Tuesday, May 26, 2009

CRACKED *IF

Not cracking up yet.

I’m still working out the bugs with digital painting. This is just a zoom in from the “Many Voices” poster. I like some of the qualities of the image, but it needs a bit more polishing. The original sketch is scanned, but most of the digital color is too loose. Currently I’m evaluating whether or not I should draw directly into the computer and am still learning all I can about Corel Painter. Eventually, I do see myself working digitally, but this transition phase feels like it’s putting my back at the beginning. Though, the feeling may not last long.


I would love to get comments from other artists or blog sites about artists who have made this transition or perhaps still prefer to scan sketches but finish a piece digitally.


Hope you all out there had a safe Memorial day.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I still do most of my work on paper, then scan it into the computer and "finish" it in Photoshop. At first I was REALLY uncomfortable with any kind of digital artwork, but now I've found that it lets me experiment a lot more with a picture when I used to be afraid of ruining it with a single brushstroke. My biggest problem is still getting a good scan for a full-color piece, which has moved me more in the direction of doing the b&w parts on paper, then coloring it in digitally...

Anonymous said...

Anne I used to do all my sketching on tracing paper and scan. I have always done my painting digitally in Photoshop. When I got my Cintiq 21 inch I still did my sketching on tracing paper. Just recently I found myself going directly to sketching on my Cintiq. Wow is it easier and less costly.

Do you have a Wacom tablet or a Cintiq?

Roberta said...

It's going to be great! You're talented in any medium you pick up!

I went digital about 9 months ago... I prefer to start with a pencil sketch and do the rest in Photoshop. I'm finding I now do less detailed work with the pencil and add it in later with with my stylus but I'm just not comfortable with doing the whole thing digitally yet... maybe it's a hand/eye coordination thing for me...but I'm practising!

Scott said...

Great illustrations. You have a great style.

I still like to do my drawing on paper with a pencil. I don't think anything will replace that for me. I have had Painter and a Wacom tablet for couple of years. I am trying to develop a consistent style with it. I tend to want to try too many things with it. So far I like using Simple Water, Conte & Charcoal brushes over a scanned pencil drawing. It is still hard to get some of those little touches you can get with traditional media but you can't beat the undo command.

About the Group said...

Thanks for the encouragement everyone! Currently I drawing on tracing paper and scan too. I’ve had my Wacom for 10+ yrs. I’d love to get my hands on a Cintiq. I know I’ll eventually need to upgrade so perhaps at that time I will attempt drawing direct again. I appreciate the comments. At least I feel like I’m moving forward with learning Painter.

Hey Sherry, Were you at the NE SCBWI conference in April? I saw some of your work in the bookshop.

Scott, Just two days ago I was looking at your site and trying to figure out if your sketches were digital.

Small world.