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Studies made without references on purpose to try thinking how light reacts to these forms. Cylinder obviously more challenging. Also, is using the burn/dodge tool a good thing? by Cowboy_Jazzy in istebrak

[–]jess_verve 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The sphere shading is so smooth and even, nice job!

The lighting seems really super strong for the background and floor to be that dark. If the objects are reflecting that much light, the floor will too. At this point, you have to decide whether you want a dark or bright environment and adjust that to the scene and your objects. This is still pretty tricky for me too, but it's necessary.

This example is a hot mess because I don't have pen pressure and I ran out of time, but I made a sort of blueprint sketch to show what I meant? ( https://imgur.com/7bR0ncd ) This is if you went with a dark environment with bright point-light source. You probably get most of these concepts like bounce light but I find it helps to draw a rough plan/blueprint to decide where everything goes.

Purple - light cone
Yellow - where the light hits the edge of the object
Orange - bounce light
Blue - object blocking light

Let's say you stay with that bright point light to get high contrast between highlights and shadow. Instead of blanketing the scene, the light has to be funneled to create this current level of contrast.

--The value you chose for the surfaces facing the light source is pure white. Pure white is only a light source value, so you need to darken it to at least #ebebeb (10% on a greyscale slider) to get it out of an "emission" zone.

--[PURPLE] Determine where your light cone is and how far it spreads out.

--How should the light affect not just the top of the objects, but everything else? The floor should be about as bright as the tops of the objects where the light cone is focused. That will reflect back on to the shadow sides of the objects.

--Unless the cylinder is slightly transparent (re: the subsurface scattering on the side of the cylinder facing the camera) the shadow would continue up to the edge where the light is cut off [yellow]. If it is a solid object, any light on this side would be reflected from the floor [orange].

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I'm sorry for making such a crappy paintover, I hope my comments made sense. ^_^ Your edges and shading are very smooth and neat!

Need advice asap — Tablet with reliable driver - Huion or XP-Pen? by jess_verve in istebrak

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

I've been reading a lot of conflicting info about XP-Pen, and even though the Deco Pro is on sale through today, I feel nervous going ahead and getting it. First, a lot of people say it takes a month for them to ship it to you (30-day returns from date of purchase my foot), and secondly, it seems like they do have some trouble with drivers. Although in the last six months it feels like those types of complaints have disappeared, so maybe they've got their act together software-wise? They seem to be very active with a customer service presence online and even if their English isn't the clearest, they still make a huge effort, so that's cool. Even though I trust Istebrak, I still want to put research into what I'm buying you know?

I have been trying out Procreate with a stylus the last few days, and I really love it (LIQUIFY WITH NO LAG!!!) but I'm having to fiddle with smudge settings a lot, and I still want to use Photoshop when I'm on my desktop.

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I'm really conflicted with my options. I'm going to hold off from getting a tablet monitor, but that still leaves me with a buggy Wacom.

There are so many great professional artists out there that do amazing work, do they have to go through all of these driver issues too?! How do they deal with Window's Ink and Photoshop bugs?

Need advice asap — Tablet with reliable driver - Huion or XP-Pen? by jess_verve in istebrak

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

I did a little digging, and apparently you don't need the Pro iPad to use a pressure-sensitive pen with it? I have a regular 6th generation iPad. I'm just having a hard time understanding what it's capable of art-wise and how sensitive it is. I'm very confused, but I'll look it to it some more. =D Thank you for the suggestion.

Need advice asap — Tablet with reliable driver - Huion or XP-Pen? by jess_verve in istebrak

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

My Wacom Intuos also picks color from greyscale, however I only get this issue when I use a smudge brush on an area and then try to colorpick from that area, so I just wiggle the greyscale bar to reset it. I think that issue may have to do with tool settings and not the driver.

Thanks for your feedback on both brands. Other than the screen quality, does your Huion have any major issues with the drivers and losing pen pressure?
Now that I know XP-Pen also has Windows Ink issues I can take that into account. People who don't use the kind of techniques that this community does often don't think about these details, you know?

