last revision : February 2010
Painting tutorials two painting projects discussed step by st ep
Polishing your artworks using ArtRage for producing finished and detailed artworks
Tips and ideas a collection of tips about speed painting with ArtRage
This is a collection of some (hopefully useful) tips about speed INDEX & INTRODUCTION
painting in general and using ArtRage for this purpose in particular. It’s not a manual for that software nor a complete workshop about speed painting : I don’t think I am an expert of digital painting nor of ArtRage software and I don’t think I have awesome secrets to share — I’m just passionate about learning and about sharing what I learn, and that’s why I’m writing and publishing this little article. I hope it’ll be a interesting lecture! I’ll start with some misc tips and concepts and then I’ll go through
MISC NOTES ABOUT ARTRAGE
two small projects. Enough with the introduction, let’s start introducing what speed painting more or less is.
A speed painting is a painting where you try to define the GUNS & FINISHED LOOK
main concepts as quickly and effectively as possible. This is my personal definition of speed painting and of course I don’t pretend it to be valid for everyone, but it’ll be the starting point of this article. I always thought of speed painting as a kind of impressionistic approach — though with the painter attention aiming not only to the light behaviour but also to the core of the design we are wanting to portray. The result of speed painting can be a bunch of li ttle thumbnails, an autonomous picture or maybe a
PAINTING “GARAGE INC.”
sketch that will be used for further improvements and eventually turn to be a finished piece. What I’d like to point out is that a speed painting is not necessarily looking rough and unfinished; unfinished; the look is secondary to the two parameters defining what a speed painting is : effectiveness of communication and speed of realization. The
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
jump from a speed painting to a finished one lays on the amount of time spent for bringing the painting one step further, after the first goal (effectiveness of communication) is reached. Some artists are actually spending a lot of time to make their paintings have that unfinished raw feel! In next pages I’ll write about some ideas and tips and illustrate some painting process steps. I’m not saying they are the best tips,
AUTHOR’S GALLERY
processes and ideas, but they work good for me.
2
Let’s start saying something that could
dynamics that Photoshop offers, or for
release, that brings many features that
sound pretty obvious : ArtRage is not
the ones that are doing all their shading
were missing (like selections).
Photoshop nor Painter . Digital artists are often jumping from a software to
using burn and dodge tools; ArtRage Pro 3 includes a new tool called
Spending some time to learn the way
another one and expecting them to
Stickers which can be used for
ArtRage works will hopefully convince
behave the same and have the same
simulating
Photoshop’s
you that it can indeed be used for
feature set. I think every software
custom brushes, but the experience will
producing all quality levels of 2D
should be learned and used at its best, keeping in mind its main purpose.
still remain quite different. Wanting to use ArtRage requires that we accept
artworks.
ArtRage is a natural painting software
those differences and we try to get the
A last word about the tools we use for
that aims to reproducing a set of real
best out of what ArtRage can do.
creating : while this article is all about
life
some
of
instruments; the premise is similar
to Corel Painter’s one, though ArtRage is also driven by a different and great
ArtRage, you should feel encouraged A common myth is that ArtRage can
to use the right tool for the right
be used only for rough sketches, sketches, paint-overs and more generally
task. task. Being a purist is just a loss of time and what matters in the end is
hobbyist stuff : this is quite wrong and
how well you achieve the results you
That being said, wanting to work on
on the net we can find a lot of
need or want to achieve. There are all
illustrations using ArtRage means wishing to use the particular tools it
examples of advanced artists that are using ArtRage for producing high
kinds of software; understanding which one is better for what we need is a
offers and adapting to its workflow and
quality artworks. ArtRage is also used
great thing. Putting all of your preferred
its way of getting things done. This can
as a concept sketching tool by many
software and tools together will create
be quite a shock for artists that are
leading artists in the game and movie
used to paint using mainly custom brushes and the advanced brush
industry, and it’s becoming more and more popular, especially with its latest
your personal pipeline and will contribute to developing your skills and your own style.
user experience concept.
