digital painting lesson 1: the basics of using a graphics tablet - graphics tablet

Computers have brought changes to every corner of modern society.
One of the corners is art.
The Internet is filled with concept art, desktop wallpapers and many other types of images that some users draw on their computers.
When I bought myself a graphic tablet (
About a week before the release of this visible)
, I was disappointed to find a beginner's tutorial without digital painting.
They either assume that you have experience in some form of art before (
I suck at painting)
Or it's too basic, so they exclude art.
So the purpose of this small series of tutorials is to provide some tutorials to teach people how to use their graphic tablets, but more importantly, leave the creative aspects in the drawer.
This is the first tutorial of Xiaobian (
I haven't decided how long yet).
The other tutorials are: Lesson 2: In traditional artwork, the artist has to draw everything, but in digital artwork we are not restricted by physical tools.
By using a variety of filters and brushes, it can take a painter a few hours to draw a few strokes with our numbers.
Therefore, I will ignore the software that focuses on simulating traditional media (eg artweaver)
Instead, a digital image handler is used.
I am cheap and can't afford photoshop, so I will use Gimp. Tools:-A computer (
Have enough specs to run Gimp correctly)-
Graphic Tablet (
Drivers, etc)-Gimp (
If you can translate it into a tool there, or photoshop.
Please note that I am using v2. 6 because v2.
8 I have some problems with my tablet)Requirements:-An hour or so-
Some proficiency in gimp, or the ability to use google --
The ability to move your hand
Able to see what's on the screen-
Some ideas.
So, sit at your desk, be comfortable and put your favorite music on, let's get started.
You may have solved most of the problem as it is not difficult :-
Hold the stylus in your writing hand like a pen
Put the stylus on the tablet
Move your hand and watch the cursor move as well. . . . Tips: -
Don't look at your hands.
It won't tell you where you're going to paint.
Look at the screen.
You don't look at it when you use a computer mouse, do you? -
Let the tablet face you.
When you move your hand to you, the cursor should move down.
If the distance is more than a few degrees, it can be frustrating to try to draw the place you want. -
Remember your posture
Every time you draw, you use the computer for a while.
To get used to using a tablet, try not using the mouse at all.
The tablet provides everything you need (
Click, scroll, move the cursor.
What else do mice do? ).
Note that no graphic tablet is actually needed for anything in this tutorial, but it will definitely make things easier.
Now is the time to set up the drawing computer.
I think you have installed the driver for your tablet, but the way you lay out the screen is important.
Gimp used three. window system.
This is annoying, for the new version (gimp 2. 8+)
They have a button to change this: in the gimp main box, click Windows-
> Single Window mode unfortunately Gimp 2.
I have a problem with my tablet so I tend to use 2. 6.
There is no single window mode for this, so it takes five seconds to schedule the window so there is no overlap.
While the tablet is more like a piece of paper than the mouse, there are still subtle differences and it takes a little time to adapt to the drawing.
If you think you can already draw the desired location on your tablet, skip this.
Do some exercises for yourself to adapt to the tablet. Things like: -
Draw a square with a straight edge (
Also do not use straight edge tools)-Draw as round-
Like you can do, I tend to use a large brush, usually a 10 px hard edge brush.
I tend to scribble on a medium canvas of 1024x768.
Then try to write.
Just for fun, take a calligraphy brush and work slowly and carefully to see what you can come up.
SketchYou can also try hand drawing.
Take a thin brush of 2-3px, sketch.
Note that you can make a dark line.
Although there are many ways to start drawing, I tend to start with a very rough outline sketch.
I do this on a separate layer so I can turn it on and off while drawing the rest.
I have many layers for the castle.
One is the general outline, the other is the actual castle I drew, and the third is the guide.
When drawing spheres and cylinders, it is often useful to draw a box where you want them to go.
Most of this visible will be done by drawing and coloring some boxes and cylinders, so let's start by drawing their contours.
This is easy for the box. A regular (ish)
A simple box is hexagonal with some middle lines.
More complex/accurate operations can be done using perspective lines.
The cylinder is a bit hard, but it's still easy if we draw a box and then turn the top and bottom into elipses.
Any technique you know of drawing things on paper will work here.
If you would like to use a tool in the software you use to draw the ouline, proceed.
Gimp does not provide us with an easy way (
Unless you count the g fig plugin I think)
Next, I will work on the final image shown here with a box and a cylinder.
Let's see how to shadow them.
Most objects are opaque, so I tend to start with the outline of a neutral gray object. (
Let's talk about color later)
So, create a new layer, call it coloring, and color it in the shape using a medium-sized brush.
Press hard to make it opaque.
Turn off the profile and be surprised at how irregular it is.
So walk around with a brush and eraser and tidy it up.
You can then reopen the profile.
There is only one way to do very little.
With shadows, there are many ways I will not list them one by one.
But that's what I use.
Most importantly, however, don't forget to work on the shadow layer.
This is the right pain when you draw something on the wrong layer.
If you do, evaluate if you should do it again
Paste or ignore it.
With Sketch and apply, you can simply sketch and apply.
There is no other way to describe it, so look at the image.
It does take time to get things dirty and a little bit of care not to cross the edges, so don't do things in a hurry.
Gimp's brushes are usually just covered in the back, but there is an option for them to apply lighting.
This can be found in the tool options.
Looking for a drop-
The box filled with "normal" by default changes it to hard light (
Or play around and see what they do. each is useful).
The best thing about this brush is that it doesn't draw on anything transparent.
So you don't have to worry about keeping the outside edges neat.
I still use apply on this method to sort out and make sure the transition is what it should look like.
What do you think is the color? Nope.
Now we can add color.
So create a new layer and color it in the color you want (
Remember to set the brush back to "normal" Color Mix).
Place the color layer under the coloring layer and set the coloring layer to hard light ".
You may want to adjust transparency.
I tend to close the guide at this point.
At present, our objects are floating.
We need them to interact with the environment.
The way to do this is to add shadows.
People can use a few years to describe environmental shading, shadows, etc, but my guess is that you actually have a good idea of what their shadow should look like, no matter how many years have passed.
So do what looks right.
However, here are a few tips :-
When objects are close to each other or corner, they are darkened. (
Called environmental occlusion)-
Shadow away from light (duh! )
On top of that, look at the objects around you and see how the light affects them.
These are the basic tools you need to do digital painting.
Everything else is a matter of creativity, the clever work of using tools, and some problems of originality.
The same tool applies to mountains, feathers, and anything.
There is nothing better than practice, though.
So instead of just reading this tutorial, try some.