Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Digital Painting

Why digital painting? Digital painting allows you to create works in the same expressive way that painting does. I am not suggesting they are the same; however, I would encourage you to give it a try whether you are new to painting or are very proficient in the medium. One of the advantage of digital painting is the low (often free) price of entry. As long as you have a computer, you can use one of many free painting applications. In my experience, digital painting has encouraged many people to explore traditional painting.
There has also been a recent explosion of digital painting using handheld devices such as iPhones/iPod Touches and Nintendo DS gaming systems. Recently The New Yorker magazine featured an illustration painted using an iPhone on its cover. I have numerous links to this below.
Corel Painter is the granddaddy of digital painting applications. It is by far the most powerful and feature rich. It is a true natural media applicaion which is to say that it mimics how the media actually work. You can think of it as a painting simulator is you want. The software mimics the physics of each medium differently. Painting with watercolors is much different from painting with oil paints or acrylics. Plus, the colors of the paints blend in the same manner that real paint does. This in not true of Photoshop. Photoshop is often used for digital painting, but it is not a natural media application. Colors don't blend as real paints do nor do the colors have any of the qualities of natural media.
Painter is available for only $99 to students and faculty. Otherwise it is $399.

Here is a list of links to commercial (cost involved) and free natural media/painting programs that I have compiled over the years. Also included are a number of links to tutorials and related materials. I will try to sort them better as time allows. Have fun!



Commercial NATURAL MEDIA/PAINT applications

Corel Painter 11- THE NATURAL MEDIA/PAINT APPLICATION


AutoDesk Sketch Book Pro

AutoDesk Sketch Book Mobile-for iPod touch and iPhone

Studio Artist 3.5 - Mac only -has some crazy autographing features

Corel Painter Essentials 4 - simplified/limited version of Painter


Free NATURAL MEDIA/PAINT applications

My Paint- available for Linux and PC

Artweaver- Windows only- supports graphic tablets. Seems very similar to Painter

Art Rage 2.5 Starter Edition - very intuitive. A more featured version is available for a reasonable cost.

Pixarra Twisted Brush- Windows only - Free and


Krita-simple paint program available for Linux, Mac, and PC


Smooth Draw - very simple drawing program for Windows only

Painting applications for handheld devices and related articles

Jorge Colombo - he painted the cover illustration for the June 1, 2009 New Yorker on his iPhone

New Yorker article about Jorge's cover illustration featuring a video showing the process of the painting

LA Times article on Ed Velandria who using ArtRage and a tablet PC to paint quick portraits while riding the subway

Software tailored for Manga and Anime-can't vouch for it, don't know much about it

Deleter Software Comic Works
http://www.deleter.jp/eng/cw_english/
http://deleter-mangashop.com/goods.php?lang_id=en&goods_id=45&tsuka_conv=USD


Here is a link to a website of a magazine that I think many of you would like. www.imaginefx.com
Here is a direct link to numerous tutorials that are posted there:
http://www.imaginefx.com/02287754330326480692/workshops.html

Figure drawing techniques
http://mos.futurenet.com/pdf/computerarts/CAP113_tut_bodies.pdf

Collection of 15 of the best ImagineFX tutorials
http://zero2illo.com/2009/04/15-of-the-best-imaginefx-digital-painting-tutorials/


Portfolio with some interesting digital paintings
http://ciaee-art.com/

3D
people, here is a new Google 3D program with a free and commercial version. Supposed to be very easy to use. Haven't tried it yet. http://sketchup.google.com/


Overview of Free Painting Programs

Corel tutorials on the use of Painter
http://www.corel.com/servlet/Satellite/us/en/Content/1171405215200

Tutorial on painting with Photoshop

Nice set of tutorials on painting with Photoshop

Blending colors in Photoshop

More tutorials on painting in Photoshop
http://www.graphicmania.net/10-amazing-photoshop-digital-painting-tutorials/

Corel Painter X/XI Links

Home page of one of the original Painter authors, numerous tutorials on using Painter
http://homepage.mac.com/pixlart/main.htm

Sign up for Corel Painter e-newsletter
http://apps.corel.com/painterx/us/community_newsletter.html

Overview of Painter, includes nice breakdown of different brushes
http://apps.corel.com/painterx/us/essence_new_features.html

Downloadable Training Movies
http://www.corel.com/servlet/Satellite/us/en/Content/1170190221936l

Corel tutorials on clone color
http://www.corel.com/servlet/Satellite/us/en/Content/1171405215200

Use filters to modify brush strokes, Surface Control>Quick Warp
http://www.designertoday.com/Tutorials/Painter/2057/Making.a.Mini.Poster.Corel.Painter.Tutorial.aspx

Numerous Tutorials here at the Designer Today website
http://www.designertoday.com/Tutorials/Painter/4.aspx

