Digital painting. Computer graphics as art (continued)

Company last week Wacom, a virtual monopoly in the world of digital painting, introduced a new technology WILL– Wacom Ink Layer Language. This is a new universal standard that enables cross-platform and collaboration on premises or in the cloud, regardless of device and ecosystem. The technology involves the use of not only specialized tablets for digital painting, but also smartphones and conventional tablet computers equipped with styluses.

Digital painting, that is, the creation of electronic paintings using computer simulations of artistic tools, is very interesting area. We don't hear every week big news about the new graphics tablet and do not wait with bated breath for new tools, however, this area of ​​consumer electronics is steadily and continuously developing. not at all as highly specialized as, say, programming. The availability of technologies and tools allows even non-professional artists to create their own digital paintings. How has this industry developed and what can we expect in the future? Let's try to find out!

The direction of digital painting is quite young, which is obvious - for its appearance, a sufficient development of computers and devices for input and output of information was necessary. The exact date of the first computer drawing, in general, is not known to anyone. And what can be considered as such? Should pseudographics be classified as digital drawing or not? The first noticeable and colorful works made on a computer appeared in the mid-90s of the last century, when the widespread use of SVGA monitors and video cards capable of displaying 16.7 million colors.

Interestingly, the ancestor of the modern digital artist's toolkit, the first Graphics tablet appeared long before the development of personal computers. Elisha Gray patented the first graphics tablet in 1888. But the first device, really similar to modern ones, consisting of a pen and a flat pressure-sensitive device, worked in conjunction with a computer Stylator and was used for handwriting in 1957.

In 1964, a graphics tablet was introduced, which used a grid of semiconductors below the input surface to which ternary Gray-coded electrical impulses were applied. The pen received this signal, which could then be decoded back into coordinates.

But the first consumer graphics devices called KoalaPad were designed to work with Apple II computers, their history began in 1984. Together with the tablet, the user was offered a special software for drawing . Over time, Koala tablets began to work with other computers (the graphics program for the IBM PC was called PC Design), and soon the market for consumer tablets expanded - new firms entered it.

Since the end of the twentieth century, the rapid development of digital painting or CG art(Computer Graphics Art). The reason for this was, firstly, accessibility. In order to draw on a computer, in addition to the computer itself, it was necessary to purchase only a graphics tablet and software. The second reason for the growth in popularity was the increase in the speed of the artist's work. Graphic programs offer a large number of tools, not to mention a rich palette of colors. For a contemporary artist it is enough to make two clicks with the mouse to select the desired color - there is no need to buy and mix paints. And do not forget about the biggest plus of the computer - any erroneous action in the program can be easily undone. IN digital drawing it is easier to make changes, and you can send it to the destination immediately upon completion - there is no need to wait for the paint to dry and transfer the canvas to digital media.

The growing popularity of technology has allowed the development of the corresponding toolkit - in the arsenal of a modern digital artist, illustrator or graphic designer there are a huge number of effects, brushes and filters that are simply not available in traditional painting.

At digital painting great prospects, but also great limitations. From the 18th century to traditional art there is practically no technical development, modern artists create with almost the same set of tools as their colleagues a hundred years ago: canvas, brushes, oil ... But at the same time, the resolution and pixel density of displays increase every year, the quality of color reproduction increases, computing power grows, software develops software - all this is a determining factor for the development of digital drawing. This is on the one hand. On the other hand, the resolution of modern monitors is still far from the resolution of the human eye, the monitor is not able to display such a number of details and details that live observation of the same size section of the canvas can provide. classical painting.

Another modern problem of digital painting is simply the lack of appropriate educational institutions. digital artist today it is, in fact, self-taught. Most famous digital artists have graduated educational establishments in traditional painting and only then independently switched to digital art.