3
Machine resources are not infinite; no matter how powerful your PC or Mac is, you still need to efficiently manage resources; each layer you add will require some more memory and processing power, and this is the first reason
for
learning
good
layers
management. Note : ArtRage is not supporting multiple CPUs at the moment and its meta-data stuffed layer technology is requiring a lot of power and memory! Using only the necessary number of layers is indeed a good idea : you can create all the layers you need but it’s wise to merge them down once you don’t really need them anymore; this will free up memory and make your painting experience smoother. It’s obviously even wiser to keep layers separate if they contain elements that should be isolated, isolated, maybe for design purposes or for making revisions
editing on our paintings.
easier. Talking about the strategic part
Layers
of layer management, using groups for
management options and blending
keeping layers organized is another great idea; organization is a valuable skill and it will save us time and
methods that’s well worth exploring and testing in different situations; the blending methods should be quite
group contents, contents, duplicate layer and layer and
increase the chances of future creative
familiar to Painter and Photoshop users
transform layers contents. contents.
and are extremely useful for painting in general
are
providing
many
and
especially
for
painting. Some great layer features I use often are the transparency lock, lock, merge
ArtRage has some useful features that will make our painting
Canvas Rotation : ALT + RMB
more intuitive and easier: one of them is the canvas
Canvas Rotation reset : ALT + D
manipulation that allows rotation, zoom and panning.
Canvas Zoom : mouse wheel or SHIFT + drag RMB Canvas Zoom to 100% : SHIFT + D
For such functions and many more there are default
speed
hotkeys already set, and using them is a real life-saver and will drastically improve your workflow. Undo, redo, cut, past,
Canvas Panning : drag RMB
copy are working with usual CTRL based Windows-like
Pick colour : ALT + LMB
keyboard shortcuts.
Transform tool : SHIFT + T
Canvas lighting toggle : F5
Select tool : SHIFT + S On the right I listed some of the hotkeys I use the most while
Resize brush : SHIFT + drag LMB
painting (RMB = right mouse button, LMB = left mouse button):
4
We can say “sticker” is the ArtRage term for calling custom brushes. brushes. A sticker is composed by a number of bitmap images and of parameters associated with them. For a better understanding of how to create stickers you can refer to ArtRage help and to various great tutorials available at Ambient Design Forums. But what are stickers good for? A basic usage consists in repeating objects, objects, like the bolts and screws I added on the vehicle in “Garage Inc.” tutorial, for instance : by defining stickers for painting repeating details we can both save time and reach
good quality
results — that’s if our stickers are having a good quality and if we use them in a correct way of course. It is important to understand how to integrate our stickers in the picture, picture, so that they don’t look fake and misplaced : a good example are the standard grass stickers, which can have some practical usage but can also produce a too much uniform and artificial look. A good trick is to use stickers on separate layers and play with the layer blending methods; methods; the Multiply and the Soft Light blending are often giving great results when we use stickers for
custom stickers organized for category (misc, structures, nature, and so on),
adding details. Working on a separate
so that we can find them fast and keep
tasks than the ones they were created for, feel free to experiment and take
layer also gives us the chance of using
track of all the variations.
note of your discoveries!
removing parts of our stickers brushwork and help the overall
You can also use stickers for adding texture to the painting (better if on a
In the picture I sketched a bit with some custom stickers I use frequently : even
integration.
separate layer which you can then
if each one of them was created for a
I highly suggest spending some time
manipulate) or for roughly defining
precise reason but they proved to be
learning how to create and modify
volumes and shapes that we can then
useful in other situations too. Some of
stickers, creating the ones we need instead of only using the standards
polish with the eraser or other tools; from this last point of view, stickers are
them are actually adapted from Photoshop ones, though as I said
ones (though some standard ones are
a good way for exploring shapes if we
before the two brush engines are very
actually useful and well done).
