venomai

~645 USD in Grand Cayman (tax-free islands). Saved about $400 Canadian, even after the exchange rates. :) I'm wondering: what makes a good photo? Other than originality, which is obviously lacking in my photos so far. :P Yes it does, thanks. Does this mean that, for indoors or low-light situations, I'm pretty much stuck with using a tripod to avoid grain? Same, it's freezing up here too. But those shots were taken in Texas :) Awesome weather down there!

I use photoshop. Paint sucks imo. :P

Thanks for the comments, guys! :D A Nikon D50 I took a bouquet of fake flowers (too cold right now for most real ones to look that blossomed) and put em in different lighting. The blue in the first is cast by sunlight on a snowy day shining through large windows, onto the wood floor. I think the white balance I had the camera set to made a pretty big difference on the blue... As for the second, that was just a couple incandescent light sources to get that peachy orange.

Arg I wasn't very well equipped for these photos. They were indoors (w/ low lighting), so I had to set my ISO pretty high. This caused grainyness.. :( My shutter speeds were already low enough, and I didn't have my tripod with me so lower ISO would have just caused even more blurring. Is there another way around this? But anyways, here's another small batch.. Tips & advice would be great, as usual! (Nikon D50)

I'd suggest 3dsmax for your models, especially for your low poly models. Unless you've got one of the very newest versions of C4D, low-poly modeling will be a bit of a pain. Unfortunately, there is very little "drawing" involved in 3dsmax. I'd suggest reading up some simple walkthroughs to get an idea of how modeling is done. I'd also suggest you use a plane (or box) modeling technique, at least for now. http://tutorials.moddb.com/16/ (greatest plane modeling tut I've found) http://ran3d.com/tutorials/galil/galil01.asp (so-so box modeling tutorial, lots of bad methods in it though) http://3dtotal.com/ (go to free stuff -> tutorials) Good luck with 3dsmax, it's an awesome program!

If you've got photoshop there is really no point in "down-grading" yourself to MS Paint. If you really can't stand photoshop, or don't want to learn how to use it, you can get Graphics Gale. Even if it doesn't have all the features of Photoshop, it's free and a great choice for pixels. It's specifically made for sprite/pixel art and does a damn good job at it. Whatever program you choose to work with, just keep in mind that results will not vary that greatly as the methods used to create your pixel art should be nearly the same. But better programs will make things faster and smoother for you, as well as much less frustrating, which should give you a better overall result! :D Next, it looks like you've got the wrong idea on pixel art. The idea is: make a graphic one pixel at a time (hence the name "pixel" art). Once you get good with pixels you can get into colour management, anti-aliasing, softening outlines, etc. Following that simple rule, to shade all you have to do is plot down colours pixel by pixel. Basically, darker means more shadows and lighter means more highlights, but it would be good to familiarize yourself with light & shadows and how colour is affected by it. For some good tutorials, hints and tips on sprite art, check out: http://www.natomic.com/hosted/marks/mpat/ http://www.zoggles.co.uk/asp/tutorials.asp?tut=17 http://spriteart.com/ http://www.zoggles.co.uk/asp/tutorials.asp?show=index

lmao that's awesome... Proportions are so comical that would probably go for a clean mil in the media market :P

jabraulter, thanks! You certainly are crazy :) ha.. just kiddin Thanks for the tips! I'm still very new to this, so feel free to point out any other flaws ;) I'm not too sure how to fix the branch/flower focus issue, but I see exactly what you mean. Unfortunately they were both about the same distance and I suppose they were both focused about equally. :? As for the second one, I thought mood was something you should try and bring out in photos? :? Sorry, I'm new to this, as I've said! :P Hmm.. I believe the main subject flowers (oops.. and the branch too, hehe) are in focus, with the rest blurred to keep it from being too busy. Should I have kept more flowers in focus, using a smaller aperture? And yes, I used a very high ISO, 1600 to be exact. Since I read your post, I've started reading up a little on ISO. I read that slower film speeds result in less grain. But since my digital is simply imitating the sensitivity, would lower ISO settings actually reduce the grain? I've also read that higher ISO is better for keeping many objects in focus, which may be one problem that caused the branch/flower focus issue WF brought up. Thanks for the tips you two, I havn't really thought that much about film speeds & grain and I'll be sure to try and fix my focus issues. :D

A big thanks to all the comments. :) I appreciate em. Psh lol it's not the hands that do the work :P Clicking the button is easy, getting a decent photo is really difficult (I'm still workin' at it!). Ha yea I love it! It's great. erm.. what? :? Thanks nad. I've only been testing for a few days, but so far I've really only used the Programmed, Manual, Aperture priority and Shutter priority modes. I usually use the aperture priority for macro (or zoomed) shots so I can vary the out of focus blurring. Thanks! My camera has a 18-55mm range (I can zoom in/out to get an effect like macro/wide angle lenses). And yes, they've been sized down (and cropped, too). Their original sizes were 3008x2000. Here are the specs on the first photo: Shutter -- 1/640 Aperture -- F5.6 Focal Length -- 55mm And for the second: Shutter -- 1/125 Aperture -- F5.6 Focal Length -- 55mm

Testing my new Nikon D50 camera :D A bit of contrast & colour tweaks in PS.

Great stuff Keiph, as usual. :) Interesting to see how you've improved through time, as well... Are you working with 3D modeling btw? Or plan to be? PS: For now I've put my modeling on pause to make way for paintings and such, but my old methods were with plane modeling. I like it a bit better than box modeling for nearly-symmetrical objects (like weapons). It's just about the same, though...