Although there are very few digital painting tutorials, there is a wide range of drawing tablets on the market. Models of companies are popular in Russia Genius And . The cheapest model costs a little more than a thousand rubles, but a professional tool with a large diagonal and functionality can cost 200 thousand rubles.

general information

Examples of works by digital artists

• The Inquisitor by Ruslan Svobodin
• Angels by Ilya Komarov
• Bank bridge in St. Petersburg, author B. Slobodan.
• Flying Castle for a Little Princess by Eduard Mango Kichigin
• Deisis-Anticipation, by Konstantin Khudyakov (ART&SPACE Gallery, Munich)
• God from the Machine by Evgeny Volos

The progress of digital painting

At the end of XX - early XXI For centuries, CG-art (Computer Graphics Art) has been rapidly developing and has a strong position in the design of books / posters, prevails in the industry computer games And modern cinema, popular in amateur art. The reasons for the rapid displacement of the old funds from these areas:

Availability

In order to create digital works of any level, it is necessary to purchase / have a personal computer of sufficient power, a graphics tablet and several programs for computer painting. All this will cost ~$1500 ( most of this amount - the cost of licensed programs) in the initial version (professionals buy more expensive computers, monitors and tablets, but they only increase the convenience of work).

Great work speed

Particularly critical in the area of ​​paid artistic activity: design of books, movies, games. Specialized programs for CG artists (such as Painter) contain a large number of tools that speed up work. Choice desired color- a matter of seconds (unlike traditional painting, where you have to mix paints to get the right color - it takes experience and time), choosing the right brush / tool is also an almost instantaneous operation. The ability to undo your actions, as well as the ability to save at any moment of your work and return to it later, and even a large list of features and benefits - all this makes the work of a professional artist several times faster with the same quality. Besides, computer work immediately ready for use in digital technologies movies, games, layouts - a canvas painted in oil must first be transferred to a digital form.

Unique Toolkit

For example, working with layers or applying textures from photographs to the parts of the picture you need; generation of noise of a given type; various brush effects; HDR pictures; various filters and corrections - all this and much more is simply not available in traditional painting.

prospects

Traditional art almost reached its limit in terms of perfection of technique and means back in the 18th century. Since then, nothing new has been added - as before, you have pigment, oil (or a ready-made mixture of them), canvas and brushes. And nothing new will appear. It is fair to say that modern computer painting is still far from the best paintings of the geniuses of the past in terms of quality and scale of work - but it has room to develop. The resolution of monitors is growing, the quality of color reproduction is increasing, the power of computers is growing, programs for digital painting are changing and improving, there is a fundamental possibility of creating new methods and devices for working with color / color output (projectors or holography).

Ease of learning by some groups of people and ease of operation

If you know how to work on a computer and are an inquisitive and energetic person, it will not be difficult for you to understand the interface of computer painting programs - it is the same as in most Windows programs + quite logical digital artist tools. Both paid and free video tutorials on working in a particular program are available on the Internet. With regard to cg-art programs, such video tutorials contain a record of all stages of the work of a digital artist on a painting.

Disadvantages of digital painting

Difficulty of development

At the moment, there are very few schools or more serious educational institutions that teach in this specialty - mostly the most energetic and inquisitive people, and especially children who can learn on their own and find information on their own, become digital artists; designers and printers (who have experience working with graphics on a PC); Most of the well-known digital artists graduated from educational institutions in traditional painting and only then independently switched to cg-art. Also modern digital artist unthinkable without the Internet (communication with colleagues, employers, searching for new programs or ways of drawing, etc.) - and again, not everyone has it. There are practically no books on creating drawings on a computer, but the situation is gradually improving.

As of 2007, the situation is in a fairly good position - at this moment there are quite a few different educational resources to prepare future teachers of fine arts to work with digital devices. Techniques for working on a computer with a graphic tablet and various programs that allow you to engage in media drawing. In the near future, similar courses will be launched in major pedagogical universities countries, which in turn will subsequently have a positive impact on schools and other universities when hiring new teachers who have good experience with media drawing and digital painting.

