Wikipedia:
Digital painting - the creation of electronic images, carried out not by rendering computer models, but through the use of human computer simulations traditional instruments artist.
Creating a drawing / painting from start to finish on a computer is a relatively new direction in fine arts. It makes no sense to establish the exact date of the creation of the first computer drawing (you can get bogged down in determining what is artistic and serious enough for a drawing as such); however, the approximate date for the wide appearance of impressive and colorful works made on the PC is 1995-1996 (this date accounts for the appearance and wide distribution of relatively affordable SVGA monitors and video cards capable of displaying 16.7 million colors). The computer in digital painting is the same tool as a brush with an easel. In order to draw well on a computer, it is also necessary to know and be able to apply all the knowledge and experience accumulated by generations of artists (perspective, aerial perspective, color circle, highlights, reflexes, etc.). The use of digital technologies in photography has also given rise to hybrid technologies (for example, photo-impressionism).

Illustration for the fairy tale "Theft in the caravanserai" (Persia)

Advantages of digital painting

Nowadays, CG-art (Computer Graphics Art) is developing rapidly and takes a strong position in the design of books / posters, monopoly dominates the industry computer games And modern cinema, popular in amateur art. The reasons for the rapid displacement of traditional remedies 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, Graphics tablet("digitizer") and several programs for computer painting. All this will cost ~$1500 ( most of this amount is 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).
• Big 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 (as opposed to traditional painting where you need to mix paints to get the right color - it takes experience and time), choosing the right brush / tool is also an almost instant 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 a large list of features and benefits - all this makes the work of a professional artist several times faster with the same quality. In addition, computer work is immediately ready for use in digital technologies movies, games, layouts - a canvas painted in oil must first be transferred to a digital form.
• Unique tools. For example, working with layers or applying textures to the parts of the picture you need; 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 - you still 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 development 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. On the Internet, both paid and free video tutorials for work in a particular program. 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 learning. 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 famous digital artists finished educational establishments in traditional painting, and only then independently moved into cg-art. Also, a modern digital artist is inconceivable without the Internet (communication with colleagues, employers, searching for new programs or ways of drawing, etc.) - and again, not many people have it. There are practically no books on creating drawings on a computer.
• 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 able to display such a number of details and details that can provide live observation of the same size section of the canvas classical painting. You can print your picture on a printer - but it gives rise to the third problem of cg-art:
• The problem with the output of a computer image to a physical medium. Monitors operate in RGB color space - 16.7 million colors. Printing on paper cannot physically cover this entire range of colors - the CMYK color space covers a smaller number of colors and shades. At the moment there is no decent medium for digital drawing. 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).
• Problem copyright. The one who has the original (source) file of the picture is the owner of the picture. But, like any digital information, a file can be duplicated (copied) and replicated in unlimited quantities without any tangible costs. The simplest example protecting your drawing - posting a small copy on the Internet (usually professional artists 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

Russian-language forums where artists of all directions communicate

• GURO ART FORUM is the oldest

specialized forum based famous artist Guro in December 2002

• SKETCHERS.RU - somewhat younger

a resource that has many convenient features (magazines, galleries) for artists. Founded January 17, 2004 by artist/designer AJ.

• http://3dcenter.ru 3d center — Popular site and forum on CG (Galleries

3d and 2d works, W.I.P, lessons and articles).

• http://drawing.wetpaint.ru - Forum on the website of Ilya Komarov.
• http://forum.hofarts.com - Forum on Hof's website.
• http://forum.cgfight.com - A place to find out the relationship of CG artists.

Regular art battles of a large scale :).

• RealTime is a subsection of the Real Time school. One of the few institutions

teaching 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 famous Russian CG artist Anry. At the current time, the forum is inactive, but the archives are very useful for both beginners and professionals.
External links to foreign forums and communities of artists.

Now let's think about art style. It just so happened that the moment has come to decide what exactly and how exactly I want to portray. I think I'm beginning to understand what I want. Here are the works of my favorite digital artists. I hope they inspire you and help you catch your wave. What follows are my judgments, based on purely my preferences - we are talking about how I would like to draw, and not whether someone draws badly. In addition, the works presented here belong to an artist of such a serious level that I, in principle, have no right to judge them.

