A Thread Where You Can Ask Honda About Art Stuff

[HondaFoo]

Herro dere

The huge artsy thread was closed before I could respond to people's questions about artsy things, so I'll just make my own. I don't know everything but I'll try my best to answer people's questions about art theories, school, process, or specific works of mine. I'll also try to offer critiques and paintovers if time permits

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I will be arranging a substantial list of references/tutorials/etc for help with various art topics

 

[Jace08]

FIRST

I feel important now

 

[HondaFoo]

God dammit Jace

 

[Strong Badam]

God dammit Jace

 

[Neon Ness]

Stay on topic guys--ask serious questions in here. This isn't a social thread.

 

[Strong Badam]

YO HondaFoo what kind of thought goes into determining a light source for a piece of artwork? Was always one of my weaker points in art.

 

[Geist]

Honda we should do a collaborative piece someday.
SAY YES?

 

[Chronodiver Lokii]

Honda, I am going to have soo many questions.

All the questions.

I'll think of them and get back to you.

 

[global-wolf]

How do you select colors Honda? Like I know what colors I want, but when it actually comes to picking out the color from a digital color picker it's always wrong.

 

[Crimson King]

I really would like to learn how to draw, but I have zero skills.

What are some ways I can actually improve to at least a doodling level?

 

[HondaFoo]

YO HondaFoo what kind of thought goes into determining a light source for a piece of artwork? Was always one of my weaker points in art.

Light source really affects the mood of a drawing, so choosing a specific approach can really help to get your idea across. Things like rim lighting (comes from behind and creates a glow around the figure) can be used to direct attention to a focal point, for example. There's a lot to consider when choosing a light source, but you want to think of your drawing almost like a scene in a film — what kind of lighting will help set the mood in the best way possible?

Honda we should do a collaborative piece someday.
SAY YES?

Let's do it

Honda, I am going to have soo many questions.

All the questions.

I'll think of them and get back to you.

Okie

How do you select colors Honda? Like I know what colors I want, but when it actually comes to picking out the color from a digital color picker it's always wrong.

Hmm, can you give me a specific example? Color is a pretty complex thing

I really would like to learn how to draw, but I have zero skills.

What are some ways I can actually improve to at least a doodling level?

Copying other drawings is always a good way to at least get used to working with shapes, line quality, value, etc. Find something simple to draw that interests you — maybe comic strip characters, game concept art, anything that sounds super fun to draw — and just copy it like crazy. Even trace a few things. This will help you build a library of all the elements that go into making a picture, and from there you'll be able to use those things to create your own stuff. If you're super hardcore, I suggest drawing from life and photos, but that usually doesn't sound very fun to most people.

I'm not much of a sketcher myself (even though I should be, it's very important) but I suggest getting a Super Secret Sketchbook That No One Ever Sees to practice and draw random things in. I always end up drawing girls in mine, it's great

 

[global-wolf]

Well... let's take this picture

Spoiler

You can see in the cupcake and shadow that the color is just wrong. I picked out a light orangey yellow for the bottom half of the cupcake from the color picker, on the paint tool SAI picker it was in the upper left. Since the floor is greenish I decided the shadow color would probably be pretty cool too, so I kept the same hue and I moved the color picker down and right, but I didn't know how much to move it. It ended up looking really sickly and inedible so I gave the whole cupcake a reddish overlay layer. If I was working with watercolors I would probably start with a wash of yellow ochre and gamboge, and layer some burnt umber above it, with some sap green if necessary. I know how to blend real paints together to get a color that I want, but when it comes to picking a color out of nowhere from a color picker it inevitably turns out gross and I'm not able to layer/blend to make things better like I would with watercolor.

 

[HondaFoo]

I think the problem here is the floor and the cupcake are about the same value, so there's some color vibration happening on the edges between the two. That green is also really strong in saturation. When stuff like that starts happening, it makes all sorts of things look strange. I'd say to get a wider range on value (lighter lights and darker darks) and come back to access your color then.

 

[Massive]

Question #1: Y U NO Come to Massivesmash?

Question #2: Did you do the Riven piece using a (photo) pose reference? Additionally, what was the time commitment on it (How many hours)?

Question #3: Ever done Oekaki?

 

[HondaFoo]

Question #1: Y U NO Come to Massivesmash?

I never have a ride

Question #2: Did you do the Riven piece using a (photo) pose reference? Additionally, what was the time commitment on it (How many hours)?

Yes I did, though I chose the colors myself based on what I remember from those old 1950's pin-ups. I'd say it took me about 14 hours total, most of it adjusting and re-adjusting certain parts. Most of the rendering I finished in the first 4 hours or so.

Question #3: Ever done Oekaki?

I have not. I think it had it's peak a little before I got my tablet, so once I did I jumped right into Photoshop

 

[PsychoIncarnate]

Is it possible to group layers in GIMP?

I always did that in Photoshop to keep the layers organized, I don't see that option in GIMP. Everything looks haphazard in the layers menu

 

[global-wolf]

I'll try giving my pictures more contrast then. Thanks!

 

[HondaFoo]

Is it possible to group layers in GIMP?

I always did that in Photoshop to keep the layers organized, I don't see that option in GIMP. Everything looks haphazard in the layers menu

I've never used GIMP before

 

[#HBC | Red Ryu]

What is a good method to clean up dead pixels like the one in my avatar?

 

[Geist]

Is it possible to group layers in GIMP?

I always did that in Photoshop to keep the layers organized, I don't see that option in GIMP. Everything looks haphazard in the layers menu

I can answer that

Spoiler

nope

HONDA
how do you feel about the coloring method of establishing value with black and white and then overlaying hues with colors on an overlay layer?

 

[HondaFoo]

What is a good method to clean up dead pixels like the one in my avatar?

I don't know, I always just erased them manually like a fool

I can answer that

Spoiler

nope

HONDA
how do you feel about the coloring method of establishing value with black and white and then overlaying hues with colors on an overlay layer?

It works for certain styles of illustrations but I don't recommend it for anything that you want to look realistic color wise, as the colors will come out sort of metallic or burnt and won't look natural. This sort of goes back to what I said about how shadows aren't just "specific color"+black and highlights aren't "specific color"+white. If that's what you're going for, however, you can come out with some nice results if you use it right. One of my favorite artists, Jace Wallace, uses a variation of this for some of his work.

 

[Geist]

Makes sense, but you could always establish different color tints and shades from different light sources by simply making another layer layer on top and detail with small brushes. Assuming you got the values on the black and white correct I imagine that you could experiment with different tones quickly this way.

I'm just trying to find better ways to cheat the clock, but I really don't have much experience with applying advanced color theory. :/

 

[global-wolf]

@Bren: I know Yuni draws everything in black in white and adds color using some sort of tool, and the colors look wonderful (for skin anyway.) http://yuni.deviantart.com/gallery/23677136 She has some tutorials, I know that the oldest one gives a good description of what she does.

 

[HondaFoo]

My current process involves doing the sketch in black and white, along with some greyscale shading, and then making that layer Multiply on top of my base color layer. However, I eventually change the color of the sketch to a certain hue like red or blue (using the Hue/Saturation window in Photoshop) and I also make a layer on top of the sketch for my final colors/details.

The black and white sketch is a nice guide but I can't think of a way where one could punch in colors and have it look natural.