The current limit of computer technology

Modern monitors still do not work at resolutions close to the resolution of our eyes. That is, the monitor is not capable of displaying such a number of details and details that a live observation of the same size section of a classical painting canvas can provide. You can print your picture on a printer - but this gives rise to the third problem of cg-art:

The problem with the output of a computer image to a physical medium

Monitors work in RGB color space - 16.7 million colors. Printing on paper cannot physically cover this entire range of colors - the CMYK color space covers fewer colors and shades. At this point in time, large-format inkjet photo printers, such as Canon or HP, exist and are increasingly being used. Such printers operate in RGB color space with a resolution of 1200-2400 dpi and can print on various, sometimes exotic, print media. However, the cost of such work is very high. Monitors that can show all the colors of the picture (and have brightness, contrast, color settings) have too low a resolution that does not allow showing all the details of the picture (they do not show it in full size without interpolation - a regular monitor cannot display more than 1-2 megapixels at the same time , special and rather expensive LCD monitors can show about 8 megapixels).

Copyright issue

Whoever has the original (source) drawing file is the owner of the drawing. But, like any digital information, a file can be copied and replicated in unlimited quantities without any tangible costs. The simplest example protecting your drawing - posting a reduced copy on the Internet (usually professional artists they draw in high resolution - 6000 × 10000 pixels and even more - it is convenient to draw details, and a small version is posted on the Internet - 1600 × 1200 or less; or even a fragment). In this case, whoever has a large version of the drawing is its author and owner. Copyright on a digital drawing is easy to change and real help its presence can only be felt by well-known artists.

Links

External links to Russian language forums

where artists of all directions communicate

• - forum of 2D artists. Ash founder.
• Skill.ru is a creative site where everyone can post their works (any - from photographs to poems) and learn the harsh public opinion on their account. Or get a well-deserved recognition in life - that's how lucky.
• Hofarts.com is a forum with a dedicated School section and a CG news magazine.
• Guro art forum is a specialized forum based famous artist Roman Guro Gunyavym in December 2002
• CGFight.com is a forum specializing in "fights" and competitions of artists (including team ones) among themselves.
• CGTalk.ru - forum on CGTalk.ru
• Manga.ru - a forum of artists in the style of "manga"
• Real time - a subsection of the Real Time school. One of the few educational institutions computer art in all directions (2D, 3D). At the beginning of the development of the forum, the direction of the drawing was led by the most famous Russian CG artist - Anry. At the current time, the forum is inactive, but the archives are very useful for both beginners and professionals.
• Arttalk.ru - Community of creative people
• Render.ru - online magazine on computer graphics and animation
• artburn - Collection of cg artists.
• "A Certain Aesthetics" - a community of young artists. Founder famous artist Ketka.
• Sketchers.ru is a somewhat younger resource that has many convenient features (magazines, galleries) for artists. Founded January 17, 2004 by artist/designer AJ. This domain is not currently active. 2010.01.10
• ecreatorman.com - the original site for creating collective digital canvases.
• PointArt - Portal for artists.
• DigitalBrush - Gallery of author's works of leading artists working in digital.
• ArtTower.ru - artforum dedicated to computer graphics, drawing and photography. Issued electronic journal Art Tower Magazine. Contains a regularly updated catalog of lessons for beginners.
• - All about graphics, artforum.
• - Design and graphics.

External links to foreign forums and communities of artists

• pixiv.net in Japanese

Programs for digital painting

Free Software

• GIMP is a raster graphics editor, also suitable for drawing.
• MyPaint is a drawing program, an endless canvas, a lot of brushes and a minimum of functionality.
• Krita is a drawing program, part of the Calligra Suite.
• Alchemy-
• Inkscape is a vector graphics editor designed for drawing.

Proprietary programs

• Painter - A program from Corel for digital artists.

This article is the second part of a series of articles about computer graphics. In we learned about how special effects are made in the film industry, and also traced historical development special effects in movies.

So let's continue...

