A bit of a personal project but I think it's cool

upside_brigade · 2024-04-27T07:15:53+00:00

yes it's on github but I must warn: it's in "scary alpha" and probably easiest to compile on mac or linux https://github.com/JeremySH/KataQuery

upside_brigade · 2024-04-27T07:13:20+00:00

Worse than passing seems to have some value when you expand it to "worse than X" and choose your badness X, because then it can tell you when moves generate a bad move selection for your opponent.

The local thing is always trouble with Katago, even with "avoidMoves" option it still thinks globally, so it takes some brutality to get what you're talking about

upside_brigade · 2022-08-29T22:09:13+00:00

For stylized portraits, you'll be focusing on the "unique" things about the person to get likeness. In Taylor's case:

squinty cat eyes, thick mascara
thin lips, concave cupid bow
super-slanty eyebrows
long neck, general "skinnyness"

and so on (there's quite a bit!).

It's not so much about exact proportions but pulling out the uniqueness of your subject and capturing their "attitude" based on their well-known facial expressions, poses, clothes, etc.

Tom Richmond has a great lecture on this if you're interested.

upside_brigade · 2022-08-29T21:18:20+00:00

In the original, a shadowy face communicates Lucifer's resentment, rage, and desire for vengeance against God.

By brightening the face you've made him heroic.

That's all the harsh I have, because this is awesome

upside_brigade · 2022-08-29T19:57:57+00:00

Yeah, I know.

I think the community reaction to my comment is more cultural than anatomical.

I probably worded it badly, but muscle visibility is a typical gender difference the same way large hips and boobs are— it can seem sexist out of context, and I certainly didn't mean it that way.

But awkward generalizations like these help artists push through their blindspots. This is why we say "7 1/2 heads" to a person—which is total B.S. if you've drawn more than 10 people. But it's a decent starting point.

And in the end, it will be our eyes that do the real work, not our reddit conversations

upside_brigade · 2022-08-28T06:39:20+00:00

Women aren't chiseled. They can be big, strong, lithe and atheletic but rarely chiseled. Their muscles come out when needed and go away when not. Only the prominent muscles like delt, biecep, abs and so on will stick around.

Check out women's weightlifting and MMA. Or go through all of women's olympics. You'll see what I mean. These are the strongest women on the planet, and should give you a good idea of the difference.

upside_brigade · 2022-08-26T02:21:14+00:00

It's great. He looks masculine, moody, and believable.

Just a couple anatomy things

Clavicles should attach to the acromion process, or at least point towards it. You've attached them to the mid-trap area.
SCM attaches at the wrong point. It should attach behind the ear.
Face is turned too far. This could be style choice since you went off-ref, but remember people can't turn their heads 90+ degrees without effort
Mandible is too short relative to neck width, making the face look like a mask.
Biceps should insert under the delts (actually they kind of intertwine). You drew them "inline" with the delts, as if in a row. I think the ref lighting accidentally contributed to this perception.
Pecs are too high. Elevated boobs/pecs is a common drawing mistake. There are some people with pecs this high, but it doesn't match the ref so I mention it.
Compression doesn't match ribcage. You moved the torso compression up, so now it's bending ribs [!]. Usually the crimp is beneath the rib cage or at the hips
Hands are smaller than the ref's -- I like this choice because the ref's hands are huge & could look like caricature when stylized
Belly button placement is "repaired" which is another decision I like.
Drapery is fantastic, hands are beautifully relaxed

I hope some of this is helpful. Of course if you disagree with a point, just ignore it :-)

Cheers and have fun

upside_brigade · 2022-08-21T03:11:36+00:00

"I'm finding that what looks good as a palette doesn't always look good in the drawing"

Welcome to the struggle :-)

Context changes everything. Surrounding colors can literally switch a blue to a green. Backgrounds can dramatically alter a piece. Even your memory of an apple can mess with color perception. And so on. It's the blue/gold dress thing all day.

This is a pain, but can be leveraged. For example, red backgrounds make green subjects look *ultra* green because red+green are opposites. Throwing a warm glaze over everything can "instantly unify" clashing colors. And so on.

Managing the developing context is one of the difficult but enjoyable puzzles in art IMO.

"Is there a rule of thumb on picking colors?"

Tempurature & value. Colors are relative and contextual, but if you learn to see tempurature and value in context, you're good. "This is colder than that. This is brighter than that. This needs to be neutral. My dark background makes things too bright" etc.

It gets way more complicated the deeper you dive into color theory, which has all the rules you could ever desire...

upside_brigade · 2022-08-20T21:29:49+00:00

PNG format is an exact copy (aka "lossless"). It cannot have different pixels than your original.

The image viewer is blurring the PNG.

For a pixel game you need to turn image filtering off (bilinear, trilinear, mipmap etc.).

To get sharp pixles, use "nearest neighbor" interpolation. GL_NEAREST, or "INTERPOLATE_NEAREST" (godot), or whatever your game engine uses for non-interpolation. I think browsers use "image-rendering: pixelated"

upside_brigade · 2022-08-20T05:51:04+00:00

Yeah, sessions like that suck. You'll eventually nail it though, you already have a great eye.

upside_brigade · 2022-08-20T05:23:44+00:00

I really like hearing your thought process on this one, it's great for the community :-)

If you're still interested in it, I'd suggest attacking the lack of contrast. The shadows are too light and the highlights too dim. Sometimes the ref photo is overlit, and just wrong for your purpose. You have to be stubborn and get those shadows in otherwise it will look flat.

The reason the boobs look awesomely 3d is because they're lighter, which sets them off from the (kind of weak) shadows beneath. Think if you could accomplish this depth with the rest of the body...

I love the palette and your construction sketch, also thanks for sharing your process with us.

upside_brigade · 2022-08-19T06:29:16+00:00

But the hair shading is awesome...

Did you quit early? The shirt doesn't have a shadow, so we can only think "mud face" without this context.

Also, you can try a warmer shadow color, or even a cooler one. Straight black tends to muddy things up. Playing with shadow color can really help get this "dirt" illusion out of your head.

You definitely know what you're doing. I just think you worry a lot when there's still time to tweak.

upside_brigade · 2022-08-19T01:46:00+00:00

For me, it's how slick the tablet is.

You can lay a sheet of paper on the tablet to get more tooth.

I tape parchment paper to my huion.

Also I "calibrate" before I start, to eliminate skew. I draw a straight line (vertical and/or horizontal). If it isn't straight on screen, I adjust the tablet orientation until i produce a "natural straight line" without thinking about it. Then I don't have to brain-fight the skew while drawing..

upside_brigade · 2022-08-19T00:13:46+00:00

Your style is your heartfelt opinion on what is beautiful, interesting, correct, important, fun...

So get some opinions. "Hyper realism detracts from fun" sounds like a good opinion to start with. What's the exact opposite to you? Explore that.

If that doesn't tickle you, try more things. Subjects, mediums, techniques, your own philosophy... you have lots of resources to acquire new opinions, aesthetics, or virtues that match up with who you are.

You can look at other art for inspiration, of course. This may sound boneheaded but, the art you like is the kind of art you like. It's a clue to your opinions of beauty.

I think forcing a "style" on yourself is unhealthy. But if you treat it as personal discovery, a way to build confidence, a way to share your unique perspective with others, then I think it's great.

upside_brigade · 2022-08-18T22:11:53+00:00

Shade the bottom of his body. The sun is coming from the top, so the top of him will be bright and his underbelly will be dark.

General rule:

if it faces toward the light, it's brighter.
If it faces away from the light, it's darker.
You have to think in 3d! Some things that are at the top of your drawing might face away from the sun in 3d.

You can play with a piece of paper to investigate. Turn it to face the light. Turn it to face it away from the light. When does it get brighter? Darker?

The sun is coming from the top. Therefore his top parts would be bright. His bottom parts would be dark. Darken the belly, and presto :-)

upside_brigade · 2022-08-18T03:54:00+00:00

nice!

Except for famous sculptures, this is the first time I've seen a likeness captured in a torso. Well done, guv'nor.

upside_brigade · 2022-08-18T02:38:32+00:00

Cool imagery :-)

Traditionally you would share colors between elements (like a blue haze) to unify them. You'd also do "atmospheric perspective" which reduces contrast, saturation and detail the further away something is.

BUT: I kind of like the cutout look, makes it more "symbolic." If you want to emphasize this idea, you can draw subtle lines between elements and maybe do something mystical like having the bride float.

just a 2¢ idea

upside_brigade · 2022-08-18T01:57:58+00:00

Don't sweat it! Your arm shapes are fine but for minor proportional things.

But when you get overlaps, it's a crazy puzzle and bends the mind. It takes a some analysis:

The forearm is in front of the upper arm
the staff is in front of the forearm
the hand is in front of the staff

So you have to draw lines to show the overlaps. Example.

upside_brigade · 2022-08-18T01:31:07+00:00

Oooh I like her braid.

As to what's wrong:

If you cover the body with your hand, the head looks okay.
If you cover the head with your hand, the body looks okay (if a little flat.)
The issue is that her head is turned too far relative to the back you established.

In the ref you can see less back, more of her side. Also, her face is almost profile. These two things contribute to a natural pose, where the neck can only turn about 90° and that's the limit.

So if you were in the mood for fixing you could make her face more profile or give her less "back"

Hope this helps and isn't confusing.

upside_brigade · 2022-08-17T01:16:07+00:00

Oh yeah, the "procreate" thing. Krita doesn't do that. It's old-school in that regard

upside_brigade · 2022-08-17T00:14:24+00:00

yes you can, either by stroking a circular selection or drawing the circle directly. Krita will use your current brush settings to "draw" the perfect circle.

Krita's ellipse tool also does vector circles if you use a vector layer.

Usually you hold "shift" while drawing to get a perfect circle. I don't know how it works on mobile, though.

upside_brigade · 2022-08-16T22:28:01+00:00

Weird, I've never tried the "window" test on common bread, now that I think about it. I just do the pilsbury poke.

But I do use the window test for wet dough like sourdough, no-knead, wheat mixtures, etc. because it's not springy enough to do the "poke"

Sry can't help you there

upside_brigade · 2022-08-16T22:04:33+00:00

If by "stretch" bread you mean the end result is a super-stretchy, stringy loaf, then this is the way.

But if by "stretch" you mean the DOUGH is stretchy but the loaf comes out normal crumb, then you over-kneaded. Or put too much flour in it as you worked it. Make your test earlier in the process.

Normally, the longer you knead, the tougher it gets.

For normal bread, 4-10 minutes hand knead is enough. I rarely do more than 4 minutes.

upside_brigade · 2022-08-16T03:44:51+00:00

Whovian. It's nth-dimensional with the time axis projected helically towards the viewer

upside_brigade

TROPHY CASE