2/20/13

Flowpacity

Hey All,

It's been a smaller delay this time while I sorted out some gallery work and began to ramp up to the March Modok Madness for 2013.  I've still been drawing a fair amount too, just sluggish to post much of anything up.  To rectify that I'm gonna post up these studies I painted in photoshop. 

Yep, I've become closer and more cordial with Photoshop in the past few years.  There was a time when I wouldn't have dared to render something from scratch (mainly because I like the feel of having some manner of hand drawn or scanned element to play with) for fear that it would look too rigid, and awful.  The passage of time however, has called on me to do Photoshop paints that were quick and pretty... So, I adapted.

Probably the biggest epiphanies came from that first set of Ryan Church paint demos I saw.  Granted he was painting in Painter (not Photoshop) but, his approach to the process was revolutionary for me to look at and implement.  From then on I watched (and rewatched) samples of Seiler, Chiu, Bluhm, Zhu, and countless others just looking at how people paint and digitally.  Picking up habits that worked along the way, and trying new things.

Both of these lines were made with the same brush, using Black.
However, It wasn't until about a week ago that I'd read an online tutorial about resetting the FLOW of a brush as opposed to changing its OPACITY.  I'd always dinked around with opacity settings knew the hot keys right off the top of my head.  But, something new clicked in my brain this time.  I found a new way of approaching my work in photoshop.  By monkeying with the flow settings now I feel like the paints are more lively, flexible and I've had fun incorporating it into my workflow.

  • So manage those layers while trying to keep them at a minimum.
  • You CAN do a whole lot with that basic round brush.
  • It's much easier on your eyes to interface with a workspace that is midtone.
  • Check your values, and remember that you can always add color later.
Will shoot to share more soon!

Hope you dig,
P

3 comments:

Tooninator said...

Love this post, dude. Also, love that you're back at it. Missed ya

Collin David said...

You've probably been asked this a million times, or might address it deep within the blog, but what kind of tablet do you use? I'm looking into one, and would love the opinion of artists I admire!

GOGOPEDRO said...

Tooninator:
Thanks for the support man, I always love to hear from yah.

Collin:
Actually I love to answer questions. Personally I use Wacom tablets though they aren't the most current. I like the Intuous3, quite a bit as it's what i've been using for several years now. Personally I don't think the type of tablet is as important as finding a tablet that fits the way you work. I think having a larger tablet is very helpful in keeping my work loose while working on larger images.

Beyond that I don't know if I could suggest any particular tablet for you. I just suggest that you try out whatever tablets you can and find what you're most comfortable with.

P