Digital painting

Digital painting is the creation of electronic images through computer imitations of the traditional means of the artist (my free interpretation of the concept from Wikipedia). In fact, you almost never see a computer artist use the term "digital painting". Firstly, because there is already a foreign abbreviation - CG artist (sometimes CG specialist). Secondly, those works of art (that's right!) that such artists create do not really fall under the definition of "painting". Thirdly, everyone is already used to using the abbreviation CG, since it is generally understood by Russians, Americans, Chinese, etc.

The concept of "art" came to us from Latin and Italian: art - art, art, craftsmanship. Usually, in the CG artist environment, works are called 2d art (if drawn on a tablet) and 3d art (if done in a 3D editor).

2DArt

The work process is very similar to the work of an ordinary artist. Only instead of an easel - a monitor and a tablet.

Since monitors used to be limited in color scheme(and even earlier they were monochrome), then digital painting appeared only when svga-monitors and video cards appeared.

The presence of an artist's tablet is a mandatory attribute for the drawing process. And don't confuse tablet computers with a drawing tablet. A digital painting tablet looks something like this:

You simply draw on such a tablet with a special pen (pen, brush, sometimes a "stick" - a plastic stick), and the drawn is displayed on the monitor screen, namely in the graphics editor window.

Everyone enjoys it graphic editor in which it is more convenient for him to work. But most often they use "Photoshop" - Adobe Photoshop.

Why do CG-artists draw on tablets... And you try to draw, at least, an oval with a mouse! No matter how advanced the technology, you still have to draw with your hands (and someone can draw with their feet). This means that to become a good CG artist, you need to be able to draw well on paper, know the basics of perspective and everything else that you can learn in art school.

Completely computer-drawn pictures and images have many useful qualities. Firstly, such work is easier to redo. If the customer didn't like your work (drawn on canvas), you will be forced to completely redraw it from scratch. Certainly, small parts can be corrected, but significant changes can no longer be made. But the CG artist will simply open a file of his work in Photoshop, where all his changes are scattered over the layers. Then he will edit the desired layers and get an improved work. Thus, artists can remake, for example, the background, which is impossible to achieve on canvas.

Secondly, if you need to transfer a picture on canvas to digital form, then it is simply scanned. No matter how good and high-quality the scanner is, the quality component will still be lost during scanning. But a picture completely created on a computer can be drawn in great quality, and then it can be printed even the size of a picture in a book, even the size of a house (the main thing is what resolution the artist worked in).

Here step by step example creating in Adobe Photoshop the work "On tall trees» artist Anastasia Kustova:

As you can see, everything starts with a sketch, then the details are worked out. In the first part of the article about computer graphics, I gave a list of sites where you can see amazing work. And since not all people have time to visit art galleries, but everyone has access to the Internet, then everyone can join the art. Who knows, maybe very soon digital painting will replace classic way drawing...

Here are some examples of works done exclusively with computer and digital media:

To create a picture using a three-dimensional editor, you must first model all the objects in the scene, then apply textures to them, adjust the lighting. And after setting up the scene, it is rendered. Rendering is the process of rendering a 3D scene as 2D image. Those. in such work, you need to be able not so much to draw as to be able to model (the process is similar to creating a sculpture).

Works done in 3D editors have several advantages.
Firstly, a ready-made scene can be rendered with different angles review, having received a new composition. Secondly, if you need to print an image on a huge poster, then you can specify any resolution in the rendering settings (depending on the power of the computer). Thirdly, such a scene can be used to create an animated film or interactive presentation. Those. in three-dimensional editors, you can create both special effects for films and create masterpieces in the form of paintings.

Here are examples of 3D art:

That's all. On my own behalf, I want to add that the ability to draw well and the ability to endure your mental images on canvas or on a computer monitor is positive quality person. Learn to draw! It is not necessary to draw like Van Gogh or Shishkin, it is not necessary to go to special courses. There are many tutorials, video tutorials and other useful things on the Internet. The ability to draw means to be able to fantasize, to be able to concentrate and to be able to endure. In general, keep it up! Take a pencil in your hand and start drawing something right now! Who knows, maybe you have a talent and you will become the new Picasso, or you will create special effects for Hollywood blockbusters ...