still don’t have a good idea about the
different and many of the dynamics are
design of some elements in our
not available in ArtRage.
the
eraser
with
the
stencils
Stickers can often be used for different for different
for
It’s wise to create named stickers
painting.
groups containing all of our saved
5
That’s a widely used technique among graphic artists because it allows us to see our images with a fresh eye and easily spot perspective mistakes. ArtRage has two default shortcuts for taking a fast look at our flipped image : H will flip horizontally, V will flip vertically. They’re useful but I prefer to use the Transform All Layers function, since it allows me to work on the flipped iimage mage instead of just taking a look at it : go to Edit, Edit, then Transform All Layers, Layers, then right click on the image and choose the flipping you prefer.
A practical and quite fast way for checking values in our painting is to use a layer for muting the colours (as explained in the picture here on left). In this way we can understand values
better
and
fix
eventual
problems we were not noticing with the colours distracting our eyes.
I often use this technique for selectively applying airbrush to a part of the picture without having to set up stencils; the nam e “masked airbrush” is not very correct indeed, but it renders the idea. We basically create a new layer over the one where we want to apply the colour, and we start using the airbrush on it, rotating the canvas so that our flow is going in the correct direction. After that we can erase the parts of new colour we don’t need anymore, and eventually paint over it to fix places where we didn’t erase good. I t’sa very simple and fast operation but can bring quite useful results.
6
I spent countless hours trying to paint
able of painting something we must
interesting, but I find it to be one of the
trees, rocks, grass.. and failing quite
look at it with a different eye, paying
most important things to keep in mind
bad. I could not understand what was
attention to the relationships between
as
so hard in painting things that I see
empty and filled space for instance. We
everything
every day since I was a child; the point
need to ask us questions about the
valuable.
is that seeing a thing and knowing how
functions behind the forms and try to
to
are
sketch copying from live. I know this
drastically different things. For being
can sound a trivial advice and not really
draw
or
paint
that
thing
As many greatest artists (like C.Mullins and B.Vallejo, just to name two great
textures : being able of discovering an interesting texture and taking a good
examples of digital and traditional
photo of it is a great artistic merit
artists) repeat, using photos in our
already. Being able of using that
artworks is not an evil thing at all; it’s all about the usage we do of them
material creatively for achieving our
artists.
Studying we
see
nature is
and
absolutely
goal is even better.
and the results we need to achieve. Using
photos
for
improving
our
Photo reference is crucial for learning how to paint things since we can’t be
creations is a great thing, and should
in all places of this world and see
painting over a photo and going
everything in person!
around saying we painted it on our
be not confused with cheap tricks like
own, behaving like we’re just like Photos can also be the base for
Sargent : that’s pretty lame indeed,
custom brushes, for stencils, for
and ultimately useless and sad.
Sketching a lot of thumbnails is a very good way for learning to speed paint, because it allows the artist to concentrate on painting the most important things — without caring too much about the look and the quality of the finished piece. A thumbnail is usually a low resolution image painted or sketched with the goal of setting a mood and a lighting or of defining a base concept : in the one I posted here for instance, I needed to quickly paint a night scene with the ruins of few huts in the jungle, and a river flowing by. The resulting image is not good or interesting as a painting per se but it contains all the information I needed to include : the abandoned huts, the jungle environment, the night mood. Everything is sketched very roughly and the whole thumbnail took me less than 10 minutes, but it allowed me to explore solutions and synthesize; once I’m happy with one or two of those
thumbnails
and
I
feel
I
established the concepts I can go further and repaint it paying attention to perspective, details and so on. 7
ArtRage offers few but effective options
The first stroke is made with a light
The second stroke is using a stronger
for tweaking our brushes: my advice is
pressure and it’s giving us a great
pressure and it’s giving us a rich and
once more to spend some time learning
texture thanks to the canvas and the
powerful stroke, useful when blocking
how to make the software help us
bristle becoming very visible. Changing
planes
achieving our goals.
