Marissa Louise Sketch Dump

frenden: Photoshop doesn’t do well with light pressure...

Thu, 25 Apr 2013 15:43:25 -0400

Photoshop doesn’t do well with light pressure recognition. Making thick-to-thin strokes requires a lot more fidelity than would even be necessary with a proper sable brush and ink in meatspace. It blows out pressure at the low end and makes soft lines blobby as hell.

You can combat this by turning off the lowest pressure settings of your tablet at the driver level, but you shouldn’t have to. I want a brush engine that senses those slight variances and accurately translates them.

It’s possible. Manga Studio, which I’ve used for inking since about 2006, does a stellar job at light pressure translation. Getting feathered strokes that look like they came from my Raphael 8404 #4 sable brush is no harder than inking in the real world. Painter does a pretty good job of this too. At the very least, both allow you to tweak how the brush engine interprets your strokes on a per-brush-setting basis instead of using a sledgehammer on a finishing nail by leaving you with an only recourse of neutering your full range of pressure sensitivity at the driver level.

Photoshop, Illustrator, and Flash all exhibit this problem. I don’t know if it’s an interpolation/smoothing issue or something larger, but I do know that the result is shitty lines.

Since around the time of the Photoshop CS6 Beta, I’ve been attempting to create a brush that combats these shortcomings by dropping out some of the lowest pressure mark-making with a combination of flow and texture settings. The result is a brush that, while not 100% opaque at the lightest marks, provides a hell of a lot more fidelity and control.

This is a quick video of the brush in action. Here is the sales link for this and several other inking tool presets.

Frontiers | Navigating Comics: An Empirical and Theoretical Approach to Strategies of Reading Comic Page Layouts | Frontiers in Cognitive Science

Wed, 24 Apr 2013 11:28:54 -0400

Frontiers | Navigating Comics: An Empirical and Theoretical Approach to Strategies of Reading Comic Page Layouts | Frontiers in Cognitive Science:

Frontiers | Navigating Comics: An Empirical and Theoretical Approach to Strategies of Reading Comic Page Layouts | Frontiers in Cognitive Science publishes articles on the most outstanding discoveries across the research spectrum of Frontiers | Navigating Comics: An Empirical and Theoretical Approach to Strategies of Reading Comic Page Layouts | Cognitive Science.

This is a study of how viewers read spreads. It can be very helpful when you are coloring, laying out or lettering. Understanding how a viewer sees is pretty key to getting your message across clearly. There are some really good examples in here which use confusing layouts to add tension. In particular it is the famous Jim Steranko image of a carnival:

This image is intended to be absorbed all at once. The color controls the tone and the Gestalt. Which is to say when you look at this image things are grouped very abstractly. Reading it in a clear order is difficult with the exception of the final panel. The terminal panel has a different palette than the other panels. Combining the “blockage” technique with the color theory in this creates an really amazing sense of chaos. Here is further reading on that spread http://www.emaki.net/essays/ECS_Supplement.pdf

Go get crazy!

believermag: Ross Simonini interviews the artist, Chuck...

Wed, 24 Apr 2013 10:14:06 -0400

believermag:

Ross Simonini interviews the artist, Chuck Webster on the process of making his painting “No Negative Style” (oil, spray paint and oil on wood panel, “60 X “84, 2013). See the final painting and the in-progress images above. Look at more of Webster’s work at his site and at Dallas Art Fair alongside the work of Forrest Bess and Chris Martin.

THE BELIEVER: The painting you began was radically different than the painting you finished. is this usually how it goes for you?

CHUCK WEBSTER: It’s rare, but in this one I started off with one idea and the idea collapsed. I wanted to blow up a small drawing, which looked strange, as if the painting was trying to own up to something else besides itself. Too fussy. I like to work until the painting has gained a degree of self-knowledge, and tells me something. That one said, “Uhhhh…. not happening.” There are a few messy moves missing in between, but i ended up with the yellow background after a few work sessions and a large amount of reducing, staring, refusing and turning around to the wall. I usually get 75% of what I want initially, and then there a large amount of see above, followed by a final few, brave moves. I often to reject a lot of my favorite stuff because I have so many ideas that I can easily make four paintings in one. the picture always breathes better after I clean out unnecessary “chatter”, and find soemthing that makes sense simply.

BLVR: What do you mean by “self-knowledge”?

CW: The painting is starting to transform from set of raw materials into something else. As I work, references and new ideas will pile up, and ill try new things, like “oh perhaps red”, or “move this line over”, and so on. My goal is to work until the work starts to refer to nothing but itself; whatever easy references there could be fall away. It’s a living, breathing, knowing thing. It’s a combination of known and unknown things, of knowledge and mystery.