So, let's start with my eternal favorite in terms of technique, mood and plots - tebe_interestingno .

My favorite method of pronounced strokes:

Clouds are drawn norms:

Light abrasions - good:

From what I found on the net:

(Unfortunately I couldn't find the author)

Here I would have worked the face properly:

Something crazy:

This pins me, but it would be too lazy to work it out myself, I would generalize:

Too little detail:

Great:

I really like this kind of detailing with careless strokes. But not all work is done like this! From which we conclude that I want more centralized compositions. And in principle, landscapes are not for me - except perhaps with some kind of main object, so that in the end the environment is only outlined, focusing on the main object.

Gorgeous, but the look is too wandering. I would concentrate more on this mechanical thing and the girl, even cut off part of the environment. I really like how neatly drawn the girl.

And here, in my opinion, there are two main objects - so I would also draw the animal more carefully. Well, the environment is still more careful) And yes, I understand that the concept art, all the things that may have had a different task - but this does not prevent me from thinking, as if it were just an independent illustration.

Okay, but I don't like such an explicit use of textures in the works. Not mine, apparently.

Little detailing = (The muzzle in general could be cool to do, wool, highlights, all things ...

Super, but again - the girl would be more detailed ... Especially her elongated leg.

And here it is very interesting to see a mixture of styles. I like neat strokes on the towers, textures and cartoon characters- No. But it's interesting, yes.

And on the page of this artist, I found a cool GIF:

(very unusual artist Gloom82)

Very curious work with portraits, in addition pronounced strokes - like it.

My favorite Windrunner is a character from DotA:

Traxex, from the same game:

Strokes, shape - like:

The characters work just fine. So, I think I found someone to focus on. I think he's awesome.

He has cool clouds (the cat shits on the tablet, and I circle, yeah):

And yet I never managed to understand the logic of his strokes. Here, try, for example, to draw a similar scarf:

In general, the work is very emotional. There is something to see.

Also in terms of emotionality and swiftness, I like leventep. He has chaotic (as it seems) lines, strokes often go out of shape. He is more into mett painting than painting - but he paints well and blends everything perfectly. I advise you to study.

Again, in DotA (only in the first one), I spotted the work of kunkka, who drew illustrations for each map update. He draws well, but in terms of composition for a long time came out porridge:

Now he has upgraded, and he has something to look at:

And here it feels like the detail is expressed through a linear drawing. Also interesting to see (Kerem Beyit):

(artist
Without textures:

And amazing in contrast to the rest of the work, these are stylized things:

(in general, please love and favor, artist DavidRapozaArt)

There are also works based on 3D models, with the addition of textures and all sorts of effects. These works are very clean, but this is not for me.

I analyzed various styles for myself and decided on what I want. Maybe it helped you too.
Here I brought the work of those artists who stare at the last year and a half. This is my collection =)
I look forward to your links, your views on styles and your preferences. I'm really interested.

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 comfortable enough with a pencil but struggle with digital art, it may 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 a 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 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 a great piece of 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.

Digital painting

• Author
• March 30, 2016, 16:15


This community is dedicated to raster drawing or drawing in raster editors such as Photoshop, SAI, Painter and others.
Here you can publish tutorials, videos, information about editors, highlight the intricacies of drawing and share interesting finds and drawing techniques, etc., etc.

Long live the pixels

If you are interested in drawing in vector, welcome to.

• Author
• March 11, 2018, 18:23



There was a need for me to process a certain amount black and white pictures and remove their background by saving as PNG. I've done this before, but I found an easier way, which I'm sharing.

Duplicate the image you'll be working with on a new layer, or unlock the original layer.

Your drawing must be black and white. Best to go to the menu Image > Adjustment > Desaturate or click Shift+Ctrl+U, then open Levels in the same place and make the picture as contrasting as possible.





Go back to layers and click Delete- the background is removed.

The drawing can be pale, so we press the button from the image below in the top panel, take a regular black brush and go over the drawing. You can also duplicate the layers instead to experiment with quality.