Hey :) I just got back from vacation. but yea.. I still hang around. Trying to learn & improve my digipainting and photography skills.

Here are some more quick sketches. See you all in a week if I don't have time to do more tomorrow morning! :D tree steps, total was about half an hour. experimenting with movement. Deciding between those last two.. or maybe I should go back to the initial tree? Here's a larger one.

Oh. There is a version that is fully functional and free? I could only find the 30-day trial.. Those things you mentioned sound fantastic! Networked sketching :o woah!

As usual, fantastic work water faerie! You should join in on the fun at the Speed Painting thread tttia's starting up. You'd fit right in. :)

Oh god I didn't even notice this thread here. I've got some catching up to do! :P Dont' have time to critique your works right now, but I will try to once I get back from my vacation :) Speeding up a yellow pear to finally finish this scene, hehe.. working on some strawberries. 45 mins so far? i didn't really time it. :oops: 3 minute sketch ~19 minutes adding more to it, which brought me up to 26 minutes for this painting.

Before I say anything, I would strongly advise against buying a 3D modeling program unless you are actually in a field of 3D animation or modeling. The prices are so expensive (over 3500 USD for the better ones) that there really is absolutely no point in buying one just for abstracts or sigs. But keep in mind, there are free ones out there that still allow you to model! ;) Anyways, here's how I'd rate them based on personal experience of the ones I've tried: Cinema4D Price is decent for an advanced 3D program like this. However, modeling capabilities are somewhat weak and low-poly is even more difficult to work with. Messy wireframes on older versions was the main reason for this, but I hear they've fixed a lot of those problems now. It's great and very easy for anything abstract, a unique material editor and a good set of tools. Overall I'd say this is a fine program, but better suited for abstract work rather than low or high poly modeling. However, from a price perspective, if you had to buy one this would probably be the best. 3dsmax Price is ridiculously high ($3,500 USD for their most recent version, I think) if you just want this as a hobby. But by far the best, I completely love my 3dsmax. I find modeling a lot easier than in other programs, and everything is much cleaner and more logical. View setup and camera movements by middle mouse click/roller is just to die for, I wouldn't give it up for anything. Fantastic for just about everything, but better suited for commercial artists or businesses. Student discounts are great if you can get 'em. Maya Much like 3dsmax, I think the price range is even somewhat similar. Slightly better for NURBs and rigging/animation, but I havn't tested this very much. Student discounts are great if you can get 'em. Anim8or (recommended) Free and great for modeling. I think it's better for low poly, but I can't say I've tested it very thoroughly. Probably the one I'd most recommend to you. Blender3D Also free like Anim8or. I believe it has more features, but from testing it out it's much more complicated and much more difficult to understand. Those are all that I've tried. I've covered most of the leading priced programs, but have only tested a couple freeware ones.

Hey, while we're all here discussing digital painting programs.. Does anyone want to shed some light on Open Canvas? Is it any good?

Woot that's leet. Nice composition and fresh choice of colours! But it goes downhill from there. :( For now I suggest you practice with pencil & paper on simple things (e.g. fruits or still life). Get into shading and details later, just make sure you get the lines right first. Practice with line only sketches and once you get used to that move onto shading and details. At the very least, master your line sketches before you go back to pixeling. :)

Not bad for a first! Good modeling. Got any wireframes/clays? The textures are a bit much imo..

Tip's best pixeler would probably be Zilben. Awesome skills, one of the few here that does such a fantastic job at catching realism in their pixels! :) http://www.deviantart.com/view/10392198/ I wouldn't be surprised if somebody paid 20M for a sig of that quality, except it would still be a bit ridiculous. Other great pixelers would be Fox Red, TJ, MxM, princessa, etc. Each one has his/her own style, it's up to the buyer to decide what they are looking for. Many of the great tip pixelers have become inactive, but show up occasionally if you've got a good enough prize.

Looks cute. :)

I agree, if you don't own PS there's no point in buying it simply for pixels. But seeing as how the OP already owns PS, there's no need to encourage him to "downgrade" to MSPaint. A couple of the top pixelers here may use MSPaint, but that doesn't mean it's worth using next to photoshop. And most freeware programs (eg. Graphics Gale) are still much more effective than a program like MSPaint. But "to each his/her own," I guess. Just keep in mind that there is nothing "cheap" about photoshop, and it in no way requires "less skill" to use. :wink:

Sorry, but I don't agree with this. If you own Photoshop CS, there is absolutely no reason to be using MSPaint. Put it this way, If you had both a hand and a foot and your hand was better for drawing, would you ever use your foot to draw with? As long as you follow the "sprite/pixel rules" (ie: no brushing, filters, etc.) Photoshop is a very fine choice of program. Now, with that out of the way, great sig! The sky's colours look fab, the blending is great right now. However it's looking a little plain near the bottom of the sky, maybe some clouds or something could spice it up? (note: do things like this on a diff layer ;) don't wanna ruin your sky) Also you should try and clean up your lines, try to keep them at about 1px thick. The horizon line looks like 2-3px thick, which should be fixed. :) Lastly, don't forget to use some lighter shades & highlights on the rocks, and try to avoid pillow shading. :) Good luck, keep it up!

Sure, there is a link to it in my first post. More of my work can be found in there, although this is really my first major digital painting. Check my scraps for earlier drawings/sketches. http://venomai.deviantart.com/ PS: Scan lines? Of what sort, and which guide are you referring to? Haha, practice makes perfect. ;)