[Cuddly]

Hi all,

not having gotten a formal art education or even hanging out with artists (beyond my participation in this fantastic forum), I'd be curious to know if there are any rules of thumb to go by when drawing/painting digitally or traditionally? Any rules of thumb you all live by would be most helpful.

For example, here's a few that I've heard:

+ Don't use pure white or pure black in your paintings to illustrate highlights and shadows.
+ Flip an image vertically (or check it in a mirror) to check if its mirror image "looks right" to check the perspective.
+ Use complementary colors when trying to determine the color of shadow to a light color
+ Don't use Photoshop lens flare filters!

I guess the problem here may be that the ones I've heard may not be entirely accurate. Or there may at least be room for dispute. Should make for an interesting thread, I hope.

In any case, what I'm hoping to end up with is a list of things to keep in mind or to look our for when drawing or painting to keep the picture in check and not have it break any of the cardinal rules.

[Socar MYLES]

The first and third of those of those are very general guidelines, Cuddly, not hard and fast rules. There are situations in which you'd want to use pure white and black, and also times where you won't want to use complementary colours. However, they are good rules to go by when you're first starting out, especially. Once you develop a good understanding of colour theory, composition, and...well, WHAT LOOKS GOOD, you'll begin to see when these rules shouldn't be used, when "breaking the rules" will heighten an effect you're going for.

Most little tips or rules like these are intended mostly for beginners, people who are just developing their skills and knowledge.

The second suggestion is a good one. Seeing something backwards (or upside-down as you've suggested) gives you the chance to see it afresh, and can help you recognize the errors that are there.

The last one...well...there may be a few situations where a lens flare filter looks good...but they're few and far between. Cheeeeeeee-sy.
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[Ian Jones]

I'd like to emphasise the point that art "rules" or "theory" are merely guidelines. Socar pointed that out, and its so true. These rules are mostly for beginners, to guide them along and for artists to communicate together like we do on this forum.

They are only guidlines, they are tried and tested means over time that designers have come to appreciate and recognise. So you don't have to follow them, but chances are that through pure trial and error the rules are actually quite true.

What I'm trying to impress upon you is that as a beginner you should not take the rules too seriously. Don't ignore them either, but don't become obsessed or rigid about the use of some free artistic licensce. I am a graphic design student (coming to the end of 2 years of my course), and in hindsight I have realized I had high ideals in the beginning and thought that the werd, was werd.

But really, almost anything goes... its all subjective, ppl have different tastes.

All I can suggest to you is that you visit your local library and get some art or design books and just absorb the information... after a while when you read a few and think about how some of these rules are applicable to you and your work and the work of those you admire... you will become to appreciate aesthetics and design theories, for the insight they give you. Don't take rules as being the bible, read them for yourself and reason and logic will let you form your own appreciation of aesthetics.

I think you'll do fine without formal art education, I have learnt a great deal on these forums and around the net. Just have fun!

[Cuddly]

Socar and Ian - the "rough guidelines for beginners" thing is kinda what I was going for. I just find it interesting to know things that I should be looking out for and things I should tiptoe around when I'm doing my art.

Agreed, I should learn all this from studying and practising, and I am, really (albeit slowly). But at the same time, there's stuff you pick up hanging out with artist types that I feel I'm missing out on. Sijun's an immense help in this respect.

I just figure that if it's guidelines or rules of thumb that I wanna know, I might as well ask. So anyone got any more to add to the list?

[Matthew]

Hey
There are some really good thoughts in here, I don�t have anything special to add.
Just one thought about the anatomy....hmmm..which I have a problem with.
Do you guys measure your arms and legs in pictures? I do.
Are there any easy way to get used with foreshortening in pictures?

Hmm, I just came up with a rule, dunno if it is a rule?
I guess people don�t like to use the dodge or Burn tool too much, I do that
too...hehheee

have a nice day
Matthew

[dr . bang]

God bless this thread!

From an acrylic class, i've learn to fill up the canvas with anything, so that at the end there won't be any white blank spot on the final product.

[oDD]

yeah summaraising to last posts

+Instead of using dodge/burn tool for highlights and shadows paint with brush, try too choose a right color.
+One of the first things to do when painting is get ride of the white background cause everything looks darker againts the white. In digital media simply fill in the background with a grey color or even better with a main color of your pic (i don't know if you understan, for egzample if you will draw a sunset you would use an orange color). You can go a step further and use a gradial tool (is this is how its called?) to fill the background with a blend from a lighter to a darker version of that color. It will help you see where is the source light.