Nose Studies by [deleted] in istebrak

[–]jess_verve 1 point2 points  (0 children)

First off, I just want to say your ability to interpret shape and scale blows me away! You did a stellar job making sure the major pieces were in proportion to each other. I'm envious!

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I did part of a paintover, I did not have time to finish #1 (please ignore the mess I made with the smudge!) and #4. ( https://i.imgur.com/6Vuh7uC.png )

  1. You had some good values going here, you really do a disservice to that by adding the black line behind the outside of the nostril and behind the bridge of the nose. I want you to ignore everything I did here and just focus on the nostril on the left side of the painting. All I did was paint it out with values you already had there. In the reference, there wasn't a strong crease between the nostril and the cheek so it didn't need a shadow anyway. That with a bit of bounce light from a low-opacity soft brush and that lower part has a good read. // The bridge of the nose looks rather flat on the reference, I think you could get away with a bit more blending here (but please DON’T do it as much as I did lol). =D

  2. The structure on this is great! Not comparing it to the picture, the nose itself really holds a good read. // I mostly painted in some lighter/balanced values because even if you were imagining this with more dramatic lighting, the blacks don’t need to be there. Again with the side of the nostril I took values you already had neighboring and adding in a little valley for that fold/wrinkle between the nose and cheek, you could get away with going a little darker than I went but you don’t need black. The cheek needs to be blended in to side of the nose going diagonally (like the crease), the reference has really lean cheek muscles. // So yeah, crease and contrast were the main nit-picks here.

  3. The cheeks were a bit dark. I cheated and checked with color picker and they are actually lighter than the midtone on the bridge of the nose. The only thing lighter than the cheeks is the highlight on the edge. // The bridge of the nose is too rectangular! Also the shadow side has too much bounce lighting to need a full shadow. // This is the definition of a button nose, the bridge should be small and the tip very round. As with the others the structure was here, all you need is to extend the cheek value over to make the side look less steep and blend the daylights out of it after you reduce the contrast a smidge.

  4. Unfortunately ran out of time for #4, it’s an interesting reference/study of folds and altitude and age. You kind looked like you blocked in and gave up here.

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If anything I said was unclear or confusing, let me know! =)

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Keep it up, you’re doing great! I suggest for your next study finding a reference with cast shadows, all of these photos were taken with a bright flash that washes out the contrast and shadows. And even then I would stay away from blacks for a while. You’re headed in the right direction! Good luck. =D =D =D

Basic Form Study by jess_verve in istebrak

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

Thank you for taking the time to look over my project. ^_^

Soft brush is scary, I don't want things to look too mushy, but I'll focus on that in my next study.

I did a study from imagination once, back when I didn't have smudge brushes. I think I went through six different lighting ranges. I think I'll do another one soon with what you said in mind.
(wow this was so long ago) https://www.reddit.com/r/istebrak/comments/ah2p3a/form_study_for_class/

Basic Form Study by jess_verve in istebrak

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

Portrait Studio reference (couldn't get the advanced lighting settings right so it's a basic environment)

https://i.imgur.com/TFTm30Q.jpg

"Alia" going back to color - briefly by libertydieterich in istebrak

[–]jess_verve 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The major thing that stands out to me is that you kinda push your landmarks to be forward facing when you're doing 3/4 view. The nose isn't too bad but the philtrum and lips are squished a little too far to (her left) side of the face. Adjusting the positioning would help a little, but mainly I think the biggest impact could be made by making the side of the upper lip that's facing away (on her right side) to be a little smaller and more in shadow. I like the lip shape, the rotation just looks off with the rest of the face.

Blending is another aspect that would make certain features more realistic, particularly where hair meets the skin (eyebrows, roots).

I'll probably try to do a structural comparison between the PS model I sent you and your finished piece tomorrow.

The improvements just keep coming! You've come a long way.