Makasu's exploration of the arts!

[Makasu]

Hahah yeah it might be one of my weakest ones but I like the face on it the most out of all of it.

But its a learning experience and I will get it one of these days.
Glad you dig though!
Its kinda still blurry to me. But I guess thats because I paint over my orignal lines?

I would go back in and fix up the Tylar one but if I did then I'd spend more time than I want to on it. And in order for me to move forward as an artist...well I actually don't know how to do that other than practice.

Again though seeing as how my tablet acts weird with photoshop I'm limiting myself. I need to get painter back but I'm to lazy to install it.

And in other news have you guys checked out CS4? Its simply amazing. Of course you need a good graphics card because it tends to lag like crazy but its been fixed up incredibly like. I use it currently [[it costs a g!]] but I'm using the $400 one. But yeah you should look into it if you're not aware of it!

 

[Makasu]

Clarissa? does she explain it all??

Hahah whoa that was an old show. I remember it used to come on Nickelodeon. But I swear it was called something else at that time. I used to have a super mad crush on Melissa Joan Hart. Haha.

But sadly she doesn't. She's a timid girl who's afraid to talk to me or something. I'm not to sure though.

Another thing I've noticed after V's post is that I can never stay consistent with my 'paintings'. If the skin isn't to blurry the hair is, or if the hair isn't blurry the fur is to different. I think its because I switch brushes. I mainly use three though. But still I either get lazy at some parts or focus to much on others. there is no winning actually. I'd like to obtain the results of media master but I don't think I'll be on that level of skill for a while.

 

[Makasu]

Hey you guys I wasn't to happy with the last drawing/painting I did of my friend Nora so I redid her again.
I had to sacrafice exact colors because it was taken from a cell phone picture.

Spoiler: Nora Huerta

I think its okay for the most part. I was shitting around on the background though. I couldn't think of anything so I just threw something on it. So don't pay to much attention to that m'kay?

Comments? Critiques?

I need to push myself harder as an artist...

And I cleaned up the first page that ways people won't have to cycle through all of them just to see stuff.

Also do any of you guys know what would be the best format to save an image in? Saving it as .jpg seems to take a serious toll in quality.

 

[Shadow_Strike]

.jpg, just turn compression down so it doesn't mess up too bad.
Also, too blurry :X
But she has a cute face.

 

[Venetia]

Yeah the blur is EXTREMELY severe. What resolution do you work at? You gotta increase the hardness of your brush and up that resolution, hon!

The shape of her face and the colors are very pretty, though.

 

[Makasu]

I'm doing brush tests so why not draw one of my favorite people?

Spoiler: Brush test Ale

I probably should've worked on it more. But I was to lazy. And I went through all that trouble of pretty much drawing out all of the curls and then I FINALLY figure out how to do them. So something that took me a couple of hours could've easily been done in like 1/4 that time or whatever the case may be. I also seem to be having color issues as well.

.jpg, just turn compression down so it doesn't mess up too bad.
Also, too blurry :X
But she has a cute face.

Yeah I'm trying to figure out a way to work around the blur. But if I turn the compression down then the image looks lower quality. So see either I need to save as like .png's or something or I'm just missing it. But hahah yeah's she's pretty cute. Either ways though I don't like it. I can't decide on how I want to do my digital stuff. My more paintery stuff is okay with the masses but like some people prefer my lame attempts at "photo realistic" so I'm back to trying to find a valid means of painting digitally.

Yeah the blur is EXTREMELY severe. What resolution do you work at? You gotta increase the hardness of your brush and up that resolution, hon!

The shape of her face and the colors are very pretty, though.

Yeah I'm aware of that. I was never even changing the resolution! I was just working with photoshops standard 76 setting. It never even occured to me to try and change the actual resolution. And my brush hardness is at the max! Its set to 100% opacity and 100% hardness. And still I get things soft edges. It must be when I use the airbrush though. I don't know I'll play around with settings until I get it right I guess.