All! Save PNG and enjoy life.

Works great with pencil sketches and artwork, as well as any black and white pictures.
The method is elementary, saves time and takes literally a minute.

• Author
• October 1, 2016, 20:03

The other day I wrote and I confess this super solution that makes everything easy and elegant. Thank you Lettochka for sharing :) Here is just one thing, but I have the 5th Illustrator, and therefore I simply don’t have a pattern maker :(
Having not yet found this article from Letta, I tried to make patterns in Photoshop using smart objects. Here I want to share what I did, maybe it will be useful to someone.
So in order:
1. I create a file with the size, let's say 5000x5000. In the center I set a square shape at 4000x4000, this is my future pattern. Further to the edges of the square I put guides (with the binding to objects turned on). I turn off the background - now the background is transparent. This is a blank file that will serve as the basis for all my future patterns. I name the file let's say pattern_1 and save it.
2. In the menu, I select the file - open as a smart object - open the same file and save it, calling it pattern_1_3x3. The name is conditional, I named it so, just to make it clear that this file consists, as it were, of 9 squares of the original pattern. In the layers palette there will be a smart object of the file pattern_1.
3. Now I expand the pattern_1_3x3 file in size using the crop tool to a size of 12000x12000 (I need to fit those 9 squares of the original pattern into it). I already have the first one, it is in the center - I copy and align the rest for an exact match - this is important for the pattern to be seamless. I move the layer with the first smart object - the first white square - on top of all layers.
4. At this stage, I have two files open in Photoshop, pattern_1 and pattern_1_3x3, with which I need to work simultaneously. For convenience, I go to the Window panel - Arrange - Arrange the two vertically. I open both files for myself so that I can see the white square, guides and a little bit of space around.

5. Next, first of all, in the pattern_1 file, I turn off the layer with the white square - then it will only interfere with me - and I insert elements of the future pattern into the transparent space between the guides (I have them all in PNG and in the Photoshop settings there is a daw to insert as smart objects ( this is so that all elements do not lose quality when working with them) Now I place the elements as I like and save the pattern_1.
6. Next, the pattern_1_3x3 file opened next to it is updated and we get a fully composed pattern.


So far, he transparent background so you need to place a 4000x4000 square of the desired color in the pattern_1_3x3 file below all layers - our background.
Adjust your pattern_1 for as long as you need and save each time after the adjustment, and don't forget to save the pattern_1_3x3 file after each update (just in case).
7. When the pattern is ready in the pattern_1_3x3 file, I cut it along the guides, and save it as a JPG, indicating now the final name of the pattern, I have it branches_1. It will suffer with a size of 4000x4000 as planned.


8. After saving the pattern as a JPG, I return to the pattern_1_3x3 file and cancel the cropping action. I save.
So I keep the pattern_1_3x3 file as a template for building patterns, and to make a new pattern, I simply open this file and find my central smart object among the layers. Double clicking on it opens it as a separate document in which all work with the new pattern is carried out, and the final result is saved as a JPG from the pattern_1_3x3 file.
The beauty of working with smart objects is that you change all the errors of the pattern in the pattern_1 file and after saving you will see how it looks in the filled pattern in pattern_1_3x3, in fact, in real time.
For me, this method turned out to be quite convenient. Maybe some of you will find it useful. :)



• Author
• September 27, 2016, 19:55

I already foresee how many will twist a finger at my temple, like a raster pattern in a vector program, yeah. But let me explain why I am writing this post. At one time, I had a fierce need to create raster patterns and I ran into a problem. Of course, you can create patterns in Photoshop, but this program is tailored for other needs. But the built-in pattern maker in illustrator has always delighted me, allowing me to make all sorts of patterns quickly and easily. Well, I'm an illustrator, what else can I say. There is also such a moment that I usually make patterns not on geometric grids, but scatter objects at random and with any methods in Photoshop, I have to constantly double-check whether the objects are normal. Illustrator saves a lot of time in this regard.

In general, Illustrator knows how to work with raster objects and understands the transparent layer in PNG. That is, PNG remains transparent and several pictures can be easily overlaid on top of each other.