BLVR: Do you ever feel regret after you’ve painted over a picture?

CW: Oh yes. It happens all the time.That’s a big test, knowing when to stop. I think that’s partly why I keep a lot of surfaces around, in order to distract myself from destroying something that might be good, but I dont know it yet.

BLVR: So distraction is a good thing for you?

CW: I think so - I like the idea of looking at a picture through a filter, though another kind of narrative. I love to flip through books or play DJ. I often come up with the perfect idea for finishing a picture while walking the dog, going to galleries or watching a movie. There is a place in my brain for a painting flipbook, where the pictures stay and wait for a title or solution.

Attention is a very curious and wonderful phenomena. Near the end of a large picture the others fade and I’ll finish it with a few hours of concentrated attention, where I am thinking, feeling and doing at the same time. The picture has done its job and it exists, separately from me. An exchange of energy has taken place.

batdepression: nezua: thismonkey: likeafieldmouse: Late...

Sun, 21 Apr 2013 19:56:00 -0400

batdepression:

nezua:

thismonkey:

likeafieldmouse:

Late Bloomers of the Arts

For all of you who’ve felt even for a second that it’s ever too late:

1. Charles Bukowski had his first book published when he was 49

2. Leonard Cohen was 33 when his first album was released

3. Marina Abramovic’s career as an independent artist wasn’t solidified until she was 42

4. Julia Child’s career started when she was 36

5. Van Gogh started drawing when he was 27

6. Monet painted Sunrise when he was 33, but wasn’t producing his best work until his early 40s

7. Kazuo Ohno started dancing when he was 27

8. William S. Burroughs had his first novel published when he was 39

That at least takes care of some of that anxiety welled up inside me.

america is so weird with all its rush rush vacuous notions about being superstars by 22. how on earth can taking time to live and cultivate your mind and heart be anything but good for your development? if you put out your best work by 30, then you peaked way too early.

It’s like a huge weight has been lifted of my shoulders.

Sometimes I forget this. But you grow at the rate you grow. And to be fair, making art successfully takes a lot of sacrifice. Sometimes you are not ready for that before you are older. Maybe when you’re 22 you need to focus on paying the rent & getting food because you don’t have wealthy parents. Maybe you want to find a life partner. Maybe, just maybe, you are still a dumb ass. But once you are ready it can still happen. Lots of outsider artists didn’t start until their 40s when they were committed (therefore food and rent were taken care of).

Meg Hunt Process

Sun, 21 Apr 2013 19:14:40 -0400

Meg Hunt Process

Process Post- Marte Gracia

Sun, 21 Apr 2013 16:55:00 -0400

Marte Gracia is a Marvel colorist in Mexico. Marte has a pretty interesting technique to share. Marte works all in photoshop, which is pretty normal for colorists. You can follow Marte on twitter, facebook (where you will find everything here), deviant art and by getting All New XMen and NOVA.

Here is a complete before and after. I really like the precise blue outline. I would love to see how the color hold is set up on this. Or how the printer processed it, the mysteries of printers….

This kind of gives an idea of how Marte imports textures like galaxies and clouds into the background and foreground.

Here is an XMen WIP where you can clearly see the background to foreground progression and layer setup. It’s a very simple layer set up. I’d like to know how that affects the inevitable changes.

You can also see in this WIP how Marte uses varied greys as flats to control the space. This is an old oil painting technique that you may not have learned so I’ve included this lovely video about old school grisaille.

Here is a WIP before and after of an XMen two page spread with lines by Immonen and Von Grawbadger. You can clearly see the process of coloring from the background to the foreground. It is also nice to see how the grey tones translate to colors.

Finally here is some fan art of Teen Age Mutant Ninja Turtles. I think there are some wonderful and interesting choices in here. Certainly a lot more freedom than is available in mainstream comics.

Here is Marte’s brush set up. 100% opacity and 100% flow.

If Marte using only a soft brush, how are all those hard lines coming into existence? I wondered that too. Fortunately for all us fools Marte put up this video. The process is pretty amazing, it’s lasso based. I am miserable with the lasso. I will never use this technique, but it may work for others. There is some pretty cool texture technique at 5:30 and some cool lasso flatting/painting at 11:00 and beyond.

Thanks for letting me share this, Marte!

Here are those old fashioned colors. Note the natural gradients...

Sun, 21 Apr 2013 14:39:30 -0400

Here are those old fashioned colors. Note the natural gradients and printing “errors” that give it “warmth” (aka a human touch/error).

seanhowe:

Comic colors.

Skin Color and Color Zones

Fri, 19 Apr 2013 11:11:03 -0400

Hi y’all, I noticed that the color zones of the face tutorial only works on low melatonin people. I’m going to try to gather a bunch of data and make my own tutorial for other skin colors. If you have any suggestions or observations I’d be really happy to hear them.

