Tips on using computer in your art

[nelvia]

Hope this is right as this is first thread, may have been asked before, so many of you are so knowledgeable about CP, I wondered if you have tips for using the computer for color swatches, creating your preliminary studies, checking proportions, making gray tones. Is it essential to have and work in Photoshop? If so how did you pick it up, especially if you aren't real techie?

[wineberry]

Personally , I don't think it's necessary to spend a lot of money on Photoshop.
It is good though, to be able to make a grey scale but most simple photo editors will do that . Colour swatches can be done on a piece of art paper using your pencils and doing thumbnails is great for composing your compositions.

That being said , if you really do want Photoshop I would think there is an online learning Manuel that comes with it and if you personally know someone who has Photoshop , perhaps they would give you some instruction.

[nelvia]

Thank you for responding, I think the old methods are really good and far more accurate visually. Just don't know if I am missing something that would be beneficial as I am trying to get more planning proactive about painting. I have pulled down some shared photoshop programs but don't have the intuition to figure it out.

[vapsman88]

I use Photoshop quite alot for image adjustment and determining color values. There is a free application that will do the same things and is called GIMP:
http://www.gimp.org/downloads/

~John

[nelvia]

Thank you vaspmann88 I will check it out, I have learned to resize.

[nelvia]

Thank you vaspmann88 I will check it out. Do you use color adjustment for your reference shot or your painting while in process?

[TessDB]

Photoshop (or another image editing program like gimp) can be very useful--
You can use it to resize your ref, easily shrinking or enlarging it. You can use it to help figure out the crop you want to use for a ref pic. You can re-arrange elements to create your own compositions. You can take the flower from one ref pic and drop it onto the background from another. You can isolate the main elements and fade/blur/shift the elements you don't want to focus on. You can play with color if you want to change what your ref is showing you...

For my knotwork, I use it a *gob* to play with color-- I can get a better idea if the colors I'm wanting to use will work together the way I think they will. And if I'm horribly horribly wrong (that happens a LOT) I can see it on the screen before I've invested too much time or pencil on that phase of the project.

Are these all things you can do on paper and by hand? Of course.
And like most things, if you don't take the time to learn how to use the software you won't get the full benefit of it.

do you *need* it? No.
Is it a handy tool to have at your disposal? Yes.
Gimp is very powerful and has lots and lots of tutorials available on the web. It does have a steep learning curve (but so does photoshop), so give it a try and see.

Hope this helps!
Rosemary

[Lexycat]

I dont know how to use photoshop or any photo editing software apart from the basics on the computer, only thing I do is always do my ref photo in greyscale, it makes your tonal values so much clearer, and gives me a guide to darks and lights more than my colour ref. I will usually add brightness and contrast to a ref photo if it needs it, again to pronounce tonal values, and as I like a lot of colour in fur, I will often add more saturation.

I have never done colour swatches preferring to jump right in there (too impatient to get going) - but always start with light layers and small areas to see if I like that colour, obviously I've been doing it now for 3.5 years, so I have a fairly good idea when it comes to fur shades.

I found cp books extremely helpful at the beginning, I would do some of the exercises in the book using the colours given, and after a few of these you start to get to know your pencils and get familiar with them, I also did some of the Kits available on Ann Kullbergs website, again very helpful for a beginner, gives you the confidence then to start to develop your own style, also studying others work on this forum, there is a wealth of info here that is invaluble.

[RobinZ]

I only use it crop and color correct photos of my pieces at the end. I am not very savvy in it.

[George924]

Any tool that an artist can use to advance their work should not be over looked...take Edgar Degas, when he found the use of the camera he found a new pathway into composing his work. So use what ever methods you feel comforting...and always grow as an artist, something that every artist should be doing Grow!!!

[nelvia]

Ok you guys are making me think I have to try again, most of the computer just isn't that intuitive for me, but if there is tutorials or "dummies" book , I am there. Some of the things you describe I have never done, but makes sense and yes we need all the help/luck we can get, thanks all for answering.

[RobinZ]

It takes time to learn to use these programs effectively, and I am not sure it's time well spent. It's not for me. I don't want my work to look like it was photoshopped. I've seen portraits that look like they are colored in photoshop printouts and they are awful, almost scary looking in their bizarre mix of bad photos and unobserved color combos.

Especially for beginners, I think it's time much better spent in practicing drawing, doing pieces where you actually use your medium to produce color combos, etc. Your hand will show, not an artificial computer program.

Your mistakes will teach you something. Your effort will give you ideas in creativity. You will develop your own unique style and that is worth more than gold.

[nelvia]

Robin thanks, I know we should do forward things but it takes art time to learn the system and not sure the return is always right. What it does is get me waylaid and gives me an excuse to not be doing what I should in my art time

[RobinZ]

Oh, believe me, I understand getting waylaid. Sometimes in a good way! I sometimes plan to just do a little something to a piece and end up lifting my head up 3 hours later. Happened today, as a matter of fact!

[Mike Burton]

This will be my first post,but I had a copy shop and repaired a lot of photos for clients. In photo shop if your in CMYK rather than red green blue I found coloration less problematic. Everyone is correct though, learning photo shop eats days at a time.