Hi,

How do artists create stunning digital paintings such as the one on the following link? Is this even possible in Gimp?

http://gtarcade.deviantart.com/art/Leag ... -419131072

And this one which I am guessing was created in a 3D application:

http://hitmanx3z.deviantart.com/art/Half-Elf-211271606



Joseph

Many, many, many, many layers.

Of course Rod. But, I am still wondering whether there special brushes or application for this kind of painting. I've read and watched many tutorials but never seen this being done in any of the tutorials.

Thanks.

Joseph

Creativity and imagination? And of course lots of layers.

I have seen that most digital artists when painting they do not often utilize too many layers; they like painting over and blending between shadows and highlights, more like in traditional painting.

I certainly have alot to learn. Now looking at skin painting from http://acidlullaby.deviantart.com/art/S ... l-90966884

Many thanks Rod.



Joseph

They can contain 100s of layers for one artwork.

And time. And talent. Lots of each.

Yes, I agree. I have a burning passion for digital art, I can manage all of the above.



Joseph

@josephbupe

The first image is a composite; a drawn character model over a photographic background, with pretty heavy filter processing to make the two fit together. The second is completely generated in a 3D program, possibly passed through a raster program for post processing.

All of this is certainly possible in GIMP (or other open-source software, like Blender for the 3D).

As for layers, this is more a matter of style than necessity. Personally I rarely use more than 2-3 layers for the whole image and very quickly merge in any new ones I create. I usually avoid stencils/selections and prefer the more "painterly" look created by using brushes throughout. I even try to avoid ctrl-z and eraser when I can, painting over mistakes rather than undoing them. A matter of taste for sure, but it is very dangerous to be too attached to your work - learning that it's okay to paint over large swathes of your work often is a useful practice. If you watch any of my time-lapse videos you'll notice I occasionally ditch hours of work and large sections of a painting since I find it doesn't fit.

I know some artists use a ridiculous amount of layers for every detail and produce wonderful results: Multiple layers (especially in combination with ample stencils/selections) help you create sharp line contrasts and get a very "crisp" line structure. The result can look very good.

But the main drawback with using many layers - especially for beginners - is that it's very easy to get bogged down and focus on just a small part of your image in high detail and loose sight of the full composition. Many a starting artist I know have spent all their time making an eye look perfect over dozens of layers without realizing it does not fit at all with the rest of the face. Working on one layer for the entire image forces you to work in a looser and faster way.

Layers are a crutch. I'd strongly recommend sticking with simple brushes and very few (maybe only one) layer until you get to a point where using a large number of layers is a style choice you do consciously.
.
Griatch

I'm a good example of this. I use more layers than is necessary quite often.

I've seen and interacted with artists that have done highly photo realistic human portraits with Gimp 2.6 (let alone the latest version). One artist commonly received the question of what brushes she used to achieve this, and she responded that she only ever uses the basic round brush.

I'm painfully average at portraits, but I'm raising my sleeve for a current Mona Lisa WIP that I won't unveil until I'm happy with it.

Couldn't tell you about the first link, other than it's awesome ;-) , but the second was made with DAZ Studio (I use it for my artwork) the app is free and comes with a few (very few) goodies. Here's an example of what Studio can do.

Thanx for the info. I'll try it out.



Joseph

Mona Losa remained a WIP for Da Vinci until his death:)