Prochnow Portrait in Painter

[Torplexed]

While sitting about waiting for my SH4 U-Boats expansion disk to arrive I thought I'd fire up Corel Painter and doodle everybody's favorite movie U-Boat captain. However, the likeness isn't all I hoped it'd be. Still gotta work on the eyes.

[Letum]

I say! thats a bit good that is! *saves*

[nikimcbee]

Originally Posted by Torplexed

While sitting about waiting for my SH4 U-Boats expansion disk to arrive I thought I'd fire up Corel Painter and doodle everybody's favorite movie U-Boat captain. However, the likeness isn't all I hoped it'd be. Still gotta work on the eyes.

That's great! How long did you work on it? It looks like an oil painting.

[Onkel Neal]

In the year 2766, when museums mention SUBSIM, it will be referenced as the old Earth style Internet "webpage" where Torplexed displayed his art.

[Respenus]

*bows down to the great artist Torplexed*

We are not worthy of you, oh, great one!

This is a brilliant work of art, if I may say so. It looks,..., real! Like something you'd put in a frame and show it of to others. Really!

Be frank with us, how long did it take to do this baby? Cause I'm trying to convince one of my mates to "create" a portret of me, and giving him a time estimate could "soften" his cold hearth.

One again, brilliant work!

[Torplexed]

Thanks Guys! I don't think I can live up to the great artist label tho. This time tomorrow I'll probably be back to the half-naked girlie cartoons.

I pretty much stuck to the oil painting tools for this one in Painter. I was tempted to use the airbrush stuff but managed to keep it to a minimum. All told it took about six or seven hours. Between daylights savings malarkey and going out to the mailbox every few minutes to see if I had GAME, I lost track of the time.

Anyway, here's a 4-hour captain portrait for Neal, who's a big fan of the Aubrey–Maturin series by Patrick O'Brian. My attempt at Russel Crowe as Captain Jack Aubrey. Long live Subsim!

[nikimcbee]

Originally Posted by Torplexed

Thanks Guys! I don't think I can live up to the great artist label tho. This time tomorrow I'll probably be back to the half-naked girlie cartoons.

I pretty much stuck to the oil painting tools for this one in Painter. I was tempted to use the airbrush stuff but managed to keep it to a minimum. All told it took about six or seven hours. Between daylights savings malarkey and going out to the mailbox every few minutes to see if I had GAME, I lost track of the time.

Anyway, here's a 4-hour captain portrait for Neal, who's a big fan of the Aubrey–Maturin series by Patrick O'Brian. My attempt at Russel Crowe as Captain Jack Aubrey. Long live Subsim!

...hhhmmm half naked girlies :hmm: :hmm: :p

[STEED]

Originally Posted by Torplexed

While sitting about waiting for my SH4 U-Boats expansion disk to arrive I thought I'd fire up Corel Painter and doodle everybody's favorite movie U-Boat captain. However, the likeness isn't all I hoped it'd be. Still gotta work on the eyes.

He looks a shade younger there must be before 1941 before most of the old guard go down in there iron coffins, nice drawing.

[VipertheSniper]

Is it just me, or do both faces look too long in comparision with the real deal? It could well be a difference in monitors tho. They are both great none the less... (talking about Russell and Jürgen)

@nikimcbee: Your drawing is great as well, and your dog in that SH4 sweater is just cute

[Dowly]

Originally Posted by VipertheSniper

Is it just me, or do both faces look too long in comparision with the real deal? It could well be a difference in monitors tho. They are both great none the less... (talking about Russell and Jürgen)

Yes, the faces are abit long-ish, but maybe that's his way of drawing things. :hmm:

[Graf Paper]

That is brilliant digital work you've done there, Torpy!

I've been learning how to use Painter IX with my old Wacom Graphire 2 tablet. I can honestly say that it is slightly easier than using just a mouse, but the 4x5 working area is really too small for large work.

I've been using it to draw u-boat emblems for SH3 but it just feels so unnatural to me after using paints, ink, and pencils for 35 years. And all these weird menus with things like 'transform', 'posterize', and assorted techno-gobbledygook just leaves me absolutely bumfuzzled!

I still much prefer the feel and precision of painting on canvas or drawing on bristol board and creating an effect is as simple as the flick of a wrist.

Got any tips for an old-school artist on how to get the hang of digital art apps like Painter? Maybe you could post a few lessons for us aspiring CG Rembrandts (or at least point out some of the materials and online info you used to learn).

[Torplexed]

Originally Posted by Graf Paper

Got any tips for an old-school artist on how to get the hang of digital art apps like Painter? Maybe you could post a few lessons for us aspiring CG Rembrandts (or at least point out some of the materials and online info you used to learn).

I'm kinda old-school myself. I got my first copy of Photoshop about seven years ago and was really intimidated by that thick gray manual. Getting the tablet made things easier since I could go back to working with something that felt like a pencil again. Got Painter about three years ago. A good book to purchase would be the Photoshop Wow! or Painter Wow! books. They're far better than the manuals for either. To tell you the truth, I've never used a lot of what is in Photoshop like masks and channels, etc.

Here's the quick and dirty way I learned to paint and color in Photoshop and Painter. Mostly by using layers. Let's say I want a new U-Boat emblem featuring Helga ze lovely beer frau serving up beer and tonnage . No objections? Gut! This is a lousy pencil sketch but it'll convey the idea.



First I start with the pencil sketch scanned in at 300 dpi. I usually start with Photoshop since it's the better program for cleaning things up. Once I've transferred it to Photoshop I use the Curves setting to deal with imperfections. With the white eyedropper tool in the Curves dialog, I select the grayest part of the paper and remove the grays, which makes the surface nice and white. The eyedropper removes all the shades between the selected gray and pure white. I then copy that image to a new layer in a new color (RGB) file. I then set that layer to multiply. That has the effect of making the white areas transparent and the black line work stays opaque. All the layers that will stacked under it can be seen.



Now I open the Photoshop file in Painter and I slip a new layer under the pencil layer for the water. ( I like Painter's airbrush tools better) I slap some blue color in using the airbrush tool. I slip in another layer over that for the sky. I just used a simple gradient fill for the sky. The nice thing about layers is they they keep your colors separated from each other. Unlike traditional painting you can work on one area without screwing up another.



Now I've got additional layers for the skin color, dress, etc. Still mostly slapping down colors with the airbrush tool.



At this point I've got most of my colors roughed in. Each on their own separate layer.



Now I add some drop-shadowed lettering with Photoshop in the spaces I left in the design for it. I've still got a lot of shading to do and it's still got a looong way to go before I can start easing out the black pencil work, but that's the basic starting idea. I'll try and finish it up tomorrow.