the canvas texture and choosing a
sketching; it’s also great for adding
good combination of colour and value
finer detail if used with a smaller size,
In the first picture below I posted four
can help us adding beautiful texture to
though the ink pen is usually better for
examples of strokes made with my
our paintings. ArtRage
favourite brush; it’s a tweaked oil
different textures on different layers and this is a precious way for building
that kind of job; it all depends on the look we are going after.
brush that’s proving to be very useful and quite versatile, so I thought to share it.
can
have
for
our
volumes
and
for
interesting layered textures without
The two progressions of strokes are
resorting to images.
showing how this brush allows us to build heavy textured or less textured gradients, with very good blending capabilities. capabilities. When blending with this brush it’s important to pick each time the correct value and colour from our painting, in a similar fashion to the popular SAPALO (sample and paint at low opacity) technique that is very familiar
especially
to
Photoshop
painters. I do most of my blending using this same brush but sometimes I also integrate a custom palette knife into the process, usually in the first stages of the painting.
I sketched the second picture as an example of what I said about using this brush with paper textures : everything on that image is painted using only this brush
and
changing
the
texture
parameters on different layers. As the image hopefully shows it is possible to build interesting interesting textures playing only with ArtRage standard papers and a very simple oil brush : it’s all about experimenting and saving presets of what you find useful, so that you can access it faster next time you need it. The brush is available for download in the same page of my blog where you downloaded this PDF, together with 10 more that I use often.
8
Some people thinks ArtRage is only good for rough oils and that producing detailed artworks is not possible. That’s not true since ArtRage provides us with enough tools for reaching the degree of detail we prefer. I like to start painting on a canvas sized to 3000x2000 pixels or something close to it and scale it down when I’m done: working with high resolutions will allow us to paint finer detail and more easily. Even if this article is about speed painting, let’s take a look at some ways for achieving a more finished look when needed. I’m not a lover of weapons unless they’re inside a videogame, but since they’re a good example of mechanical and detailed objects, let’s fake we’re designing a weapon for a game and see how to go from a thumbnail sketch to a more finished artwork. We’ll fake our creative director gave us the following description : an assault rifle with a kind of sci-fi look, used mainly in fast paced action and requiring fire power more than precision. First of all we’ll have to do some sketches and choose the one we think is better fitting the initial concept; concept; I sketched some and here on right is the one I did choose.
9
When painting shapes that are repeating it is useful to create custom stickers on the fly : this way we can achieve better results and be quite faster (this should be an article about speed painting after all!). After we finished with our sticker we can save it as a preset and use it next time we’ll need, thus slowly building our own valuable library of components. The very simple sticker on the left was created while polishing the rifle’s silhouette, and used for adding some details on it.
I polished the silhouette of the weapon improving it where needed and I started blocking the volumes (using the airbrush and the ink pen), basically trying to understand how to organize the shapes that will visually fill the silhouette. Once the values and the shapes will be working I’ll be able of polishing the result and start rendering the weapon more in depth. In this stage it’s important to go quite fast and don’t lose too much time on details that will only become possible after the overall concept is working. For
achieving
a
better
control
when
blocking the volumes it’s goo to try the variations on separate layers and only merge them down when we are sure things are working; at the same time, try to avoid having too many layers, or your job will easily become a mess and ArtRage will start slowing down. Remember
:
search
engines
are
our
friends! We have no excuses for not knowing how a 40mm grenade looks like and other stuff we eventually need to paint. The
net
is
full
of
references
and
information and building an organized collection of them is truly a good idea.