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[oDD]

If some completle newbies to art are reading this, cause you said its for the begginers, here are some more i don't know if their any good, if they suck tell me do delete them:

+ When painting don't rush goinig into details too soon first try to establish very basic forms and colors if youre satisfied you can start defining the picture more, and so on...
+ When your pic is done try to play with the curves tool to add more contrast. Then compare two pics. Work of most begginers lack the contrast, after adding it compare the two verisons by doing undo and redo option, you will see the diffrence and it will be easier to decide for u what level of contrast is better.
+ Colors of most beginners are too saturated (lets forget about the saturation of color and how its depends on the ammont of light and things like that, and lets think in general). So when youre done wiht your picture go to image>adjust>hue/saturation and decrees the saturation. Try to campare pics before and after and see what looks better

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[Socar MYLES]

Here's a really obvious one that people seem to forget:

It's usually a good idea to paint from background to foreground. If you paint objects that are in the foreground first, you'll get the "halo effect" when you try to paint the background around them. I suppose with Photoshop, you can use two layers, so you can paint the background behind the foreground later, and thus avoid that particular pitfall. However, doing the background first is still good, because that will help you keep the colours and lighting consistent.

Here's a hint specifically for digital painting: If you are going to use layers, give them a title...don't just call them Layer 1 and Layer 2, et cetera. If you do, you'll probably get confused and paint on the wrong one all the time. You can give your layer a title by double-clicking it...a layer options box will jump up.
_________________
Dignity isn't important. It's everything.

www.gorblimey.com - art

[[666]Flat]

Rule number one. Release your mind and get rid of yer rules.
Rule number two. I've got your candy down my man pants.
Rule number three. There's always a rule number three.
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[ejwize]

I like this thread idea although I see why folks are shying away from the general idea of it. Rules and creativity work against each other.

On top of that, I think most of the little rules folks use when they work are more about their own style than about art laws that they don't want to violate. In fact, I think you can probably say that when an artist with an established style approaches a work that is not photorealistic, it is pretty much just them working their way around a subject according to their rulebook. I think that's what it means to study and emulate an artist... to get a sense of their rules.

A lot of the time, with an artist with a very refined or complex style, it is not at all obvious how their rules work... maybe the hardest thing is when an artist has a mastery over simple things... like Craig Mullins... he can quickly turn very quick strokes into amazing masses and light effects.

The best way to get direction like this might be to find work you really like and start looking at its style... the beautiful thing about these boards is the culture of the free exchange of this kind of info... and the artist whose work you're looking at is usually there just waiting to answer questions and field feedback. Most of the time, I think you can get way inside the process.

That being said, studying art, you hear rules all the time. Most of the most general ones get repeated in crits here all the time... general anatomical guidelines, general properties of light... light, highlight, shadow, reflected light... general properties of color theory.

Here are some that occur to me as I sit here...

Always ground a figure with a shadow... don't leave it floating on the page.

Fill the canvas.

If you're working with outlines, try weighting outlines in shadow (opposite the lightsource). (try entirely removing outlines in light)

Avoid using unmixed paint right out of the tube.

Work from reference.

Your lightest light should be darker than your darkest dark. (just something I've heard in classes... not sure I buy into it, but I think the idea of this thread is to think about this stuff, so there it is.)

[eyewoo]

My number one rule is that there are no rules when it comes to art... but, that being said, I really enjoyed reading ejwize's message. There may be no rules that govern art in general, but it is very true that specific styles or even individual pictures are structured on certain rules that the artist has subscribed to or developed.

If I had to identify one general rule - one that I see broken quite a bit - it would be: In a composition, every part of your picture, every square centimeter of your surface, should be treated as importantly as every other part.
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[liv the fish]

[eyewoo]

Brian... exactly! If treating every square cm of your picture means leaving some areas roughed in or with just the background color, then that is a conscious decision to be made... and if made, does not violate this general rule...
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[Ian Jones]

[ejwize]

[Cuddly]

(love this smiley!)

heh. S'funny how much activity goes on when you're asleep.

The thing about being on this side of the planet is that I'm checking out Sijun when most of you are sleep. And vice versa, I guess. Makes for nice morning reading, tho'.

Matthew - yeah, the ol' dodge 'n' burn "rule" - forgot about that one!

dr . bang - very cool. So this guideline applies for traditional media like acrylics as well as to digital painting. Food for thought.

oDD - very good points. The contrast one is especially interesting. I couple of nights ago, I posted a WIP painting of a He-Man(as in "He-Man & The Masters Of The Universe") sketch I'd done. I did the painting late at night, was pleased I'd made some progress in Painter and happily posted the art. The next morning, I checked the post and for some reason, the colors look incredibly washed out and weak. I was really surprised but am now making a conscious effort to use stronger colors. I duplicated the color layer and got stronger colors. Will use that as the basis for an updated post. Will also try out the curves adjustment. Thanks!