• Deadline from 1 day!

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• Deadline from 1 day!
• you came new idea? It can easily be added to a digital portrait! Make changes to the details as many times as you like? Easily! When writing a portrait by hand, this is impossible.
• You do not need to sit in front of the artist for hours, you do not need to think about how to make a surprise, just one photo and you will have an original present from our masters
• The electronic version of the portrait, which will remain with you, can be printed many times without losing quality and without paying for the artist's work again.
• No image cracks or paint peeling, only best materials for printing, while the effect of strokes is preserved!
• This Newest technologies because we live in modern world, is not it? Our artists have higher education in the field of art, hands from right place, creative thinking and the sea useful ideas! Do you want a piece of our positive? Order a digital portrait right now

If you dream of having the ability to draw, but you do not have a large number experience, most likely you associate it with a pencil. But if you really want to put your thoughts out there, one pencil is not enough. A drawing tablet, with good software, is the best - it has all the colors you need and it allows you to remove any errors without leaving a trace.

There is one big problem with this. The pen for the tablet, despite the fact that it resembles a pencil, can be used as a whole set of various brushes, pastels, charcoal, markers, and even an eraser. You can use it to "cover" the screen acrylic paints, oil paints and ink, and mix it all up into something completely new. This is one great versatile tool - and therefore, can't be used as a pencil!

If you have some experience with a pencil, even with early age and you want to make good use of your graphics tablet, you can struggle with finding good learning for you. This is because in traditional art, "drawing" and "painting" are two completely different things, with different tools of use. In digital art, you only have one tool, the brush, so digital drawing and digital painting are combined into one. So if you're reasonably comfortable with a pencil but struggle with digital art, it might not be because you "can't draw". The problem is, you're mixing a lot of techniques, some drawing, some painting, so when you try to search for "digital drawing" you end up with fully painted portraits.

In this article, I will explain the difference to you, so you can know exactly what you want without wasting time on learning that you are not ready for. This way you will progress faster and with less unnecessary frustration.

traditional drawing

You can draw with many tools. You can even use your finger as long as you have a surface to mark on. The most basic definition of drawing is simply making a line with a pointed tool. “Sharpness” is scale dependent, so the larger your drawing, the more blunt the tip is allowed. You can even paint with a brush!

Regardless of which tool you use, the method is very similar. All you can do is lead lines, straight and wavy, in various relationships to each other. Optional feature, depending on the tool, is the darkness of the line. Markers and narrow lines give you perfectly black lines every time; soft pencils (Class B and below) allow you to choose from a whole gray gradient; hard pencils (HB and above) limit you to light grays. The lines themselves do not exist in reality. No object is made of them, but our brains, which are very efficient at pattern recognition, don't need much to see reality in a cloud of lines. And because lines are so easy to make, drawing has become the most popular and accessible form of art. And because lines are so easy to make, drawing has become the most popular and accessible art form.

In order for a drawing to mimic reality, it must resemble the patterns that the brain expects. Therefore, a successful artist must know what these models are and how to create them.

This is why realistic drawing transcends the normal meaning of definition: it's no longer about leading lines, but about building meaningful patterns out of them. This skill is identical for a traditional artist and a digital artist. You don't need a graphics tablet to learn how to draw animals or how to work in perspective. And as a digital artist, you can successfully use tutorials for pencil users, too.

The difference lies in the tool itself. They all make lines, but they may use different methods to do so. For example, some pens may need to control the ink flow, and soft pencils give you different shades of gray depending on the pressure. If you are able to use soft pencil, switching to ink can be very inconvenient, and vice versa. There is another kind of pattern that you can create with drawing tools. Our brains are very sensitive to light and shadow. In the drawing, we can model shadows with the darkness of the line and lightness with the absence of it. Because in reality light and shadow are made from spots, not lines, work methods (eg shading) must be used to model them.

