[NeoFun]

just spammed this into speedpainting as well, but I need some crits. What do ya'll do to make your paintings look less digital?

yep.. that would be the watercolor filter of death.
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i like rice.

[CyberArtist]

You're ugly, and your breath stinks ... oh wait, you meant crit your picture?

First step to making a picture less digital is .. to not use filters! Filters = evil. Using painter instead of photoshop can help a lot, but that's an easy way out. Try not using circular brushes, use the more interesting shapes to paint with can often give that natural look and feel. Overlapping (ie: using non 100% opacity brushes) can do wonders as well, if you have a loose enough style. Gouache, the natural media which I think photoshop most often resembles, is difficult to make look non-digital as that particular type of paint has such flat colors. I've seen gouache paintings that look like they were done digitally simply because we've become so accustom to that particular style, flat solid colors, as being digital.

Really, the best way to make a digital painting not look digital is use techniques one would use if otherwise not on a computer. Try doing a painting with out ever undoing. Try "mixing" colors on the canvas as you paint, etc. And take some painting classes using oils or watercolor.

As for you picture itself, the filtered background is too bright. It distracts from the rest of the image as the blues look different from the face, Dull them out more, maybe blur it / darken it a little. The shirt being so bright is weird too, it took me a while to figure out what it was.
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-CyberA(rtist) aka Ben Golus

[NeoFun]

Hey, a crit! Your ideas of treating your digital painting as a real painting are really interesting. Do you set your brushes on "multiply" or "color" with a dropped opacity level in order to mix colors? Also, when you paint, do you ever use the smudge tool, or do you find that too digital as well? Once again-- REALLY helpful post.
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i like rice.