10
The picture above shows the roughly
Another good practice is to become
rendered weapon in the middle of the
familiar with rotating and panning the
detailing phase : this is the part of this approaching a more finished look, and
canvas when using the various tools : in this way for instance we can get the correct flow from the airbrush
for achieving it we’ll keep using the
and we can draw better curves with the
selections and the eraser on separated
ink pen.
walkthrough
that
deals
with
layers but also increase the usage of the ink pen, changing the smoothing
ArtRage can paint straight lines if we
settings according to our needing; becoming familiar with the smoothing
keep CTRL pressed and we click on the starting and ending point of the
factor is quite important.
line : this can be extremely useful when
Using the transparency lock is also
working on projects that are requiring a lot of shapes with straight edges. As I
pretty handy, especially if together with
said before, it’s really valuable to learn
a simple trick : duplicate the layer that you want to work on, lock the
which tool and which feature are
transparency and do all your painting work. When you finished you can take
situation and how can we take advantage of the software power.
working better for us in a certain
the eraser and get rid of what you don’t want
(remember
to
turn
the
I changed the background from white to
transparency before doing it!) and the
gray because it helps me to better read
original layer will show below the new one. Using this technique you can work
the values. Talking about values : this
very fast and try all kind of edits on
lighting is quite diffused and omnipresent, though I’m trying to give it
your image in an efficient way.
on
is a kind of “product showcase” so the
a directional component too.
11
Before going on to the final step of our
kind of details I wanted to add, I started
use often consists on using selections
project I’d like to spend some words
thinking on how to add them fast —
for creating simple shapes , combining
about the detailing phase.
thus staying faithful to the
them for getting more complex ones, and then using various tools for making
time
constraints of the speed painting From my point of view detailing has basically two goals : making the concept more interesting by filling it
process. process. The point is that we could actually spend days on our artworks
those new shapes to look like the ones I’m needing.
painting everything using only oils and
with things that please the eye, and then making the concept more
achieving great and sharp results, but we are wanting to do it in less time so
ArtRage makes this quite simple and fast, thanks to intuitive selections, good
believable.
that we can create more variations if
layers management and the priceless
detailing starts with the observation of
needed, and face deadlines if we are
transparency lock.
real weapons; as I said before the net
having them.
For
our
weapon
the
is full of articles, photos and videos about everything, so it’s relatively easy
I said already that it is a good idea to
In the next two pictures I illustrate the basic steps for creating the three thin
to get familiar with the things we’ve to
create custom stickers for painting
cavities in the front of the weapon.
paint or draw. After I established the
repeating details. Another workflow I
The first step is about creating the shape; there are many ways but I like to do it using selections. You could use stencils instead for instance. I’m creating many layers and giving names to them so that it’s easier to show what’s going on, but all this work is actually done in a single layer while painting a real life project; the result can then be duplicated, rotated, and so on. It’s good to create the details in an higher resolution than the needed one, so resampling won’t kill its sharpness.
The second steps shows an example of simple detailing for the shape : I used the airbrush for creating the illusion of a very little depth and then I used the ink pen for drawing a simple inner bevel. This is only a cheap example by the way : you could go on and study a better
lighting,
increase
the
bevel, add some texture, and so on. It all depends on the goals you have. My advice is to save all of your components on a file from where you can import them when needed. 12
We’re almost at the end of our project :
very grunge look and I went quite far
mood and more on the volumes (which
the image above shows the weapon
with the texturing phase, actually losing
is what a 3D modeller would love us to
being already 90% rendered. Few
some of the shading I did before.
do, since he’ll probably have to model
things need to get fixed and finally I’ll
Design decisions must always be
the weapon) — a further step toward a
work on a basic presentation (the
very good presentation of the concept
results are visible in the image that
made for the sake of the concept and not for the “respect” we have for some
opens this little tutorial).
parts of our picture that we like or that
then paint over it, which is a quite
maybe required a lot of work. The final
common workflow with such subjects.
result is what matters!