I need to focus on more fantasy stuff. I have to start getting a portfolio together so I can apply for college next fall. So that means I need to step my art game up a serious notch.

And hahaha I like the colors but the errors are sticking out to me like crazy. Not to mention the shitty background. That was just bad decision on my behalf. But as this is a learning thing I'll eventually get comfortable enough to try and put one in one.

But I need to do more fantasy stuff. Finish up the things you wanted V and then get to work on Darks stuff as well...

 

[Venetia]

Yeah I'm aware of that. I was never even changing the resolution! I was just working with photoshops standard 76 setting.

wait, 504x360 pix, 72dpi??? You're shooting yourself in the foot!!! I don't work in ANYTHING smaller than 1000x1000, and most of what I work with is 3000x3000 or higher (150-300dpi).
You have to remember that higher resolutions will result in crisper details, and if you ever decide to print these out (like, for a portfolio), your print quality will be TERRIBLE if you have small images. Trust me it will be 100% better in the end, even if it takes a little longer.

 

[Mascarpone]

this is why i do vector art XD

 

[Shadow_Strike]

Turning the compression down makes it crisper, to when you have no compression and its wysiwyg. Or save it as a .png, but some people fail at viewing those.

 

[Makasu]

wait, 504x360 pix, 72dpi??? You're shooting yourself in the foot!!! I don't work in ANYTHING smaller than 1000x1000, and most of what I work with is 3000x3000 or higher (150-300dpi).
You have to remember that higher resolutions will result in crisper details, and if you ever decide to print these out (like, for a portfolio), your print quality will be TERRIBLE if you have small images. Trust me it will be 100% better in the end, even if it takes a little longer.

Ahh I forgot you work at a graphics company kinda place. Whats worse is that I took Graphic arts as my major in high school and just totally forgot all of what I learned when I graduated. But I spent most of the time in that class doodling up things and chasing girls. So that'd possibly be why as well. But that would make a lot more sense. I'll have to give it a go and increase the res a bit on these. I thought working with higher dpi was only for printing/scanning. Not just increasing the quality of digital work! Working big seems to intimidate me a bit though. Thats why I never actually paint anything in real life. Because I like to work small?

this is why i do vector art XD

But I suck at it. Well I've never tried it but I've tried to use illustrator before and its a total headache.

Turning the compression down makes it crisper, to when you have no compression and its wysiwyg. Or save it as a .png, but some people fail at viewing those.

Really? Because when I preview it it looks like shit to me. But I guess that would make some sense. As well as V's suggestion. I'll have to play around with these things and see what I can come up with I guess. Ace suggestions nonetheless!

 

[Venetia]

When you preview a PNG, it shows it scaled down using a pixel-resize scaling, which makes it look like poop. But trust me at 100% (no scaling, outside the preview deal), it is the least lossy file format with the lowest filesize. Never use JPGs unless you're displaying a lot of these images, or a very very large image, in a web gallery.

 

[stillzero]

OMG boobSsSSSSS111!!!!

Venetia: If you're trying to be funny, atleast TRY to be witty about it. This was just garbage :/. Don't spam.

 

[Twirly]

OMG boobSsSSSSS111!!!!

I have the feeling, that you are begging to be banned...
Edit:
Also your new member group name suits you! Too bad you won't be able to see it for a while!
Also your art looks very good, Makasu! You really have some talent

 

[Shadow_Strike]

wait, 504x360 pix, 72dpi??? You're shooting yourself in the foot!!! I don't work in ANYTHING smaller than 1000x1000, and most of what I work with is 3000x3000 or higher (150-300dpi).
You have to remember that higher resolutions will result in crisper details, and if you ever decide to print these out (like, for a portfolio), your print quality will be TERRIBLE if you have small images. Trust me it will be 100% better in the end, even if it takes a little longer.