This effect requires a different skill: an understanding of light and shadow and practice in volume, mimicking only with lines. To summarize, we have received five different skills that graphic drawing is based on:

• creating intentional lines with a pointed tool
• achieving different shades
• hatching with lines
• construction of meaningful line-based patterns based on reality analysis
• understanding light and shadow

You can also be a great artist by only mastering the first three skills when you're just copying links, but to become a developer you have to focus on the last two with even more effort.

If you choose to use colored pencils, you will also need to understand color, which is another big task and not as easy as it may seem.

traditional painting

Painting is not different from drawing just because you use different tools. The purpose and effect are also completely different. The paintings are created with patches of color whose form cannot and should not be fully controlled. You can use different pigments for this purpose. They have different densities and blending properties, so each requires a different treatment.

Patches of color can model to great extent the way our brain sees the world. Paintings can be photorealistic, but they can also achieve realism with a variety of other styles. Because you can paint large areas at a time, there's no need for artificial tricks like shading, and some pigments also blend very well without much effort.

This does not mean that painting is easier. Using large plots requires a completely different type of analytical thinking. It's still about creating meaningful patterns, but this time it's all about light, shadow and color. Therefore, painting is based on three skills, each one quite difficult to master:

• creating intentional areas of color (pigment flow control, color mixing)
• understanding light and shadow
• color understanding

While in drawing you can create fantastic animals after learning about animal anatomy, in painting this will not be enough. Understanding light and shadow is essential here if you don't want to be abstract artist. Because some people think that spots can actually be easier, but for most of us who are used to the shape of the lines, it takes a long time to get used to.

From traditional to digital art

When you switch to Adobe Photoshop, there is only one a big difference between drawing and painting that counts. Drawing is lines that you control, and painting is spots that cannot be completely controlled. In the end, even the size of the brush does not matter, but its hardness. If you can foresee the shape of the drawing before, it is probably drawing. If you are planning something unexpected, it should be painting.

This distribution is as perfect as it can be because it takes different methods of creation into account. When you draw, no matter how chaotic, you expect some lines to appear and you will be able to outline them strongly in in general terms at the end. Even when you use big, colorful strokes, you still know exactly where you want to place them. When you paint, you mix a lot of spots together. You use the chaos your unpredictable brush creates to create something new. Painting is a process of constant fixation and adjustment - there are no perfect edges and the final effect cannot be 100% planned. That's why we can't draw in vector (vector software can't handle chaos).

Both of these approaches require different methods. If you're familiar with drawing, your first step into painting might be to try to draw lines with an unpredictable, textured brush. You literally choose a brush that is difficult to manage and try to manage. It has little to do with painting!

However, having the habits of drawing you are not doomed to strict lines and flat colors forever. You just need to understand how to mix both methods in a convenient way.

Extended drawing

You can enhance your drawing in Photoshop with other tools that have nothing to do with painting - or also by painting. They don't exist in "traditional" reality, but they can be easily used if you're familiar with drawing.

transformation

There are several tools in Photoshop that can be used for this purpose:

• Free Transform (Control-T) in Warp Mode
• Plastic (Control-Shift-X) Warp
• Editing - Puppet Warp

All of these tools allow you to do something powerful enough to be called cheating. Once you draw something, you can change it, either completely or just part of it. You can create a completely new sketch after it's been drawn! You can even draw a bunch of chaotic lines and transform them into flesh. You only need your analytical thinking that the drawing was based on it.

Color Fill

If you wanted to fill in an area by drawing traditionally, then you would have to spend a lot of time carefully crossing the lines to get that effect. You know exactly what you want to do - it just takes a lot of time. In Photoshop you can draw the areas you want to color with the Lasso Tool (L). Did you notice I said “draw?” The Lasso Tool works the same way - you draw the area you want to select. Later, you can fill the area with color using the Paint Bucket Tool (G), all without a single brush stroke.