Socar - s'funny how things that seem obvious sometimes aren't really so. The background-to-foreground tip is one. I often dive straight into painting a drawing by coloring the foreground characters right away and then get to the background and go "oh. dammit." I come from a "background" (and I use the term lightly) in sketching, comic-book art and watercolors. None of which really lend themselves to thinking about the background first. I'm trying to modify my thinking and look at my art pieces as a whole rather than focusing on foreground characters first. That way, composition, lighting and design can play a bigger part in the whole piece. And I always name my layers - you're absolutely right about it saving on the confusion!

Flat - your posts always make me laugh! Rule number one is food for thought.

ejwise - Your observations on how an artists' own style makes or modifies the rules he works under is insightful. And your list of rules is most helpful. The one with outlines is something I may try to start working into my stuff. One of the things I'm working on is how best to go from a drawing to a painting, getting rid of the outlines along the way.

eyewoo - I guess it's sort of contradictory that something as subjective as art should have rules (or even rules of thumb), and yet as ejwise pointed out, there are rules that pop up. I guess that's because art itself is so vast but can be generally segregated into illustration-type art, where the artist is attempting to portray items or scenes that describe a world of some kind. Then there's abstract art where the artist is attempting to convey a message or feeling of some kind without necessarily using real-world analogies or avatars. A couple of splotches of paint on a canvas could be interpreted as art, yet doesn't have to conform to any rules of light, perspective, contrast, proportion, etc. Similarly, a portrait of a person looks "wrong" if the picture doesn't conform to at least some of those same rules. Doesn't make it any less a piece of art.

So I guess the rules I'm asking about are skewed more towards illustration, for which I believe there are some general guidelines that all artists are taught to follow.

Your rule about composition is a good point. And certainly one that I'm guilty of breaking all the time. Goes towards my reply to Socar about seeing the whole of a piece as opposed to just focusing on a foreground character and ignoring the environment around it.

liv the fish (love the nick!) - good points!

Ian - thanks for clearing up ejwise's last point. Makes sense, but I'm sure I'll find it harder to do than to read about. Must. Practice. More.

There's some great stuff in this thread already. Thanks to all for posting your rules of thumb. ejwise pointed out that one of the purposes of this thread is to make us think a bit and you've all certainly provided valuable food for thought. Keep them coming!

Incidentally, here's a couple of things that I'm curious about:

- underpainting - should an underpaint layer always be applied? When painting in Painter or Photoshop, when should I do one, when shouldn't I do one?

- when painting in Painter and Photoshop, should I paint dark-to-light or light-to-dark?

[Ian Jones]

heya, np.

What do you mean by underpainting?

Most ppl as far as I know work from Dark to light. This also seems to be true with traditional painting, you know... that wet and messy stuff that comes out of a tube (I've been digital for too long!).

I guess it helps you establish a good value range. I find it easier to work in the highlights last. Due to the fact they are generally percieved as 'ontop' and light comes forward to the viewer and dark recedes. It is easier to paint a bright white highlight streak than it is to paint a white streak then work the darker colours around it. That, I would say is the primary reason. Highlights are used to 'pop' the form out and finish everthing off. Shadows tend to be larger than highlights so it also makes sense to block in these big (and important) shapes first aswell. I think I have missed something else though... perhaps someone else will comment on this.

I gtg eat dinner now, hope that helps.

[Cuddly]

To be honest, I'm not sure exactly what underpainting is. Might run a Google search on that in a sec. It's a term I've heard bandied about art circles and I take it to mean laying down basic colors or light/dark values before you go in with the detailed painting or blending (in the case of pastels maybe?).

As to the traditional stuff, my experience is limited to pencils, a bit of charcoal, some pen and ink, oil pastels, watercolors and poster colors (stuff I was exposed to in my woefully inadequate primary and secondary school art classes). Never had a chance to try out oils, gouache, etc. So when I paint digitally, it's a bit frustrating trying to relate what comes out to my limited experiences with traditional media. Perhaps if I learned how to paint in oils or gouache, my Photoshop painting would improve? (heh, can't get enough of that smiley...)

Your point about blocking in shadowed areas first makes sense and is essentially what's referred to as "spotting blacks" in comic-book art, I think.

Enjoy the dinner. Gotta run home and get mine too!

[Cuddly]

Ooh, just thought of one.

Desaturating colors is one way of showing distance. For instance, mountains in the distance would have less color saturation than grass in the foreground or trees in the middleground. Depending on the distance, those trees in the middleground would be less saturated than the grass but more saturated than the mountains.

Or am I wrong?

[ejwize]

Good one Cuddly... yellow drops off over distance. Hence, purple mountains.

I think red drops off the deeper you go underwater until you get to a certain level at which point there is no more red!

Cuddly, you mentioned above you are working on your technique moving from an outline drawing to a purely rendered finish. I'm actually working through something like that myself (just getting back into digital painting after a (too long) sabbatical).

