Drawing with computers 101

[nym_wibbly]

Pencil and paper is way faster. Not all that much of a technical learning curve when you use a 4B and a sheet of A4. Photoshop doesn't get any easier with each 'improvement', and I couldn't get my head around Illustrator/vector at all. Couldn't even persuade it to let me make a mark on a document to create a simple square. Hey ho. Looks like I can, if I so desire, still slavishly copy the light bits and the dark bits from a head and shoulders photo, and get a likeness. I can do hands, too, for some reason, but not the bits in between.



Like playing with my fannish Sims, it's a great way to unhook my conscious brain and let it make fanfic while I'm focused 100% on a character. So there's that for taking 20x as long doing it on the Surface vs doing it on paper. Also, layers. I could get to like doing each stage in separate layers, once I figure out how to stop them trashing each other's opacity. Deleting half an hour's worth of mistakes without using an eraser or putting the bits I got right in danger... yep, I could get to like that.

Also, Emilie de Ravin is bloody gorgeous. I never really thought about it before, but then I never spent hours staring at her face before, or separating her eyes into their component light and shade.

I might have a go at finishing this tomorrow. It wasn't meant to be so wishy-washy (that opacity thing). The layer filling in her hair and the deeper shadow is misbehaving in ways I don't understand!

Comments

[luthien]

Looking good! And not just because your subject matter is bloody gorgeous. :)

[extryn]

Nope, you don't get to be modest about this! I've tried copying photos before and it is not some easy, talentless process. It takes serious artistic talent to actually capture and delineate those dark/light boundaries, and turn them into binary on/off brushstrokes. It is not a talent that I possess. It looks incredible - and I love the pensive calmness you gave Belle's expression.

[nym_wibbly]

Aww, thank you! I don't think it's talentless, just... there's this glass ceiling that I can never break through, no matter how much I practice, what lessons I take. I can't visualise in images; I can only copy what I see. With writing, I feel like if I keep working at it, I'll keep improving indefinitely. My drawing's been the same since I was 18. I think doing it on the computer may help a bit, though, or at least enable me to develop a 'style' I can call my own. Loving working with layers.