Pastel on Black Background
http://www.designertoday.com/Tutorials/Painter/1430/Pastel.on.Black.Background.Freehand.Sketch.Corel.Painter.Tutorial.aspx

Painting a Loose Style Portrait
http://www.designertoday.com/Tutorials/Painter/1826/Painting.a.Loose.Style.Portrait.Corel.Painter.Tutorial.aspx

Creating Abstract Art in Painter
http://www.designertoday.com/Tutorials/Painter/1855/Creating.Abstract.Art.Corel.Painter.Tutorial.aspx

Mixing Paint
http://www.designertoday.com/Tutorials/Painter/1887/Mixing.Colors.Corel.Painter.Tutorial.aspx

Corel Painter e-newsletter
http://apps.corel.com/painterx/us/community_newsletter.html

Watercolor effect
http://apps.corel.com/painterix/training/tutorial_watercolor.html

Impasto effect
http://graphicssoft.about.com/od/painter/ss/impasto.htm

Op Art- possibly use the movement of the image to make flag look moving even when still. Sense of movement symbolic of dynamic nature of humans?
http://www.julianstanczak.net/

Bridge Riley
http://www.webexhibits.org/colorart/riley.html
http://www.mishabittleston.com/artists/bridget_riley/

Digital Painting Links

How to paint an eye - simple tutorial and a simple looking result-nothing fancy
http://www.ehow.com/how_4691734_paint-brown-eyes-photoshop.html

How to paint an eye - involved, but very nice results
http://graphixworld.wordpress.com/2009/06/26/how-to-paint-a-human-eye-tutorial/

Some nice realistic brushes for Photoshop
http://doodle-lee-doo.deviantart.com/art/Real-Brush-Strokes-Set-122699209

How to paint a realistic eye
http://www.artsquared.co.uk/blog/2009/05/how-to-draw-a-realistic-eye/





Pixel Brush - popular site for digital painting


Introduction to painting (fantasy art)



Introductory tutorials


www.pxleyes.com has some good tutorials including this Incredibly detailed tutorial on how to draw a rose in PS
http://www.pxleyes.com/tutorial/photoshop/1467/How-To-Make-A-Digital-Painting-Of-A-Rose-From-Scratch.html

Digital Painting for Beginners PS
http://clepweb.deviantart.com/art/Digital-Painting-for-Beginners-27802774

Nice, long video on Digital Painting for Beginners PS
http://menoob.com/digital-painting/excellent-digital-painting-video-tutorial-for-beginners/

Overview of Painting Process
http://tutorials.epilogue.net/digital-art/advanced-digital-painting-techniques

How to Paint Clouds
http://tutorials.epilogue.net/digital-art/perfect-clouds-in-5-easy-steps

Galleries for the guy who wrote the two previous tutorials
http://www.epilogue.net/cgi/database/art/list.pl?gallery=98
http://www.gorblimey.com/

Overview of elaborate painting-be sure to check out the other postings as they are interesting
http://www.rob-sheridan.com/sketchblog/stepbystep/mascots.html

Wacom tablet Tutorials
How to set up Wacom Intuos 4 for painting with PS
http://johnderryonline.com/Images/Intuos4_Mapping_PS.pdf

How to configure Wacom tablet on a Mac
http://guides.macrumors.com/Setting_Up_A_Wacom_Tablet_Tutorial


ArtRage Tutorials

Nice set of video tutorials, demonstrates paint blending
http://cartoonsnap.blogspot.com/search/label/ArtRage

How to Paint Clouds
http://ruthlessmoons.deviantart.com/art/Artrage-Cloud-tutorial-86563306

Hack a Nintendo DS to Make an Awesome Digital Sketchbook


Colors! - free painting program for Nintendo DS, inexpensive version for iPod/iPhone also available

Conceptart.org - some nice digital paintings here

More tutorials
Downloadable Training Movies (correct link this time) - good content and good production quality
http://www.corel.com/servlet/Satellite/us/en/Content/1170190221936

Super Awesome online color wheel-you can use it to create your color scheme
http://kuler.adobe.com/

Color Harmony- good examples, includes many related links
http://www.websiteoptimization.com/speed/tweak/color-harmony/

Divine Proportion/Golden Ration/Phi information- The Abstract Painter Piet Mondrian was said to have made use of the Golden Ration
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_ratio
http://www.markboulton.co.uk/articles/detail/design_and_the_divine_proportion/
http://goldennumber.net/
http://blogs.princeton.edu/graphicarts/2008/05/divine_proportion.html
http://avid.blogs.com/concept_to_creation/2007/05/divine_proporti.html



1 comment:

Shaniqua said...

Art pad might be worth mentioning as well, however it is more limited. There's play back, saving and sharing, and even selecting a fancy frame for your creation. http://www.art.com/asp/artpad/default.asp