Watercolor WIPs- Sharing and Learning

[chinapete]

So the top 3 layers are set to Overlay, but you're applying paint to them instead of making a layer texture and hiding them?

steve,


I didn't fully answer your question about Overlay ... after the base color is laid down, each of the three successive layers is in Overlay mode, and then there is no need for an interim "hiding" of the base image, you simply paint over the area you want to recolor, and assuming your background is lighter than any color you apply in layers, you cannot paint beyond the border of the base image ...


... here is a little more context for the Overlay mode (I can't remember whether the source is ArtRage, but it seems Overlay in AR conforms to the general definition of what it should do), you may find this useful for your forthcoming video on Blending:

One difference between the Overlay blend mode and the other Contrast blend modes, is that it makes its calculations based on the brightness of the layers below the active layer—all of the other Contrast modes make their calculations based on the brightness of the active layer.

[Steve B]

Thank you, M.Aster. I look forward to seeing you around the forums.

I know you said you "don't like to fake real/natural media", but I honestly think that's exactly what you (and the other digital artists you've linked to) are doing. As before, I think your work, while different in terms of style, is using almost all the same techniques we've been talking about here.

I can only imagine future readers browsing this thread will find viewing all the work and conversation you've provided useful as a learning tool for them to develop their own opinions. So, thanks for stepping in here and giving an alternate look on things. Now, on with the show I suppose!!

edit--
Additionally.... just as a thought, for those who are sticking around-- I honestly don't really feel like most of the "real" or natural media paintings on the Behance page, for example, offer much that can't be done in Artrage. Of course, painting with wet watercolors is just plain fun, and it's own visceral experience. A person can't deny that! But I think the final results can be achieved in lots of ways.

In fact, I propose to copy a few of those results in Artrage. I'll keep a general note on how long it takes. I'll post what I can with that extra info, and those who are interested can compare the results. That sounds like a neat and informative experience. Then we can see the limits and powers of the program, as I'm sure there's a lot of both to still discover.

[eighty+]

Steve Hurry Hurry the Sand is running Low

[chinapete]

steve,


... very much looking forward to your forthcoming videos, especially one on brushes ...

... in the meantime, further thoughts on digital vs non-digital artworks ... Steven Wright tells a joke about "returning home and finding that everything had been replaced by an exact duplicate" ... maybe he'd been reading too much in Borges, I don't know, but he was telling that joke long before digital art became widely accessible and popular ...

... one point he's making is that we can't easily tell what's real, taking "real" in the sense of original and not copied ... another is that it doesn't really matter, "what we see is what we see" ... a third is that this world is a fake copy of an original ideal idea (sound like Plato?) ... a lot of artwork, non-digital and digital, represents an ideal world as a substitute for the real world we live in, coming very close to Plato's ancient vision of how things are ...

... recently I was showing a Chinese friend, who also happens to be a teacher of Chinese calligraphy and painting, a few of my artworks on the iPad, the ones that imitate Chinese brushwork ... We were discussing them in Chinese -- I mention this because he was very happy to see my paintings and used certain phrases in Chinese to praise them -- until I told him they were done digitally ... His expression changed, and he wanted to change the subject ...

... I fired up ArtRage and handed him a Nomad brush ... He held the brush in the vertical position over a blank screen, but couldn't bring himself to make a brushstroke ... When asked, he said it wasn't real ...

... what I find especially valuable in your videos is that viewers can actually watch you create an original digital artwork ... but more than that (because there are many training or informational videos), you are able to weave into the conversation your insights into what makes a digital watercolor a work of art ... this brings the real and the ideal that much closer ...

[maddog]

Keanu Reeves was on Tavis Smiley last night, comparing digital film-making v.s. old fashioned 'real' film-film making. Wow! This can get pretty heavy! http://www.pbs.org/wnet/tavissmiley/...-keanu-reeves/ According to Ray Kurzweil, the singularity is here, http://news.discovery.com/tech/robot...ts-120220.html I still say carbon-based life is an experiment. In the meantime, looking forward to more training videos as well!

[chinapete]

maddog, thanks for posting the fascinating keanu reeves interview ... in the dedication to a 1995 book on the digital revolution, Being Digital, Nicholas Negroponte wrote, "To Elaine, who has put up with my being digital for exactly 11111 years"

[maddog]

You're welcome Chinapete. I thought it was really interesting, especially as he was digitized in that movie, A Scanner Darkly. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXpGaOqb2Z8

Steveb, sorry to have hijacked the thread for a while, but this digital vs real sidetrack really hit a nerve when my non-artist wife also showed her disdain for me pursuing digital art. Anyways, as this is being discussed so much in other threads, I'll stop it here.

I really appreciate all your hard work making the videos and eagerly await the new toolbar. Your toolbar is going to change AR for everyone using a tablet!

Meantime, is there a way to resize a tool's width without reverting to the percentage input? I seem to recall someone saying there was some way to hold a combination of buttons down while right-clicking a tablet pen, but all I can do is resize the canvas using the shift button and pen right-click.

If you need a beta tester for AR Studio and a wacom bamboo splash, I volunteer. Cheers

[Steve B]

Oh, no worries maddog. I've yet to listen to the interview with Keanu, but I've found the conversation exceedingly interesting. I battle with this question myself, and I think it's really good to talk it out and think a bit about what you're doing so you can really go at it with conviction and abandon, when you get down to painting.

I would love to see what sort of work you're producing, if you're using some of the techniques we've been discussing, by the way. It's mean to be a thread to share, not just teach! Or perhaps to teach through sharing? I'm not really interested in only being a pedagogue-- I want peers too, man! How else am I gonna learn new stuff?

I'm working on a few new images, etc. I'm hoping to have a video on Sticker Sprays up by this weekend, and some new line sketches and watercolors done as well.

[Steve B]

Alright folks, I got a new one up on Sticker Sprays, here. I go into 3-4 Sticker Sprays that I use a lot, as well as how to make a new Preset, etc. I have a general approach to Sticker Sprays in general, as they apply effects, but don't really work as a "paint brush" IMO. So I usually lay down a base coat of paint first, and then use various Sticker Sprays on top of that to achieve certain effects. I go into it more in the video, of course.

[vapsman88]

... recently I was showing a Chinese friend, who also happens to be a teacher of Chinese calligraphy and painting, a few of my artworks on the iPad, the ones that imitate Chinese brushwork ... We were discussing them in Chinese -- I mention this because he was very happy to see my paintings and used certain phrases in Chinese to praise them -- until I told him they were done digitally ... His expression changed, and he wanted to change the subject ...

Chinapete,

That is so typical of many Fine Artists. I'll bet if this technology was available in Leonardo Da Vinci's time, he would have embraced it.

Also I don't really understand the objection to emulation of Natural Media. Artrage is probably the closest I have seen to achieving a Watercolor emulation. Plus the advantage of no paper stretching, no mess, being able to work with layers. Plus being able to do it anywhere if you have access to a tablet. My objection in Digital Art is the proliferation of paint overs as I prefer to start from a blank canvas.

~John