Colors vs Values artist's tip and technique in digital illustration

Colors vs Values artist's tip and technique in digital illustration

Here is the definition of value from Munsell
Value, or lightness, varies vertically along the color solid, from black (value 0) at the bottom, to white (value 10) at the top. Neutral grays lie along the vertical axis between black and white.

Here's an excerpt from what Craig Mullins (Master Painter) says on the matter of values:
"Decide what is in light and what is in shadow and don�t mix them up. Think like a comic artist. Two values, but if they are well thought out and designed and drawn they can look totally real. Think like that, but instead of making the light white and the shadow black, make the light a 7 and the shadow a 3. Then go ahead and use 5-10 in the light and 1-3 in the shadow to pull out sub forms. DO NOT use 1-5 in any part of the light, or use 5-10 in any areas of the dark. Keep you edges a little softer in the shadows, a little sharper in the light, you are done. (0 is black, 10 is white) Deciding what is in shadow and light for a particular object is pretty hard in words. I will leave that up to you and that is 99 percent of the struggle."

"Hierarchal significance for any color: 1. Value 2. Saturation 3. Hue" -Craig Mullins

Observations, experiments and rants on the production and practice of digital art. The open notebooks of Joseph Francis. Artists struggle over getting correct colors, yet often neglect to get correct values, in spite of the fact that of the two, values are more important than colors at revealing an object's form.

Notice in this image demonstrates if the values are distorted or wrong,
then you cannot even tell what is the picture really is (roll #3 the 2nd pic).
On the other hand, if the value is correct no matter what color you paint in
the shape and readability most likely will maintain ( roll #2, 3rd pic)

Ref image by Joseph Francis

Let me know what do you guys think?
Does this article explain to you more about colors and values in comparison?

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Painterly approach in painting, illustration, and digital painting

Painterly approach in painting, illustration, and digital painting

Virgil writes:
The "painterly" approach was originally an incidental effect most common in sketches and studies, the sole purpose of which was to help the artist solve some of the problems in the execution of a more refined painting. Titian and Rembrandt became more "painterly" in their later years, when deteriorating eyesight may have hidden the irregularities from them (one hypothesis). Franz Hals painted a number of paintings in the sketch style, probably for his own amusement and/or to cover his bar tab or whatever. He was capable of more refined painting, as is evident in most of his more important commissioned portraits, but employed the faster "alla prima" approach for painting more light-hearted subjects; probably his friends or interesting subjects encountered at the tavern, where no one was likely to pose for very long.
Bouguereau has been falsely characterized as disguising his brushstrokes, but his brushwork is actually visible from up close. In reproductions the strokes do not show, because the paintings are generally large, with the main figures life-size, and the brushstrokes are small. He also used palette knife very expertly for certain effects, especially in the vegetation and other parts of the background, but generally did not employ impasto.

The 'painterly' style became more popular with John Singer Sargent, Anders Zorn, and Joaqu�n Sorolla. Sargent actually worked very hard to achieve the effect that he had dashed the picture off effortlessly and accurately all at once. Many passages were scraped out and repainted over and over again until the desired appearance was accomplished. There is a certain charm in this type of painting, but its effectiveness depends on the values and colors being registered extremely accurately, or the result just looks sloppy. Sargent's eye was precise enough to make it work. Ironically, he expressed regret, late in life, that he had not carried his paintings to a higher degree of finish. The main trick to painting in this manner is to work fast, with large hog- bristle brushes and large amounts of paint available on the palette. palette knife can also be used for certain effects. A somewhat rougher texture canvas works best for this technique, in my experience. Some subjects are more suited for this approach than others. It is well for artists to be able to paint in more than one manner, and to choose whichever technique best suits the subject at hand.

John Singer Sargent's work


Anders Zorn's Work

Joaqu�n Sorolla's work

Regarding impasto highlights, the reason for this is to ensure that they remain opaque far into the future. Oil paint becomes more transparent as it ages, and the thinner the paint, the more transparent it will become. Highlights must be opaque in order to reflect the light which strikes them in the same way as it would reflect from the surface depicted.'

In the illustration era, in my opinion, Frank Frazetta's work is very close to painterly approach, though sometimes the dramatic lighting remind me of Bouguereau.

As the 21th century approach, the influence of painterly approach becomes really popular among the great living master digital concept artist painters such as Craig Mullins, Ryan Church, Nicolas Bouvier, David Levy and many more.
These guys open my eyes to the new world of painting and creating digital art process, thanks to the internet.

Here is PDF downloadable file Sargent Notes on Painting (9 pages) thanks to Craig Mullins.
Good useful info for you guys. :)

Also there are contemporary great traditional master painters who are still doing their masterpiece on oil to rock the 21th century using the same approach along the line of Sargent. They are also my most favorite, you have to check out their work. These master painters are Richard Schmidt, Jeremy Lipking, and Scott Burdick. There are actually many more, but these are on top of my head at the moment.

On that note, I am in love with very loose painterly effect, they create. Painterly approach is not like a totally finished tight illustration (every square inch has to be perfect and controled). On the contrary, it seems (sometimes unfinished, loose yet as the artist intended...no more, no less), to me at least, the strokes of paints dancing around the canvas (also digital) as if they are happy to live. And there is no need for any more strokes. *Thus, the artist intend to finish it that way.
Just some thought I've in mind and knowledge I want to spread from what I see, hear and learn during the period of the moment.

Let me know what you think and what I should add, I hope you learn something and I am expecting to learn more from you guys.

Peace

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Drawing and Painting tips and random thoughts

Drawing and Painting tips and random thoughts
Somebody ask me how one should paint or draw rock. It got me thinking

Tips: Painting is about analyzing where you should place light and shadow. Watch for soft edge and hard edge. Using real object or ref to practice. If you can master these, you can pretty much paint everything.
Drawing is to look for edge (outline) of the particular scene or object and mimic it.
Render or shading is not differ than painting in execution.

It's not the rock or any object you will paint, you will paint light and shadow (or values) in color.
As for rock, it is easier to shade and practice value than to draw just outlines.

Just random thought, hopefully I make some sense.

Example: This image are basically just arrangement of values, range from black--> grey--> white. And your eyes perceive it as three dimensional image with mass, depth and such. Our job is to basically arrange the values correctly so it will fool audience's brains.
Also these video are kind of relate since this armor is mostly metal or achromatic. Another tutorial is How to paint Gold Armor and How to paint armor creature (a combo of black steel and gold).



Watch rendering, painting, values arrangement process video tutorial.



By the way, I just finish reading "ZAG" by Marty Neumeier (He is a Graphic Designer artist turns a successful business consultant) It's about branding and marketing very insightful. I highly recommended. Great book!!!

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Secret of how to be insanely creative artist tips

What is the Secret of how to be insanely creative?

Just found this article from Jonathan Mead , very interesting and very inspiring. I found it very useful and hopefully it will also be useful to you guys.

Here we go:

"What�s the secret to unleashing your creativity?

I�ll tell you, but it�s not what you think�

As an aspiring artist, I�ve spent a lot of time trying figure out how to be more creative. I�ve explored the traditional paths to creativity; painting, drawing, playing an instrument, creative writing, poetry, etc. I connected with creative souls; artists, and people living off the grid (away from the mainstream).

While I found this sparked my creative spirit, it only went so far. I was hacking at the branches rather than the root. ... continue on to Secret of how to be insanely creative on his blog."

Enjoy, it's all good stuff

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** If you have any basic questions or specific please looked up Q/A section. Most of the time your questions has already been answered in Q/A.

If you need any help or support you can
-post questions or comment on the post (seems to be the fastest way to get response)
Peace,