Look at this beautiful process gif. Thank you,...

Tue, 16 Apr 2013 22:36:24 -0400

Look at this beautiful process gif. Thank you, Simini!

siminiblocker:

Made a process GIF of the latest piece. Which I’ve always wanted to try but forget to save all the layers. Though watching this now makes the perfectionist in me want to go back a few steps on some areas…

Anyways, my basic process:

1. quick, loose thumbnail

2. Sketch in black in white. Working digital, I like to sketch with values instead of line- really more painting than drawing.

3. Add a layer set on “color” to get a loose idea of color direction. And then probably a “multiply layer to adjust values.

4.Paint!

5. Add a texture layer, usually set to “overlay” but on this one I used “divide.” Turn the opacity down, Erase it out in some places as needed.

6. Paint some more! Over-work it! Flip layers on and off making little adjustments! Erase!

7. Finally decide I’ll ruin it if you work on it anymore. Post to tumblr, otherwise I would repeat step 6 ad infinitum.

*Not sure why the GIF is so grainy? oh well.

Palette studies from movies. Learning about style and color....

Mon, 15 Apr 2013 18:54:21 -0400

Palette studies from movies. Learning about style and color. These are all just a few minutes each.

adapadapa: cucoo: qnq: So, after years of visiting...

Sun, 14 Apr 2013 14:00:17 -0400

adapadapa:

cucoo:

qnq:

So, after years of visiting possibly the greatest art resource online, Gurney Journey (website of the creator of the gorgeous Dinotopia series, as well as numerous amazing drawing/painting books. Seriously this guy is INCREDIBLE LOOK AT HIS BLOG), I got this amazing poster promoting his latest book, Color and Light.

But I am vary rarely in one place long enough to look at the glorious thing on my wall, so I compiled a digital version.

You can buy his wonderful books here, but as far as I know the poster isn’t available in his store :<

OH

Light is the coolest thing in the world and it’s precisely the reason I love to paint. Like really light is the most important thing to me in my art.

This is a really cool resource to start learning about it.

Keying Colors

Sun, 07 Apr 2013 17:44:34 -0400

Keying colors is one of the most important aspects of making an image. It is also one of the most challenging. There are a few ways to approach keying color. The first is hue. When you are using hue try to focus on changing the temperature and saturation. The second and very popular way of keying is saturation. When you are using saturation the best way to add accents is through a combination of saturation and hue. This means if everything is sort of greyish add a contrasting color with high saturation. Just one or two though. Try not to go nuts. Or go nuts, whatever, there are no rules, just things that look bad. The final way of keying is temperature. Once you can control temperature the world of color is yours for the taking. If you want a post on that I can tell you some ways to practice it, but it works best with physical paint. It’s super hard to control temperature digitally until your eyes are really tuned up.

Here are some quick color studies (and I mean QUICK! 10 minutes or less on these) I did of a friend’s drawing. Here is the original:

As you can see this contains a lot of colors. They are all keyed to a similar saturation, but that is what is causing the visual muddiness.

Here is a much smaller palette. It is also very keyed. This palette is much softer and gives a very gentle spring feeling.

Here is a different version with the purple acting as an accent color. Everything else is keyed to the same saturation and temperature.

Some drawings

Thu, 04 Apr 2013 00:30:37 -0400

Rando drawings

That’s a cool guy.

Wrath of Khan

Wed, 03 Apr 2013 00:30:30 -0400

Wrath of Khan is really one of my favorite movies. I hadn’t drawn much when I did these months ago, so there weren’t many salvageable drawings.

But I did finally get this perfect set of lips, I bet you can tell whose they are!

Coffee Shop Drawings

Tue, 02 Apr 2013 14:07:09 -0400

Here are some coffee shop drawings. I like drawing in coffee shops because people mostly sit still and they mostly aren’t paying attention to you. I have a love hate with drawing in museums, because copying the works is amazing and I learn so much, but tourists asking what I’m doing and how I learned to draw and why am I doing that and can I draw them gets really annoying.

You get to draw people’s backs a lot in coffee shops. That’s pretty good. Backs are kind of hard to draw because there is a lot more going on there then you’d expect. It’s also a really great way to give the drawing information and life. I’m all about elbows, knees, backs and faces. That’s where all the life is to me.

I used to be really good at drawing hands. I stopped improving because I thought I was so good at it. What a dummy. I’m trying to learn new hand positions and get even better again. It can be kind of hard to get a real painful looking tension in a hand. I’d like to master that.

By the way, these drawings are all 2 minute or less drawings. I’m thinking about going to a park and trying to draw some people playing with their dogs, but I’ll only have seconds to capture that. We’ll see if I’m up to that task.