In our case we wanted to have our
Comparing this image with the one on page 10 we can see that many details
would be to roughly model it in 3D and
project ready
and presentable as
were added and they’re making the
Texturing is not strictly meaning taking
weapon more believable and also
an image an putting it on top of what
fast as possible; possible; it’s not really a very fast speed painting, but with a total
giving it a more alive look, as if it was used in many and quite harsh battles. A
you painted; sometimes you’re lucky and it can be enough, but most of times
work time of 3 hours it’s still pretty fast. In a day of work we could paint 2 of
lot of the merit of the aged look
it’ll only look a poor choice. For this
those concepts and that would be quite
depends on texturing, so I’d like to
weapon I used the ink
good.
spend some words about it.
custom stickers for sketching various scratches and stains on different layers, erasing stuff here and there,
The final image is almost 3000 pixels in width and this allows us to work more
playing with blending modes and finally
on it and further improve its look and
interest and details to you image but at
mixing layers together. It takes some
even print it. I kept some elements on
the same time they can cover your hard
experimenting but after a while you’ll
work. To avoid this you need to learn to apply textures on separate layers and
discover you can create interesting textures even with a basic usage of the
separate layers so that I can get rid of them if needed (like the highlights and the heavy texturing — and of course all
then use the eraser on them to get rid
ink pen and the eraser.
of the presentation related stuff) : this is
Textures can be a great help but also a quite subtle enemy : they can add
pen
and
of what is not really needed, or for
a good practice since it still leaves
making something slightly less visible.
The concept could have been shown
In some parts of this image I wanted a
better, putting less emphasis on the
room for quite big changes if needed.
13
While “Garage Inc.” is not having the
concerning the painting process and I’ll
info. My method can change a lot and
usual look you expect from a speed
use them to underline some concepts I
the one showed here is not the only
painting (rough strokes, simplified shapes, minimal detail and so on) I
find to be interesting.
one I currently use; I think it’s really valuable for an artist to be able of
think it still falls in the category of
I’d like to point out that this is by no
exploring and changing workflow,
speed painting since it required few
means the best or only way of working,
continuously
time and it was completely organized
and that my advices could work fine for
knowledge and energies into it.
around the main concept, which was to
someone and don’t work at all
represent a futuristic vehicle that is
someone
staying in a dusty hangar, waiting to be
interested in learning and taking a look
repaired.
at the way other artists are working, for
else.
I’m
always
integrating
new
for very
pure curiosity’s sake, so I thought it In this tutorial I’ll show you some steps
could have been nice to share similar 14
I have my concept in mind and I’m ready to start painting : first of all I want to get rid of the white canvas and have a background that is in tune with the mood I want to get. I start painting a more or less uniform background using a mix of oils and custom stickers. stickers. On a new layer I start sketching random shapes using custom stickers and others tools, looking for an i nteresting design concept I could follow. In this step it is important to feel free and just let things happen and imagination flow without worrying too much about technical matters and rules.
I think I can see the side view of a vehicle in the mess I created in step one, so I use the eraser to cut the not needed stuff away and give the vehicle vehicle a sharp silhouette. This process process is close to sculpting we can say; the creative usage of the eraser can help working with the concepts of empty and filled space, which can give interesting results and definitely improve the way we approach the creative process. ArtRage is not letting us use custom stickers as erasers, but we can obtain great results using the eraser over stencils. In this step it was enough using a simple hard edged eraser .
I create a new layer over the existing two and using one of my favourite custom stickers I start blocking values. It is important to understand that values give precious information about the kind of material is being painted, and that we must keep in mind that the final value is showing the amount of light the object receives but also its material it. A good contrast is important for painting an interesting picture, picture, so I started working on it using the big dark mass (that probably covers an engine) and the thin stripes. I still don’t know what to do with the cockpit, and this insecurity can be spotted in the messed perspective and the absence of a clear design direction. We’ll fix that later.
