The Painting thread

[odibrom]

Interesting info about pen tablets, thanks.

On mobile I seldom use Autodesk's Sketchbook. It's good enough and exports to PSD format, cool...

 

[neurosis]

I've tried almost all the art software/apps under the sun over the decades, and Photoshop remains the king for its complete set of editing tools and advanced brush engine. Back when it didn't have wet-on-wet brushes, I used Corel Painter a lot, but since then Photoshop caught up in that area. I use Procreate on iPad to teach art classes but for personal work I never touch it, since its brush engine isn't as advanced as Photoshop, and I prefer my 32" 4K screen over a small screen.

I used Wacom for decades, but in the last several years its drivers have been very disappointing, so I moved on to other brands like XP-PEN, Huion, and Xencelabs. The cheaper stuff does work very well even if they're a tier below in price and "luxury feel." Currently Xencelabs is the only real high-end competitor to Wacom and I prefer it over Wacom due to the OLED screen of its Quick Keys remote, allowing me to see exactly what I programmed for my shortcut keys. It's a company formed by ex-Wacom employees.

Awesome info. I have a Huion light table that works really well for duplicating line drawings and laying foundation for paintings. I feel their stuff is reliable.

I'll have to look into Xencelabs. I had no idea they existed. I am still on an Intuos Pro medium format, never use the keys though.

 

[bostjan]

Art was my worst subject in school, but that was before I knew I was colourblind. My youngest son just turned 4 on Tuesday, and I got him some acrylic paints and canvases, since he loves watching art videos on youtube. I'm blown away at how he's done right out of the gate!

 

[odibrom]

wow... at 4?... nice...

 

[LunatiqueRob]

That's damn good for a 4-yr old.

 

[CanserDYI]

Wow! Thats fantastic! Great job @bostjan 's kid.

 

[nightflameauto]

Art was my worst subject in school, but that was before I knew I was colourblind. My youngest son just turned 4 on Tuesday, and I got him some acrylic paints and canvases, since he loves watching art videos on youtube. I'm blown away at how he's done right out of the gate!

View attachment 105410

The understanding of space here with the way the hills overlap is something I struggled with into my teens. This is seriously impressive.

 

[KnightBrolaire]

I wanted to see how far I could push my rendering ability. Could have pushed the detail in the shirt and some other spots but overall I'm pretty happy with it tbh.

 

[LunatiqueRob]

I wanted to see how far I could push my rendering ability. Could have pushed the detail in the shirt and some other spots but overall I'm pretty happy with it tbh.
View attachment 106633

That's pretty good. Something you might want to try in your next attempt is to vary your brushwork more, which increases the amount of visually interesting elements for the viewer to look at. This includes the textures of your brushwork as well as the direction of your strokes (along the form, against the form), and how visible/distinct the brushstrokes are in various spots.

One of the most valuable things I ever learned from Craig Mullins (back when he was still very active in the Sijun art forum), is why he uses different types of brushwork and varying textures in his work. I asked him about it, and I expected his answer to be about matching brush textures to the surface property of the object being painted, to convey different materials like wood, plastic, metal, flesh, fur, etc. But his answer was a huge surprise. He said entertaining the audience/viewer is a major reason, and I had never thought of it like that. And that is the difference between how a very advanced master thinks and how the rest of us think about how we approach our art. At his level, he was far past the point of worrying about the foundational aspects too much, and his experimentation was aimed at developing the presentation of his work--how it feels for the viewer to look at it, and what they could get out of analyzing his work.

 

[wheresthefbomb]

I've never been much for drawing or painting in the way a lot of you are, but I have found I really enjoy stenciling. Something about thinking in terms of negative space gets my brain all spicy and excited, and figuring how to get the best/cleanest lines is a lot of fun. The most recent on here I cut out of foam core, I tried the same design in posterboard and it had way too much runover. The foam core was nice and stiff, I tacked it in each corner and along the horizontal bar. I try to keep it DIY and use trash, but for certain jobs nothing beats a nice fresh piece of posterboard.

These are newest to oldest. The X100b cab used to be rat fur but I stripped it and hit it with something like 5 coats of chalkboard black. Really pleased with how cleanly these came out. The last one is a Legacy II, I wish I had a better picture of the stencil because it turned out really, really nice. That design started as a ballpoint pen drawing of something I'd seen in a dream of sorts. That Legacy II sat in Heights Guitar in NW Ohio for a few years after I traded it to them, @CanserDYI @sleewell wonder if you ever happened across it

I wish I still had some of the t-shirts I've done, I made a couple really sick designs. Planning to do something similar to the Legacy II on the front of this X100b cab this summer, but in B&w or greyscale. Thinking about white splatters and "black" negative space shapes outlined in white overspray. It's almost warm enough to start painting outside again!

Carvin X100b cab, Alchemical symbol for Earth. One on each side to keep things grounded:


SUNN Beta 410 Grill Cloth, perched on your black metal band's logo:


Legacy II, documented with a potato:

 

[CanserDYI]

Shit I go to Heights Guitars all the time, funny, but no I don't remember that cab. And also funny, I have a HUGE interest in stencilling, as my username here is actually my old Graffiti Moniker and crew name. Stencils are so fucking fun, and LOVE the huge upside down cross.

 

[LunatiqueRob]

These wolves look way too clean/creamy to be wild. They look more like domesticated half-wolves that regularly go to the pet groomer. Photoshop and Corel Painter.

 

[CanserDYI]

View attachment 106788 These wolves look way too clean/creamy to be wild. They look more like domesticated half-wolves that regularly go to the pet groomer. Photoshop and Corel Painter.

wow man, another awesome one. The fur while yes, clean and creamy, it looks like hair, like it looks like you individually drew every hair and that's amazing.

 

[LunatiqueRob]

wow man, another awesome one. The fur while yes, clean and creamy, it looks like hair, like it looks like you individually drew every hair and that's amazing.

Thanks! I used bristle brushes to get the fur look. The bristle marks make it so much easier to paint hair/fur.

 

[KnightBrolaire]

Did a portrait of Shane McConkey for fun.

 

[LunatiqueRob]

Latest portrait. Photoshop and Artstudio Pro.

 

[neurosis]

View attachment 106788 These wolves look way too clean/creamy to be wild. They look more like domesticated half-wolves that regularly go to the pet groomer. Photoshop and Corel Painter.

I actually prefer this to your other paintings. While the others look tighter anymore realistic this one has a very uncanny vibe to it the way the light works and how fuzzy/blurred the overall picture is while still retaining so much detail. It kinda looks like a hallucination. Love it!

 

[LunatiqueRob]

A couple of new portraits:

 

[mikernaut]

I revisited a few previous pieces I had done. Added new backgrounds and made them more a widescreen format to possibly use for Youtube videos. Combination digital painting/photobashing.

 

[LunatiqueRob]

I revisited a few previous pieces I had done. Added new backgrounds and made them more a widescreen format to possibly use for Youtube videos. Combination digital painting/photobashing. View attachment 109660 View attachment 109658 View attachment 109659 View attachment 109657

Nice. I see that we're both musicians working in the entertainment industry as artists.