Homework Ideas
Homework Ideas
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6:27

Getting Started With Digital Painting

This course is designed so that you can practice the topics in the order they are presented. 

Your first step is acquire the software you'd like to work with. If you've got your eyes set on Photoshop, don't forget to start with the free trial!  Once you've secured your software, familiarize yourself with the interface. Move things around, dock and undock, move windows where you'd like them, and find out which UI works best for you.  Then, open up a new canvas and practice using the tools at your disposal. Explore the brushes, filters, and experiment with layers and adjustments. There are a lot of things to get used to when it comes to digital painting that can be daunting if you're coming from traditional art, so really take the time to familiarize yourself with all the new tools and information coming your way. 

Once you start to get comfortable with the software, your next step will be to start painting! I'd recommend starting simple, with a subject matter you're already good at painting, or something you're otherwise accustomed to. As you work, pay attention to what you're doing that is working for you. What do you like about your painting? What tools and brushes are easy for you to use? Then, think about what isn't meeting your expectations just yet. Do certain tools not feel natural? Once you address these questions, it's much easier to figure out what to work on further and how to move forward. 

Newest
Rüdiger Weghaupt
This course was realy great for me cause Marco showed many of the "you need all the time" - tools and workflow basics. Thank you! I tried to use my finished holidays to get my mind more free in my artistic ability's. So I started to sketch from imagination again and to put more trust in my natural feeling of shading. The picture below was one of my best results. So with that new found freedom I put together all I've learned so far and put it in that painting of Cthulhu (I read Lovecraft a lot this summer :)) in Krita. Think it works. :) PS.: no pen just mouse!
Autumn-Storm McFaul
Hello everyone!~ I am Stormy and I have been self taught on digital painting for a year, but I took this class in order to learn techniques that I did not find on my own that are specialized in painting. I have found that there were quite a lot, and after doing an assignment for this class and trying new things, I happily found myself in managing my layers much better! I actually had no idea how to use masks on layers before, or at least, not the right way! I I used to look up incredible professional illustrators and see them use the "curve" filter, and have no idea what they were doing or why it was helpful to them, and I am happy to say I used it in this assignment! I am eager to use these skills to create more works. For the assignment, I could not help but fall in love with how sassy the photoshop demo reference photo was. I took the "make it your own" direction very seriously, and so I added even more sass to her expression, and made the piece feel lighter and peppier, almost like it could be animated. I also Kept my worktime to a couple of hours, and focused on using the tools that I had learned and never used before. I notice (and have noticed since going digital for a year) that my grievances with digital tools so far are that I am not as good at as traditional art: - my lack of brush and blending tools in photoshop - my ability to blend areas that look to my standard - airbrush strokes look awkward and not "soft" when I try to stroke lightly (maybe is a pressure sensitivity problem? Its a setting/tool problem for sure) - not creating enough mask/filter layers that cause me to be destructive to my painting - creating too many layers and finding it difficult to merge because of the layer filter applied is not kept when merging What I absolutely love about digitial: - the time save on starting the sketching stage of the picture - the ability to undo my paint/marker/watercolor look, an absolute lifesaver - the ability to try out so many possibilities before committing - not having to buy all of my supplies, especially if I am trying out a new technique Thank you for the lessons!
Lucas Mostyn
wow using the tablet is really really hard! Here is a first attempt
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About instructor
Marco Bucci began serious study of art when he was 19. He began with drawing fundamentals for 3 years before discovering a love for painting.
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