"Wetlands" work in progress

Spectra7 · #1 03-22-2001, 09:25 PM

I thought you might want to see a digital painting in progress. This is about 50% complete. All the grass in the foreground will be painted in over the textural underpainting and the same with the mountains. Detail will be added to the stream.

Gene

<IMG SRC="http://www.wetcanvas.com/Community/images/22-Mar-2001/Wetlands_inprogress.jpg" border=0>

Robert · #2 03-23-2001, 06:50 AM

This is very interesting, Gene. I'm trying to determine how to relate to this. I just started painting outdoors with oils this year. I don't know quite how this relates - same subject, different style, ink instead of paint, inside in an office instead of outside with bugs. It's given me a lot to think about.

Thanks for sharing the process here on WC. It looks like it takes time to master the steps. The results that you are acheiving are astonishing!

Shari · #3 03-23-2001, 08:34 AM

This is masterfully done. What program are you using? Is this Adobe Illustrator?

Shari

Spectra7 · #4 03-23-2001, 08:39 AM

Hi Shari,

I use Photoshop and Corel Painter. The is also a plug for Photoshop called deep paint that is similar to Painter. Illustrator is strictly a vector drawing program and not capable of this kind of rendering. Illustrator is primarily used by Graphic artists. Corel Painter is a program to look into if you are interested in painting with a computer.

Gene

sajemak · #5 03-23-2001, 03:02 PM

Can you tell us more about how Corel Painter works? I would love to learn more about it. And is there a special 'paint tool' you use instead of the mouse?

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Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

Spectra7 · #6 03-23-2001, 03:30 PM

Well that is a tall order there. It is sorta like explaining how a 747 works. Painter is one of the most sophisticated paint programs for the Desktop ever create and I have used most of them. The reason it is so good, is that the developers really attempted to make it work in the manner artists work and set out to make a paint program that emulated natural media very closely even down to the texture of the ground. This is where Painter really is set apart from other programs. Its ablity to emulate complex brushes, chalks, pens etc. is incredible. They have employed fractal math to produce a demesional effect to media to give it an impasto look. The brushes can actually pick up individual colors on each bristle and dryout like real brushes do. I also use a Wacom digital tablet that has a number of degrees of freedom. It is pressure sensitive, direction sensitive, angle sensitive, speed sensitive, and rotation sensitive. This allows for the artist to use the brush in a very natural way unlike a mouse or simple tablet. So for instance, I can set a brush to get thicker or thinner by pressure, dryout by speed, turn the brush angle by rotation. The possibilities are endless and you can create as many variations as you want and save them as unique brushes. I am only touching the surface here. it would take a book to exlain it all. This program has great depth and is a professional class tool. The learning curve is steep, but that is what it takes to use a capable tool. It took me many years to get the style I wanted and lot of experiemntation. No different than the effort it takse to master any medium. The tools are finally where they need to be to give the artist great freedom in this environment and can now stand up to other mediums.

Gene

tammy · #7 03-23-2001, 04:25 PM

Only 50% complete? It almost looks as if it could stand on its own just as it is!

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sajemak · #8 03-23-2001, 04:42 PM

Maybe an online tutorial is in order here????!

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Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

paintfool · #9 03-23-2001, 09:16 PM

Gosh Gene! I think i'd love to see your oils after seeing what you're doing digitally! I love the feel of this one.
Cheryl

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paintfool

animal · #10 03-24-2001, 10:48 AM

I really like it as it is so far. I especially like the stream and the grasses.

What type of birds are those near the stream (egrets,herons)?

taghera · #11 03-24-2001, 05:01 PM

This is really very good, well done.

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If we were all geniuses we wouldn't need each other----------would we?

campsart · #12 03-28-2001, 03:30 AM

Looking forward to seeing the grass highlights! Nice work.

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"Art is a jealous mistress and if a man has a genius for painting, poetry, music, architecture or philosophy, he makes a bad husband and an ill provider."
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1888), American essayist, critic, and philosopher.

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