15
I decide the time is right for sketching an environment for the vehicle, so I create a new layer between the vehicle and the canvas, trying to block a simple hangar. I want a bright and foggy weather outside but also a good lighting inside, provided by other entrances that are more distant from our subject. Using oils and blur effect I also add a quick shadow to help me position the vehicle in space. I thought the cockpit should be open since the vehicle is being repaired, and to open it I select it with polygonal tool, tool, cut it, paste it on a new layer and rotate it. I also cropped the image to improve the composition.
I start working on the engine mass and on the cockpit, trying to create a new contrast between the big empty surfaces and more detailed ones. For the whole painting I actually used the same tools over and over again: a custom oil brush (for 70% of painting), a bunch of custom stickers (10% of painting), a custom palette knife, the basic airbrush, ink pen, custom stencils and the eraser. I suggest you to try all the t ools in ArtRage but to also understand which are the ones that are working better for you and for the way you create; once you understand this you can tweak the tools and save them as custom presets. presets.
The concept is quite near to what I had in mind at the beginning, so I can spend few minutes to sketch some foreground and background elements that can help me reach two goals : make the hangar more believable and “close” the picture so that the viewer attention will stay in the centre of the image. You can spot ArtRage standard chain and cable stickers. stickers. The texturing in last steps was done using custom stencils I created from some photos I took over the years; always bring a camera with you and take photos of all the textures and references you find interesting, photos are really valuable for a concept artist.
16
One design decision I was unsure about was about the way the vehicle was staying suspended in air. I was thinking that a levitation was not really coherent with the concept of “damaged, needing repairing” so I decided to add some chains, sketching them fast with the ArtRage standard chain sticker : this is producing a too much perfect and uniform result, but I was too lazy for creating a custom chain sticker at that moment, so I went for standard one. I also worked a bit on the shadows, trying to bring the viewer’s attention even closer to the subject.
The chains were looking too stiff so I rotated them a bit and detailed them here and there with eraser and oils. Using some useful custom stickers I add bolts and screws, while some stencil and texture work provides more details for giving character to the image; image; textures and stencils are coming from an huge set of photos I took in a military cemetery in Moscow. The number on the vehicle is helping the viewer interest and gives more personality to the vehicle.
In the final step I work on the atmosphere (adding some dust with custom stickers) and on the mood of the overall picture; the green was looking interesting but I decided to play a bit with hue and I changed to a tone that looks less military and hopefully more appealing. At this point I only need to resize the picture, sharpen it (outside of ArtRage since it’s not having an unsharp mask at the moment), sign it and bring it into t his PDF.
17
ArtRage offers plenty of features and different ways of accomplishing goals; learning to analyze the problems and to find solutions is a gratifying and useful activity. I
ArtRage website of ArtRage software http://www.artrage.com
therefore encourage everyone to spend some time trying to get used to the software and see how to make it work the way we need.
CGSociety society of digital artists http://www.cgsociety.org
I know it has been said countless times, but I repeat it more important than the artist, rushing to download the
deviantART huge online art community
latest software and play with its newest feature : we
http://www.deviantart.com
once more : a common mistake is to think the tool is
should keep in mind art history proves that people can produce great art even with the simplest tools, like a pencil and a piece of paper. The availability of hardware
Conceptart.org great place for learning
and software is growing and it’s easy to waste time
http://www.conceptart.org
trying all kind of software instead of working on improving ourselves as artists; that time would be indeed better spent on studies about colour theory,
Web Gallery Of Art precious free gallery with masters from the past
values,
http://www.wga.hu
composition,
perspective
and
especially
observing the reality around us with an analytic eye. Thanks for reading this little article, I hope it was an interesting lecture. Have a nice time painting!
My name is Andrea A. Bianco and I am an illustrator, concept artist and photographer working between Italy and Russia. I also have a background as web and graphic designer, though I am getting more and more involved with the challenging world of illustration and concept art. When I’m not painting or sketching I spend time on my other big passion, composing music and guitar playing.
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