First digital watercolour piece

Camomilla · 24 May 2016, 20:16

A week or so ago I bought the Watercolour brush-pack from Kyle T. Webster. I'm still getting familiar with my Intous tablet, but this doesn't mean the learning experience can't be fun I'm really stoked on these brushes, and I think my first digital watercolour-piece came out nice.

Things I like about it:
It looks like actual watercolours
I like her expression
I love the goggles - I have a soft spot for the Steampunk aesthetics

Things I think could be improved
More colours (I have a very limited range of colours)
Her ear is placed to high
The goggles are to far apart

Oh, well - still learning. Any feedback on this is greatly appreciated

Di07 · 24 May 2016, 21:42

Hi !

I actually really like the fact that you have just the two main colors. I agree on the goggles I also feel like they are a tiny bit to far apart, but that could just be me

Camomilla · 24 May 2016, 22:18

@Di07 Thank you, perhaps the colour scheme isn't too bad then Yes, the goggles should have been closer. Not a LOT, but when I noticed it started to annoy me It'seems hard to fix even though the peace is digital - these brushes really do act like the real thing, and I think I need to take this more into consideration in my next piece. A better, more accurate sketch would have made me aware of this before I laid down colour.

MOO · 25 May 2016, 02:11

I agree with you. Really looks watercolory I love the loose srokes and mild colors and that blue eye amidst the warm colors

seelliott · 25 May 2016, 10:09

This brush looks really good. I just bought an Intuos too and am still getting used to it.

I really like the limited colour pallet and the eyes. Its great you can see some of the issues as its really hard to spot when you have been working on something. I usually find it takes me around 3 or 4 pieces to get used to how a new brush works.

Camomilla · 25 May 2016, 11:01

@Marsha-Kay-Ottum-Owen Thank you, I like how the eyes turned out too

@sarahelliott489 This is actually not a brush, but a pack of brush presets. I think I used about 5 or 6 different presets in this piece - and since it's so many I had a hard time keeping track of what I used for the different effects. I remember the Wamazing round 80 for the watery shadows in the face, and the Variagated Voom for the shadows in the hair. I approached it like a traditional piece, so there's not much erasing. But I did use layers, so I wasn't quite that confident

I got the brushes (or brush presets) here: https://www.kylebrush.com/. Considering how nice they are they were really affordable. He also included a "cheat sheet" showing previews of the look of the different brushes, which was very useful to have open while working

Chip Valecek · 25 May 2016, 14:31

I love how simple it looks, I can still tell its digital in parts. Maybe using a texture paper overlay with the opacity dropped down may help. This is a great website to find textures http://www.textures.com/

Camomilla · 25 May 2016, 15:49

@Chip-Valecek Thank you, I'll check it out

Christine Garner · 25 May 2016, 16:20

That does look very like watercolour. I tried the kyle brushes as well last year when I was using Photoshop CC (I'm using version CS3 currently because it was too laggy for me). The brushes were very nice though- only reason I would use photoshop CC to be honest would be to use those brushes because they don't work in earlier versions of Photoshop. I use Corel Painter 2016 as well which has really nice watercolour brushes, and Rebelle- which is really fun.

Camomilla · 25 May 2016, 19:09

@Christine-Garner I think the CC-pack is way too expensive! Especially if you don't use it professionally. I really think there should be options where you could buy a traditional lisence. But it's a smart business-move on Adobes part Have you tried CS5 or 6? I think the preset-pack works down to CS5, and it might be less laggy for you I've been contemplating getting some desktop-versions of my favourite drawing apps. Both Sketchbook Pro and Artrage have amazing drawing and painting tools. The reason I'm using Photoshop is mainly because I'm so familiar with the interface and shortcuts - but I can see where the other programs might be superior when it comes to doing digital art. I've never heard of Rebelle, I'll have to check that out, thanks

Christine Garner · 26 May 2016, 06:21

I haven't tried CS5 or 6 but its great the brushes work in those versions because I agree with you the subscription is too expensive.

Christine Garner · 26 May 2016, 15:21

I made a quick video about Rebelle and Corel painter for you. First time I've spoken in a video as well, so sorry if I sound weird, I'm British.
https://youtu.be/Jwey481CVTg

Camomilla · 26 May 2016, 16:13

@Christine-Garner Awesome! No, British English does not sound weird - it's what I was taught in school (I'm Norwegian) I'm especially impressed by the running water effects in Rebelle, but the Corel ones looked great as well! Are you planning more videos? Hope so, I just subscribed

Christine Garner · 26 May 2016, 16:27

Cool Norway is a beautiful place (I haven't been but I've seen pictures).
Yes I plan to make some more videos, I want to do some painting progress videos and get better at talking in them so I break a comfort zone or two.

Leontine · 26 May 2016, 16:56

@Christine-Garner (English is normal English and not American slang right?) love your demo, I really want to give this a try!

Kevin Longueil · 26 May 2016, 17:43

@Leontine

Christine Garner · 26 May 2016, 21:17

@Leontine Cool
(I don't understand the slang question though sorry).

Leontine · 27 May 2016, 07:20

@Christine-Garner It was just a joke, to make you feel comfortable.

Leontine · 27 May 2016, 07:21

@Kevin-Longueil It was just a joke. Please don't feel offended. XD

Camomilla · 8 Jun 2016, 18:26

Aaaand the second one

I'm sorry I'm not more active in the community here, I really wish there was a more hours in a day But I'm committed to drawing daily, even for just a few minutes, so this takes a chunk out of other activities.

Soooo ... this is my second attempt. I found this image of a stunning goth girl on Pinterest, and tried to capture her awesome expression. Not sure how well I did with that, but I still like how the image turned out

Things I like about this piece:
The aesthetics. Goths are supercool
The cool purple (violet?) shadow colours
Her eye colour

Things that could be improved:
Textures - especially the hair, but also the beads in her nose jewellery
The expression, I don't think I nailed it - mine is too pretty

I thought of adding some paper textures like @Chip-Valecek suggested, but I'll try printing this on textured paper first. I'm just not sure how my printer handles thicker paper. It would be awesome to have these printed on some sort of canvas. Maybe - if I get a series, perhaps I'll try

My portrait:

Reference photo: