Colrouphobics Wh40k Space....

Yeah, so I realized I have been neglecting people with artwork of mine.
It has its reasons. One of them is tha my Pc got completely fried earlier this summer/early Autumn, and all my previous works that were still on the PC got lost (including my tryout with the new technique that I posted earlier on these Fora).
I am also in the process of changing ISP, which is a bitchass, but in the end I will be getting 4x the speed I have had so far, to a third of the price.

However, I need to showcase some stuff, so I decided to give you a "doodle" Im working on.

Unfortunately I work with other things quite heavily right now, so this is the only WH40k stuff I have right now, but it will have to do.

A WiP for you.

I will be doing some more WiP's for this particular image, just fr fun, because I need to practice specific parts of my painting so I might as well post them here for you all to see (so you can hack them to pieces and feed them dogs )

Anyways, so far I have worked about half an hour with the sketch (which is always the most difficult part for me, to nail the concept and pose), and about ten fifteen minutes with the image in photoshop CS2.

Not meant to be realistic, but then again...it's WH40k we're talking about!

Sketch


Oh yeah...it's a Dark Angels Terminator Chaplain...


With a background... dunno... just wondering if you guys think this background works as a colour for DA? I thought it would work very well as a "primer" as well, hence I used it as a background colour. Posted mainly for you to see the colour better..



Some basic PS sketching.


I'm estimating to use about 30-40 hrs on this one in the end, though it might take three months to complete due to other obligations...


Any compents are welcome, even though it might not be much to comment on right now.

I do like so far. I think the background color is a good choice for a DA Chaplian. It also gives it a very sinister feel to it.

Ooooooooooooooooo! SHINY!!! That looks ace, can't wait to see more of this guy. I love the colours, it looks dark and brooding and nicely restrained kick ass dude

Thats awesome man. Really looking forward to its completion.

Here's another WiP

Started working on the helmet. Going for a less helmet-looking-more-skull-looking kind of helmet...
This is extreme closeup though.
I work at 3000x3000 pixels in case anyone wonders.
Hopefully the detail wont vanish once the image is at it's correct size.


+ 1 hour work

Did another hour on the skull helmet... here is the full helmet. Still not done with the helmet though...

Man. That's just awesome. I think I have never seen anything so beautiful made with computer. That's just suberb.
Keep working on it, I want see it finished.

ViewFinder
-Fear not the Darkness, Fear what it hides...

Well, I can tell you that there is WAY better out there, but thank you.

It will take time, but I will finnish it.

How do you add such an amount of detail to that skull? Does the program do that by itself, or do you have to add every little detail in there?

Where did you learn to use the program like that?

I add every detail. I work at 2800x2360 pixels which is very large. That means I can add alot of tiny details, the trick is to succeed without loosing them in the end... I don't know if that has succeeded until it's done.
The program helps with making sure I can zoom in and out very much, meaning I can work with extremely smal details when needed.

Pracice pracice and more practice.
The thing is though, that this is my first "proper" painting. The only reason why it works so well is:
1) I have been doing "half-assed" paintings using Photoshop and Mouse for 5-7 years now

2) A tablet. I have a tablet, which REALLY makes a difference.

and
3) I have been painting, sketching and drawing since 25 years (since I was 5). In the end it pays off.



I'd just like to add that the tablet has REALLY made a difference. I have, in the one and a half month I have owned it, improved ALOT in my paintings.


Also, for anyone who is truly interested in painting using computer as a medium (and any form actually) I suggest registering and checking out conceptart.org, there are some exceptional tutorials there, plus people are genuinely interested in aiding your evolution as an artist.

Subforus include: Photoshop, Painter, Sketchbooks, Workshops, Critique Center, and more.
There are some exceptional artists there.
There are of course those less apt aswell, but everyone learns something.

My own measly sketchbook -> here
(here you can see my evolution the last two months, as it starts with the second ever image I made with the tablet.)

and a truly gifted guy -> Hurricane
(a long topic, but it is worth it...just check the images out, they take a while to load on each page but Hot Dang!)

Thats is looking absoloutely superb, mate! I've never used photoshop to do a whole painting but I'm starting to consider giving it a whirl.

BTW what type of Tablet are you using?

That looks fantastic, so much detail!

Now i really hope you get round to doing that chaos warrior, if it comes out half as well as this is i will be amazed.

How long have you been working with comp programs to colour pictures? Is it hard to grasp or are there tutorials in the program to help start you off?

Thank you, I'm hoping the rest of the painting turns out equally good And you should definately concider it.
Allthough I basically had to start from scratch with the Tablet, I can now say that if this is the resault I will be getting after practice, then it's worth it.

I personally use a Trust 1200-v2 tablet.
It is cheap and sturdy.
Downsides:
-It doesn't have half as many levels of preassure as an Intuos or Graphire tablet (both WACOM)

-It doesn't have the same integration to Photoshop and Painter as WACOM tablets have.


Plussides:
+It's very durable. A friend of mine had his for two years, spilled coffee on it, droped it to the floor once every two weeks and generally abused it. When he finally changed it for an Intuos, he did so because of the technical revelations in WACOM (he also didn't have the v2 version, so it was generally outdated). And because he got a job painting for Sabretooth games and could afford it.

+Cheap. Trust 1200-v2 costed me 900 swedish crowns, a wacom of the closest prize would cost me 3000swedish crowns. But then I would have gotten me one half the size of the one I have now. $1 = roughly 8 swedish crowns, 1£ = roughly 13-15 swedish crowns, 1€ = roughly 10 crowns.

Thank you, he skull was comparatiby easy to the rest...I had a reference image. Very few images I have found to reference to the rest so we'll see how the rest comes out.

Actually, coloring the Chaos Warrior scares the crap out of me right now, not sure if I will 'colour' it, or 'overpaint' it. Overpaint would mean something like this terminator, though there are a couple of things that would be bad with that-
It would no longer really be the original image, just my take on it.
I have no clue wether I can keep up this standard, this image is only the first painting I do with a tablet, technically I should be able to do it over and over, though my experience with the tablet is so limited that I don't know if I can do it yet.

I have been colouring pictures with photoshop for 5-7 years, using a mouse.
It has been nothing like this though, as working with a tablet in comparising with a mouse is like working with a fine brush in comparison to a roller.
The Tablet just gives me a huge advantage when it comes to finer details.

For years I have been looking at pimages made by people with tablets, wondering why I couldn't do those astounding types of paintings, and muttered at their -get a tablet, it's worth it!
And I was happy when I found out that there was a tablet I could afford. To try out. To tell the truth I just thought I wasn't gifted enough, but the buy has told me that even whilst I might not be as talented as some of the people out there, atleast I can do a whole lot better then I used to do.


Tutorials for the program. Well, I have looked for tutorials for 5 years now.
The best one I found so far is called "Painting in Photoshop: the Basics" and can be found here ->
http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/911729...h+age_scale%3A5

I only found this one two-three months ago, and had aquired alot of the information already, but it holds most, and is written with a beginner in mind.
I did learn things from it. The practice runs of painting were very usefull. They where obvious, but because of that I hadn't thought of practicing with them before (painting a cube and a sphere).

Otherwise I would like to point out a guy whose work is stunning, and whose tutorials have helped me, even though I tried to emulate them whilst using a mouse.

http://adonihs.deviantart.com/

(yes, that image of King Kong and the chick on the first page is a painting... check out his King Kong tutorials..they are just...amazing)

Sorry if this painting will go slow though, but it is my first real test with the tablet, and I have alot happening right now, things that take away time from artwork unfortunately...



edit:
http://www.conceptart.org/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=42

this place has a shitload of tutorials. If you cannot see the forum for some reason, then I think you need to register (which is for free) - www.conceptart.org

Got to work 2 more hours on the chaplain.
Skull is done, now on to the tubes that are linked to it (it is a elmet after all...)

Meanwhile, Tip of the day ->

Always use a reference when painting like this!
Never use the colour picker to pick colours from your reference pic, instead try to pick the colour manually, make sure the tone of the colour is the correct one. Then just play with the light and dark gauge in the colourpicker (thats the 'L' one) to get darker and lighter colours.

Reference used for the tubes -> car engine. A car engine has surprising amounts of rubber tubing. I googled for a suitable image and used it for reference for the tubings.