Art Project: Software research

Today I was up to the expansion of new tools and art solution in regards to my Project sign-off. 

I made a challenge for myself. The biggest strength in my drawings was a landscape and elements of sill life I can say. Which I started to making (I'm going to post it this week). The most difficult to sketch are still humans; bodies and faces. 

I needed to take a step and started somewhere, as I mention, especially in regards to my project. I know that I have still something to do on Photoshop. I do not know well this program. But I still discouraging myself. I was afraid of fault. But I know that the best way to fix my mistakes to become a better artist is the starting point. 

My idea was a digital painting of my cousin (the portrait).

The steps of it seem to be quite simple; sketch from the picture (as I doing it on my project) and painting in an almost realistic way using wet brushes.

The sketching part was basically the most time-consuming step. I was aware that I am not good at it and overwhelmed by a fear that I cannot draw someone's features. 

I made a few steps on the SketchBook software. 

Which I find out is an easy and comfortable way to make a quick sketch. I do not need to run the customized settings of the new piece. Also the navigating on the page is much easier than in Photoshop. I can choose the desired tool and change the thickness. All the most basic functions are on the console (the down left corner). O the right side, they placed a window with layer managing. Also, the mirror image and ruler toll are useful in some cases. These functions I found so far.

Coming back to my thoughts, I finished my sketch with a lot of mistakes in proportion. I got some sleep and I come back to work on that piece. The next day allows me to see this work differently. I needed to move on with this process and fix my mistakes.

I moved on with the process and pushed myself into more challenging software.

I used Photoshop in regards to my previous project. Now I can say that it was not a challenging task then. I was in my comfort zone and I was not satisfied with what I have done. I have been using the same tools on each piece then. I realize that, and now I come up with completely different work.

As I mentioned, portraits I made a few in my entire life. The progression route requires the ability to draw the parts of the human's body. Without that, I would not be possible to make even characters for children's books, etc. 

I was not planning to record step by step the process because it was a birthday gift. Once I have done it, I came out with an idea to post it.

I reckon that it is a good reflection and I took advantage to share with you my progress in developing this program.

(I will upload screenshots with details shortly)

The tools which I discovered, were on a section ''wet brushes''. I have a basic extension, so I only have a variety of oil effects brushes with a blending mode.

For the first touches, it was an uncontrolled feeling, because it was blurring almost everything, leaving the mixed colour. This happened when I painted on the previous colour layer. I tried to paint on new layers from the right panel. It did not work, some of the elements, for example, nose. I covered the current layer which I have work on. I left that idea to make it easier, especially, it was my first digital portrait. 

It was unexpected, enjoyable work. I found a lot of blurring, texture-changing options to make my art more distinguish. I do not like outcomes with a smooth and shiny ending. I wanted to gain a real oil painted effect. 

Still, there is a lot of things to do. Eyes are too far from each other. The lips, which I have a lot of proportion problems, are still too small. I need to work on how to build a shadow and hue on each part of the face properly.

Next time, firstly, I will search for more tool options. I heard about the downloadable brushes for Photoshop. Which I want to try on the next pieces. 

The next post will be about new artist research for my project.