Ahh I forgot you work at a graphics company kinda place. Whats worse is that I took Graphic arts as my major in high school and just totally forgot all of what I learned when I graduated. But I spent most of the time in that class doodling up things and chasing girls. So that'd possibly be why as well. But that would make a lot more sense. I'll have to give it a go and increase the res a bit on these. I thought working with higher dpi was only for printing/scanning. Not just increasing the quality of digital work! Working big seems to intimidate me a bit though. Thats why I never actually paint anything in real life. Because I like to work small?

Thats the same with me. I really don't like working big digitally, though I do try.
And higher dpi obviously means better quality. I mean, 72 pixels per square inch, or 300? If there are more pixels per square inch, there will be better ability for detail - but that equals bigger pixels x pixels.

And in the end you just shrink it down.

 

[Makasu]

Also your art looks very good, Makasu! You really have some talent

Why thank you. I try. I still have lots to learn as you can tell by my dpi conversation and I still need to get comfortable with backgrounds and various other issues. But once again thank you.

Thats the same with me. I really don't like working big digitally, though I do try.
And higher dpi obviously means better quality. I mean, 72 pixels per square inch, or 300? If there are more pixels per square inch, there will be better ability for detail - but that equals bigger pixels x pixels.

And in the end you just shrink it down.

But in shrinking it down won't that also affect the quality? I still need to get things to put into a portfolio and I haven't drawn in a couple of days. Not good. Not good at all.

EDIT: Speaking of which can I get you guys' brush settings? I apparently can't seem to tell the difference between a hard brush and a soft brush. I have my hardness set to 100 but that might not be it. I mean I have a 50% opacity and 10% flow air brush and a 40% opacity and 50% flow regular brush I use. I'm more than certain the hardness is set to 100% but since there are other artists on here I figured I could get their opinions as well as some brush settings to try out. So if you can help me out thank you and greatly appreciated.

 

[Venetia]

Shrinking it down affects the quality, yeah, but it looks MUCH better than upscaling a tiny image. And it will STILL look better than using something that's always been small.
Because if you're worried about your portfolio, I should tell you now that you'll need to be showing things to professionals at 8.5x11 or larger, and the default PS settings are NOT large enough.
And you will NEED to print out portfolio work at 150-300dpi. They will be able to tell if you're trying to push low-res stuff.

Just go into PS, set the dpi at 300, then type in a page size of 8.5x11 inches. You'll see how large that is in pixels.

 

[Shadow_Strike]

EDIT: Speaking of which can I get you guys' brush settings? I apparently can't seem to tell the difference between a hard brush and a soft brush. I have my hardness set to 100 but that might not be it. I mean I have a 50% opacity and 10% flow air brush and a 40% opacity and 50% flow regular brush I use. I'm more than certain the hardness is set to 100% but since there are other artists on here I figured I could get their opinions as well as some brush settings to try out. So if you can help me out thank you and greatly appreciated.

Theres your problem. Low flow and opacity make great shading, but lacks any hard lines. Set the opacity and hardness back to 100% and learn to control sharpness and softness.

Here, Notice how I keep the strong sharp line between the bar and the background. But then notice how I was able to still have nice shading inside the bar.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v77/S ... tled-1.jpg[/img]

 

[Makasu]

Now does this require a pressure sensitive tablet? Because my pressure sensitivity doesn't register with my photoshop or any version. The tablet works with it but its like I'm basically just painting with the mouse. Although it works in other programs just fine. Sketchbook pro, Corel Painter, and various other art programs. Just not photoshop.

 

[Shadow_Strike]

It would help a lot with sensitivity. But I don't think you'll need it.
The reason you're not getting sharp lines, is because you don't USE sharp brushes. It seems you're only just using 50% opacity and 10% flow and nothing else.

 

[Venetia]

Now does this require a pressure sensitive tablet? Because my pressure sensitivity doesn't register with my photoshop or any version. The tablet works with it but its like I'm basically just painting with the mouse. Although it works in other programs just fine. Sketchbook pro, Corel Painter, and various other art programs. Just not photoshop.

What tablet do you have? I could help you troubleshoot it. I'd die without my pressure variances