In order to make a pattern, we need objects from which it will consist in PNG. We take our transparent pieces and drag them into Illustrator, pay attention also to the fact that the pattern making appeared starting from CS6, so this method will not work below the six. In the gallery, I duplicated all the pictures from the post in a larger size.



Straightaway important point: I do not recommend making the work area large. Illustrator inserts pictures as smart objects and their quality does not distort (usually my original pictures are also large from 2000 to 3000 px), so you can make a pattern on a small area and export it in normal size. I usually make patterns 600*600 px, after export 5000*5000 px.

After being dragged, you need to do important thing, namely, click the "Embed" button on the top panel. Without this, it is impossible to make a pattern. After the pictures are inserted, when selected, they will have a regular frame, without a cross inside.



Next, select all of our objects and choose Object > Pattern > Make as you would with a normal vector. The usual window opens and the main advantage for me personally is that I can see the entire pattern and immediately change the location of objects. In Photoshop, to see the pattern in a large piece, you need to do an extra bunch of actions.





After the pattern is ready, click "Finish" on the top panel. Then I take out a piece from the swatches and hide the excess under a clipping mask. Next, we export taking into account the JPEG or PNG artboard and voila, the bitmap pattern is ready!



Before making a new pattern, I usually delete the previous objects, because they increase the size of the file and illustrator can start to slow down. If I need to save the patterns in order to move them later inside, I collect all the patterns into a file with several small artboards and save them as a vector.

Perhaps this method will seem tricky to someone, but someone will save a lot of nerves and time.
CG or CG Painting is nothing more than digital drawing, or short for Computer Graphic. This direction includes all pictures drawn on a computer or, as it is also called, Digital.

What CG artists draw in depends on what exactly they draw. Roughly divided, there are raster, vector and 3D. The vector can still be animated later.

Raster - first of all it is Adobe Photoshop, in which you can draw in raster, partly in vector, create flash animations, work in the technique of photo art and collages.
Is there some more Corel Painter with a huge number of different brushes that mimic real painting. Some paint in less popular PhotoImpact, GIMP, SAI, Artweaver, Open Canvas, Art Rage, MyPaint, Krita. And of course in Paint, in which, by the way, it is convenient to draw pixel graphics.



Vector is drawn mainly in Corel Draw And Adobe Illustrator. Both have their advantages and disadvantages, but both are the largest and best known vector editors.



3d players also have a choice. 3D Max, Maya, ZBrush, Cinema4D– editors for 3D modeling. To fully create this type of computer graphics requires a VERY powerful computer.



Why is digital painting better than traditional?

• Very high speed and big choice materials. Choosing the right color is a matter of seconds (unlike traditional painting, where you have to mix or buy more paints to get the right color - it takes experience and time), choosing the right brush / tool is also an almost instantaneous operation. You can do work with imitations of oils, pastels, watercolors, or all at once, which is difficult to real world.
• 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 the artist several times faster with the same quality.
• computer work it is immediately ready for use in digital technologies of cinema, games, layout - the work done on the material with paints must first be transferred to digital form and there are also a lot of troubles plus an additional stage of work.
• Unlike traditional painting, digital painting has some cool and handy features and tools: for example, working with layers or applying textures from photographs to the areas of the picture you need; generation of noise of a given type; various brush effects; HDR pictures; various filters and corrections, and much more.
Nevertheless, there is a big problem associated with color rendition - difficulties in displaying art on material media. Most monitors operate in the RGB color space with the sRGB color space, which has color boundaries that do not match those of a typical CMYK printer that has own restrictions by color gamut. As a result, some colors visible on the monitor are not printed on paper, and at the same time, the full potential of the printer in terms of its coverage is not used. To solve this problem, professional monitors are used with an ARGB (Adobe RGB) color space, specially designed to accommodate almost all colors available for the printer, and color profiles are used to best match the images on the monitor and print media. However, 100% match cannot be achieved, because even the worst sRGB space is wider in some color areas than many CMYK spaces.

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

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 the Latin and Italian languages: art - art, art, skill. 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 uses the 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. Of course, small details 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 an 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 ...