Hatching (shading)

By shading flat colors in a convenient way, you can simply draw shadows on separate layers, just like before - draw with the Lasso Tool and fill them. Then by changing the Blending Mode and/or Opacity, you can make the shading match the flat colors below.

Mixing

To conveniently blend the border between colors and shading, you can use one of the many methods. They may be considered "fake" by art style fans, but that's not a bad thing.

It's just a different style, more intuitive for people who have experience in drawing.

While this is your desire, you can safely use:

• Blur Tool
• Mix Brush Tool
• Use the Lasso Tool to select an area, then Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur

Mixing drawing and painting

Drawing and painting can be successfully mixed together to create great work art. There is no need to limit yourself to just one of them!

clipping mask

Painting does not know the right edges. Picturesque touches go where they want, and trying to control them you kill their spirit. In Photoshop, you can find a compromise - you can paint an area that the strokes won't cross, no matter what.

Just draw a shape with the Lasso Tool (L) and fill it with any color. To cut another layer, hold Alt and click the border between the two. Now you can draw anything without slowing down the outlines!

picturesque blending

After drawing and coloring something, you can turn it into painterly style simply by using the right kind of mixing. This time, instead of using the "blend tool", use a textured brush with variable Flow (the harder you press, the harder the stroke). Use the Eyedropper Tool (I) to select a color from one area, and then place a thin layer of that color on the edge. Pick a color closer to the edge and repeat.

The better it looks without outlines, the further away from drawing and closer it is to painting.

Details

When the painting is almost done, you can give the final shine by painting in the details. You can take a fine, hard brush and add some elements that would not be possible in a traditional painting. You can harden the outline, add fine hairs here and there, and make the surface shiny by adding a white dot on it. In fact, digital painting is all about mixing both methods. When you hear the term, it's rarely about work mimicking the traditional method.

So we can say that digital drawing is about being limited to line oriented processes, while digital painting uses every possible technique.

Mixing process

The Photoshop artist can use the painting and drawing method freely in any suitable phase of the creation process. For example, if you want to create a living being, the phases might look like this:

• Drawing indeterminate sketches to get an idea (painting)
• Adjusting lines to the form (figure)
• Line cleaning (figure)
• Create a mask (drawing)
• Light blocking (drawing or painting)
• Blending (painting)
• Adding details (drawing)

Am I drawing or painting?

Let's sum it all up:

1. The drawing is based on lines. You plan the skeleton as a structure according to your analysis of reality, and then slowly create more and more lines to create a pattern that your brain will recognize.
2. Painting is based on spots (short, voluminous “lines”). You start with a rough estimate of the final shape and then sculpt it, adjusting the shape with each step and making the brush smaller as you go.

The most important skills for realistic drawing:

• understanding the structures that build reality (for example, the skeleton and muscles of a dog)
• transformation of structures to the form of lines

In painting these skills are:

• understanding of light, shadow and color.
• understanding the 3D shape of objects
• mixing different sized and colored areas to recreate true-to-life patterns

If you can manage all this, you need to mix both methods in order to increase your technological process, For example:

• starting with a sketch and a "red" line (drawing) and then coloring and shading (painting)
• starting with a rough shape (painting), using it as a base for line art (drawing), and then coloring and shading (painting)

Conclusion

Most important lesson The thing you should take away from this article is that the process of digital creation is not uniform. Because in Photoshop you use so many different tools with various features, they should also be used differently. By treating them all as a way of drawing (or painting), you unnecessarily limit yourself and your success.

Be flexible. Use drawing techniques when they are beneficial to you and switch to painting when it can give you more. Digital creation is not the only technique, and you can make the best of it if you figure out which one to use in any phase.

And, again, pay attention to your weak spots and learn through them. If your shading looks bad, don't blame the colors you're using, but instead go back to basic lighting principles. If you can draw nicely, but the proportions are always off, pay attention to drawing for a while. The key is that you can see where your mistakes are coming from and what technique will exactly damage them.