The goal before or after that is to do some life paintings. Probably in gouache but maybe in oil because I haven’t used it in so long. I really miss oil and I have this super cool plan I want to test out. I can’t paint in my apartment though. It’s small and I have two cats and husband. I don’t mind poisoning myself, but poisoning them would make me pretty sad.

Anyway, the diary entry is just so that there is some text. Feel free to ignore it. Show me your coffee shop drawings. You know I’ll re-tumble them with full credits.

I recently watched The Butcher, The Chef and The Swordsman. I had a pretty great time watching it,...

Tue, 02 Apr 2013 13:44:53 -0400

I recently watched The Butcher, The Chef and The Swordsman. I had a pretty great time watching it, but drawing it was really hard. Everything moves insanely fast in this movie. Also, I never finished my Chinese lessons, so I had the read the subtitles.

This movie was super visual and took a lot of aesthetic risks. If you know me, you know I love that. I love it when a movie changes palettes and filters. It really helps give the mood. I forgot what I was watching last week, but it was something that was shot in the same palette the whole movie. It was wretched and unwatchable.

This movie features some cute animation too. Some super great characters. I’d like to watch it again and pause it so that I can get some real drawing done. And maybe take some screen shots for palettes. Although I might save that for The Good The Bad and The Weird. Which had AMAZING PALETTES and amazing pacing.

Have you seen this movie? Did you like it?

I got a little too silly on this last drawing.

Kali Ciesemier: TAXES FOR FREELANCERS, 101

Tue, 02 Apr 2013 13:30:20 -0400

Kali Ciesemier: TAXES FOR FREELANCERS, 101:

Kali is once again kind enough to put forward some invaluable information, with perfect illustrations also. I like the soothing pink, because taxes can be incredibly frustration.

There are a few important things that you will need to discover for yourself, so I really encourage you to at least visit a tax professional with experience in the arts. There are often city or state tax breaks for being in the arts. Although I suppose a lot of those have been wiped out. An accountant will be able to explain some of the exemption jargon, for instance what actually counts as inventory and how to quantify it.

They will also help you get your books in order. This will help you estimate your taxes, track your spending and plan out how much you need for advertising, supplies and misc annually. A little planning can really go a long way. I am in no way earning what Kali is earning, but I’m making ends meet most of the time because I can plan how often I need what.

There are also specific papers for your city, maybe. Portland Oregon has some really nuts systems and while I blazed through my state and federal it took me about three days to do my city paper work and I’m still not sure it’s correct.

Anyway! Good luck!

kalidraws:

In the past, I’ve gotten some questions about the business of illustration & about how taxes work. Filing taxes is a bummer, but it sucks even more when you have no idea what you’re doing. After progressing from Completely Clueless to Somewhat Experienced* during the past 5 years of doing my…

There is so much awesome work out there. It’s really hard...

Tue, 26 Mar 2013 16:19:32 -0400

There is so much awesome work out there. It’s really hard to stay true to your voice and be confident in your work. If there is one thing making this blog has taught me it’s everyone doubts themselves. And as tough as it is, the good ones buck up and work through it. (And edit out this terrible work).

lisahanawalt:

I don’t really believe in artist’s block, but I do believe in feeling bad a lot of the time and working in spite of that feeling!?

Follow Lisa on Twitter

Beli’s awesome self portrait. It’s a short process...

Fri, 22 Mar 2013 23:48:41 -0400

Beli’s awesome self portrait. It’s a short process post, I’d like to see more of any phase of the process! Look through Beli’s stuff here .

I especially love how the splatters around the mouth turn the morose expression into a smirk.

lemannequin:

self-portrait to celebrate my terribly done haircut -i did it myself, yay-. weeeell not quite a selfportrait, I’m not that good looking hahaha. aand not exactly a step-by-step but just in case you’re curious to see part of my process c:

Los Angeles County Museum of Art - Preparatory drawing collection

Mon, 18 Mar 2013 12:29:04 -0400

Los Angeles County Museum of Art - Preparatory drawing collection:

This is really important. One of the greatest opportunities my higher education offered me was we would go into the MET backrooms look at preparatory drawings by masters and hand pulled prints by masters. While it would be best if you could barricade yourself in the backrooms of the MET or LACMA, getting a digital glance at the thought process of people better than yourself is the best way to grow. And it’s kind of what this blog is all about.

And, being LA, there are an absolute ton of costume sketches in this collection. So if you are looking for ideas for clothing for your characters. There are also Persian Miniatures, which I grew up looking at, and those are super awesome with great palettes and different rules of composition.

One word of warning is that the interface isn’t great. You should probably open up a billion windows in your browser so you don’t have to re-clickity click click click to get back to where you were last.