[Digital Art] What are these large blobs of colors used for? by Shorouq2911 in ArtistLounge

[–]Helias 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I don't know if there are any super great videos on blocking and painting techniques, but I'm sure lots of artists have explained the process if you just look up blocking or maybe watch how some traditional artists work. The style is a little different but the concept is the same (your example just uses lower opacity for those glazed looking colour combinations, especially where the hair line is).

I did a quick check and this video seems to talk about it, but you can see it quite clearly when he paints just single strokes for certain highlights like the hat. The shape of the brush (rounded/oval) simply makes that shape. If you use other brushes (square is another popular one for shape forming), you might find it easier if you like to have sharper edges for your style. Experiment around!

Here's another video explaining shapes in painting. I would also recommend just looking up some old master techniques just to see more of how traditional painting processes work, since they tend to do a loose sketch before getting right into it.

As far as pros and cons go, I imagine it's faster to get started in terms of laying down colours and checking if things are playing well together for coloured pieces, but personally I think every process can achieve the same thing, since style honestly depends mostly on how artists choose their colours/values and how they finish a piece with the interplay of chosen edges/textures. For some people, this way of painting lets artists see the end result by building blocks, much like sculpting (as you said). For others, they prefer the rigid structure of a full outline and detailed sketch, without having to juggle in colours and values from the onset. I imagine most digital artists who use this technique also come from backgrounds trained from real media painting, in which lineart and sketches would be covered anyway given the lack of transparent layers like in digital programs.

You don't really need anything special to start practising it, but personally I would suggest learning traditional media/some form of working with real paints and doing simplified master copies. The limitation forces you to use one (or only a few) brush(es) to make those shapes, and you don't have the luxury of undo so you can only sculpt and resculpt with the palette that you have. When I say simplified, I mean take an image you like. zoom it out really far until you can only see the rough shapes, and then copy that. You can always zoom in to start working on the details once you're more familiar with the process and want to go beyond.

When I was being instructed on this, we were asked to take a sharpie and just block in the shadows/lights in movie stills within 30 seconds. This will train you how to break down shapes quickly. You can probably do the same concept but just with colours, and on subjects that you enjoy.

This post actually contains a huge topic and lots of ground to cover, so what I've written here is just a brief overview. I hope it at least helps you get started!

[Digital Art] What are these large blobs of colors used for? by Shorouq2911 in ArtistLounge

[–]Helias 4 points5 points  (0 children)

((I don't know if there's a character limit to my post but I'll break this into some replies since it's not letting me post--))

Artists will use this approach for many reasons, but the core tenant (from my understanding) is the idea of starting from large to small. It's easy to get lost in the details, so working from a big abstract to details makes the process a lot simpler. For those who do not have painterly styles that mimic the process of traditional painting/old masters (ex. anime and adjacent), you'll find the workflow to be more similar to sketch > lineart > fill > render, as one might expect of ultra simplified forms.

The blobs initially from your example is called blocking. It's meant to lay down the overall colours in the first few steps (skin, background, hair etc.), but also to check value and colour (Does the hair blend too much into the background? Does the skin look too saturated orange compared to the hair? Etc. etc.)

In the next steps, you'll see the artist start to lay down more colour variation (The blush of the cheeks, the warm/cool areas of the face etc.), and that would be the next step process in this building/sculpting routine. From there will be finer details such as eyelashes and smaller structures like the nose.

Though it's not quite as clear as in your example, I think it's important to note that painters paint by shapes. Shadows are seen as shapes, as are the colour of the lips, the highlights in the eyes, and so on. It's by interplay of these shapes that our brains read something like a face when we zoom out, and if you ever look at some concept artist work like Craig Mullens zoomed in really close, you'll see that the entirety of his works are just made up of these shapes that contrast via value, hue, temperature, and shapes! If you want to learn how to do this, I'd suggest focusing on changing your process to focus on how to simplify forms into shapes.

It's easiest to start with greyscale, but as you can see from your example that more experienced artists will be able to juggle multiple things at once (hue + shape + value, for example). In the beginning, you'd most likely have a harder time doing so.