One thing I'm trying to bear in mind is developing a style that is not too labor intensive. Since you're skewing in the direction of illustration, a rule of thumb for a commercial artist might be that the quicker your style the more money you can make.

[zak]

always a good conversation going on round here .

i always use the opacity of my brushes set to between 10 and 60 % and i change it around frequently. it just helps me get the colours to blend nicely

[Ian Jones]

Yeah thats what I figured underpainting meant. Its just the same as the earlier tip about getting something down on the canvas so you can fill that white space and start refining your drawing and composition, lighting and general direction your taking the painting in.

Gouache is fantastic. I strongly recommend having a go at it. It is like a mix between Acrylics and watercolours. It drys fairly fast, yet it can be reworked with the addition of more paint or a bit of water, so blending is easy. If you use a little less water it can also mask over any mistakes because it is a lot more opaque than watercolour but not as much as acrylics. All in all it is a real dream combination, I love it.

The tip about yellow dropping out is good. lets take a look at the real reasons behind it though... It is called atmospheric perspective. It refers to the effect of an ever increasing amount of atmosphere over distance. Between you and a few metres in front of you there is not much air, dust or pollutants. But, over a distance the mountains on the horizon (classic example) have a large amount of air, dust and pollutants. The purple or blue effect is a consequence of the atmosphere, the sky is blue isn't it! of course, so air in the distance along the earths surface will also be blue. There are a few more phenomena relating to this issue aswell. Some trees and vegetation also realease particles, pollen etc.. into the atmosphere. An example I hope you have heard of is the "Blue Mountains" in Australia. We have lots of gum trees over here, and they release tiny oil particles into the air. When viewed from a distance the "Blue Mountains" got their name from the effect that all these tiny oil particles produce. They make the mountains appear bluish over a distance, wether this is a unique property of the oil itself, or merely its reflective property's which catch light from the blue atmosphere I am not sure. It is fairly unique, and this region of the world is known for that reason.

So when you are painting, atmospheric perspective is extremely important for realism, but more importantly it is very useful for communicating depth and distance, so even a cartoon of the most unrealistic stlye can benefit hugely from well executed background paintings with some indication of atmospheric perspective. I guess what I'm trying to say is that it doesn't just apply to 'photoreal' painting, it should be thought of as yet another extremely useful tool in an artists arsenal.

Here's another one for you:

Sunsets... why are they so colourful? why are they red and orange? The answer lies in the science of light. I was reading on the net, I bookmarked this extremely useful site but I can't seem to find it in my list... hehe. So of what I can remember, sunsets get their red / orange effect because of the fact that the red end of the light spectrum is the one with the largest wavelengths. So, when the sun disappears mostly out of sight the larger light waves like red are the only ones that still manage to reach around the curvature of the earth, albeit for only a few minutes before it gets dark.

I have to go now, my keyboard is melting.

[Malachi Maloney]

ejwize had some very good things to say, I'm virtually in total agreement with him. Ian too...

There really isn't much I can think of to add, other than this; No one part of the image is more important than the image as a whole.

Meaning, if you've drawn this beautifully rendered hand, I mean everything's in place just how you want it, but after working on the rest of the arm/figure, the hand looks totally wrong and the perspective or something is totally whacked. You may want to try and change something about the arm, to try and make it work better with this beautiful hand you've drawn, but in the end you'll find that the arm is more important to the image as a whole and you'll inevitably end up having to redraw the hand.

The only other thing I can think of to add is, no rule should be set in stone. Rules were made to be bent or broken and many situations call for a different approach.


~M~
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[Cuddly]

ejwise - wow, that's cool. When I posted about color saturation dropping off, I meant as a whole. So if close up, mountains are painted shades of green, in the distance, I;d have painted them a faded gray-green. But your post made me realize that different colors drop off at different points (as Ian later pointed out, this is due to the different wavelengths of color in light). Never actually realized that. Thanks for that insight!!

Yes, that lineart to rendered "painted" look is something I'm working on indeed. I checked out your post over in WIP with the figure walking away. Nice stuff. Will post more there.

And that tip about working fast is a good one! I'm skewing towards illustration/comic book art and speed of execution is certainly important there!

zak - just out of curiousity, is that the only way to blend colors in Photoshop? Other than the Smudge/Smear tools (which I don't really like using), is there any way to effectively blend colors in Photoshop without having to paint the gradient shade by shade? Any equivalent of the blenders/Grainy Water brushes in Painter?

Ian - great stuff! Yes, I've heard of the Blue Mountains and saw a Lonely Planet episode once that explained that bit about the oils affecting the perceived color of the mountains. Learned a lot from your post. Thanks!

Malachi - Am in total agreement there. It's something I'm learning as I progress.