate is better than any other program by lightyears.
Was the reason you did it in sketchbook is because you were doing it on the ipad? Just curious if this was the iOS version or the desktop version.
** Edit - after looking at it, I bet you he's getting that watercolor/gouache look solely based on the smudge tool.
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@chrisaakins im gonna do master studies too in 2020 after all these other fun assignments are done. Im going to collect a few pieces from the same artist and ONLY DO the line work. Try to figure out how they do it.
Then ONLY DO the colors, figuring out how they chose them what works with what, maybe i don’t actually like their colors?
Then ONLY DO composition studies in values
And do each one quick, if you think you messed up dont massage it, just start over. Remember you’re not trying to make it look good, you’re trying to learn how the artist makes decisions. No one needs to see this this is for your own benefit.
By doing it traditionally you force yourself to only focus on those individual parts and prevent yourself from using the undo button.
ALSO because you limit yourself to the tool, paper, and the goal, you learn it a lot faster and you can then apply it to your digital art after you figure it out.
(This is my plan for the approach)
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@jdubz Could you describe a little more of what you mean by using Procreate's smudge tool to emulate watercolor? I use Procreate and have yet to find any watercolor brushes for it that come close to traditional watercolor and would love to be able to get a better watercolor effect in Procreate.
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It kinda looks like they chose a gray and then a blend mode (my guess is “color” or “multiply” in a layer. And perhaps lowered the opacity. It looks like an airbrush was used to paint it but I could be wrong.
I usually try using the gauche brush to simulate a watercolor texture.
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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.
Website http://www.judyelizabethwilson.com/
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/judyelizabethart/
Sharing positivity through art.
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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 it’s 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 (it’s 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 you’re 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.