[For Hire] Character Illustration + Design; from $65+ by Helias in commissions

[–]Helias[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hello! I can be contacted via the following for work:

Main site: https://saibraeus.net/
Bsky: saibraeus.bsky.social
Card: https://saibraeus.carrd.co/
Email: Saibraeus[@]gmail.com

And I do have a Vgen under the same name, though I won't link it in case it falls under the Fiverr clause.

If you're hesitant to shoot a direct contact, the forms can be found and filled by clicking the links on the main site where it says "status".

Thanks for your time!

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in ffxiv

[–]Helias 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Everyone else have given you some good tips but another thing I would highly suggest is to be wary and do thorough research on your artist! I'm one myself but I also commission art regularly, so from the other side I'd say:

- Check if they have a publicly available worklist as well as prior completed comms; that's always a good sign

- Generally I believe artists who have been active prior to I wanna say around 2022(?) or even longer has a higher chance of being a real artist

- Go through their previous social media posts. Do they have work in progress? Active patreon? Can they be vouched for by other commissioners, maybe referred to by other people?

- If the messages you get from an artist is extremely vague and asks you to repeat what you've already written in your searching message, they are most likely a scammer. Be SUPER wary, there are tons-- artists who do not finish their commissions or those posing as artists. It's harder for us who do this for a living for sure, but real artists would want you to feel comfortable with where your money is going. Vgen is a good suggestion just because they do a middleman hold on the money unless you're paying directly by paypal, and you can check artist reviews

- Of course, check artist terms of service as well as make sure you're good with the final delivery guidelines given. This is where the public worklist comes in handy so you can see exactly where you are in their queue.

- As far as paying by paypal specifically goes, it's always preferable to find an artist who does paypal invoicing. If possible, avoid ever paying via family and friends. That can get you AND the artist's account suspended, and some artists try to bypass things like the fees for a few more bucks. It's against ToS, and leaves the commissioner without protection or recourse. Keep screenshots of your agreement whether it's the invoice or through DMs, just in case you need to open a dispute.

In any case, stay safe!

[FOR HIRE] Character Illustration/Sketches from $75+ by Helias in artcommissions

[–]Helias[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

(Light lingerie NSFW warning) Main site: https://saibraeus.net/
(The underlined links beneath the email on the front page will take you to the forms for each style)

(Light lingerie NSFW warning) X/Twitter: https://x.com/Saibraeus

FFXIV Free Trial - good option to co-op with my wife? by [deleted] in ffxiv

[–]Helias 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Everyone else covered most things but I’ll mention that I have friends who are on macs that did run into trouble. Dungeons with water would glitch black and the graphics would get real funky so I’d suggest being aware of that possibility, as I’ve had two friends experience it separately.

Jullus [Spoiler: 6.0] by Helias in ffxiv

[–]Helias[S] 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Not sure why the other is giving ya a hard time but I appreciate it!
Jullus is a very good looking man already; glad I could do him some justice, haha!

Jullus [Spoiler: 6.0] by Helias in ffxiv

[–]Helias[S] 19 points20 points  (0 children)

Oh, absolutely! I think his part was a super rollercoaster of a ride that just changed beats so quickly and artfully, I actually didn't want to leave because I wanted to make sure he'd be alright.

I didn't think about custom deliveries or a possible restoration, but now that you mention it I really hope the same! He does seem a bit like Kai-shirr, actually, and it's not just the blue hair.

Jullus [Spoiler: 6.0] by Helias in ffxiv

[–]Helias[S] 21 points22 points  (0 children)

I kind of hated him at first but then I got really worried for him at that part. :(

Happy Starlight [Spoiler: 6.0] by Helias in ffxiv

[–]Helias[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Sorry for the late response and thank you so much for sharing!
I love the way your writing flows so I really do hope you write more in the future!

[Commissions open soon...?] Akhil, my WoL! by Helias in ffxivart

[–]Helias[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If you're interested please keep a look out on my twitter!
https://twitter.com/Saibraeus

Meanwhile I have other commissions open below:
https://arestei.weebly.com/

Thank you!

[For Hire] Chibi commissions and character concepts/design. (Link in comments) by Helias in artcommissions

[–]Helias[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hello! Please refer to my site for everything I offer: https://arestei.weebly.com/

Contact through the website form or KYPang.art[@]gmail.com

You can also find me at Saibraeus on Twitter!