Thank you class!!!

I just wanted to thank everyone in this class for the good work and participation you put in. Not only was seeing your artwork valuable for everyone involved, but your comments during the critiques were very helpful. I look forward to hearing from all of you in the future. Check out my work blog at MikeLaughead.Blogspot.com
Have a good summer!

Class April 15

Demos! For all of you that have yet to do a demo, please be ready to do one today.
Also, bring your final project in progress. We will have a critique in the beginning of class and then spend class working on the final and have another one at the end of class. Be ready to work and to help others to create better artwork.

Shakespeare Poster

This is my version of the poster assignment.

Due on April 8!

For Tuesday:

1. 11x17" Printed play poster. Please come to class and pin them up (in a row) on the back board.

2. Also bring your ideas/thumbnails/sketches for your final project. Here are the specs:

-Make it awesome!
-Do whatever you want.

This final project is the biggest project of the class. You are free to do what you want and we will be critiquing it to death these last few weeks.

3. Everyone who hasn't done a demo please prepare one for class. Everyone needs to do one before class is over.

Artwork for a Show...

Linda Rzoska has asked me for artwork from the class for a student show. I asked for some earlier, but not many responded. Linda told me that they really need artwork for the show and I know there is some great stuff from the class that could go in it. She needs the high resolution files by the end of next week so please bring the files to class on Tuesday. The class as a whole had some really great elephant illustrations and these sequential projects are looking really great as well.

Please bring all the files that you would like to have in the student show.

Thanks!

Due on Tuesday March 25th!

Please bring to class (which starts at 6:00)

1. 3 finished sequential illustrations

-Post them on your blog
-Bring the large finished files

2. One Moji character

-500px x 500px
-150dpi

3. Have posted 4 comments on other people's in progress sequential illustration.

The illustrations are looking great. Have fun with the Mojis.

Due on Tuesday March 18th

Please have your 3 finished illustrations for the sequential project ready by:

1. Posting them on your blog.
2. Bringing the high resolution files to class.
3. Being ready for a long critique.

Good luck!

Three sketches for Sequential project...

I hope that everyone is at least this far.

For class, Tuesday March 11...

Please post on your blog your basic concept for your sequential piece and bring your piece to work on. I will talk to you all individually while you work on them in class.

Elephant Spot Illustration *UPDATED*

This is my fixed elephant. I took suggestions from the students in the class to add more color to the skin of the elephant and to make the smoke more visible. Also, I changed the pipe so it no longer looks like it was made of ivory.


Here is my elephant for the spot illustration assignment. I want to thank the class for helping get a way better sketch than I would have on my own. It never hurts to get an opinion on your sketches (or on your in-progress work for that matter).

2nd Spot Illustration Assignment

For Tuesday Feb 26, you have a second spot illustration due.


These are the parameters:

1. An Elephant
2. With a pipe
3. Wearing a fez (See one HERE)

Bring the final version and post it on the blog.

Detail on the Focal Point

This is a digital painting by a friend of mine, Brandon Dorman. (Check out his blog HERE.)

He paints in Photoshop, but the same principles can apply to Painter. Look at how he used brush strokes and where he has more detail. On the eye and the beak region he has more detail (which translates to smaller brush strokes) than in the feathers and the tree branch. The "non focal point" areas don't require as much detail and have larger brush strokes. So you should spend more time on the focal point area in order to make it detailed and the most interesting part of the piece. Then be more free with your brush strokes in the other areas of the painting.

Hope this helps.

Due on Feb 19

Please have the following ready for class on Feb 19:

1. Finished Book Cover illustration (the actual file)
2. Cover uploaded to your blog
3. Cover printed out and on a book

and

4. Spot illustration of:
----Asian teenage girl
----Holding a cell phone
----The girl is angry
----She is wearing a necklace w/ a locket
5. Please have the spot illustration uploaded to your blog and bring the final file

For the rest of the assignments in class you are free to use any programs or media that you prefer. But at least part of the illustration must be done in Painter. The first goal is to make good artwork, the second is to learn to use Painter.

Good luck!

Vivid Color + assignments!

Here is my "Vivid Color" piece for the demo. Remember, don't be afraid to add odd colors, especially if your work is starting to look pasty.

For Tuesday, Feb 12 bring your Book Covers in progress. As close to finished as you can get them. Also bring your Painter files of your Master Copy to turn in. I will be giving you another assignment on Tuesday as well.

No numbers for Illustration Friday...

I made a mistake about Illustration Friday. I thought that your entry always had the same number, but it looks like the new ones go on top and get higher numbers when more have been added after them. So there is no need to put your number in your entry, I'm going to have to just look for them.

Sorry about that.

How To Display the Master Copy...

Please display your version first and label it:

My Master Copy

Then display the original:

Original by Monet

Thanks and again, good luck!

Due on Tuesday Jan 29th

Have your Master Copy uploaded to your blog before class at 6:00pm.
Also, upload your Illustration Friday piece to the Illustration Friday site by Thursday night. After you have linked it, edit your entry and put what number you are at the end.

Finally, be thinking of a demo that you can do for the class. Something that you have figured out in the program that looks nice or something helpful.

Good luck, I look forward to seeing your work.

Painter Tutorials

Here is a bunch of links to some video Painter tutorials:

Painter Tutorials on Wikivid

And here are some links to some written tutorials:

Corel Painter 8 Tutorials

Internet Helps

Here are a few Painter helps that I have found on the internet.

1. Painter "Keys"...

M = Magnifier
G = Grabber
E = Rotate Page
"." = Perspective (that's a period)
C = Crop
L = Lasso
W = Magic Wand
P = Pen
Q = Quick Curve
I = Rectangular Shape
J = Oval Shape
B = Brush (Freehand)
V = Brush (Straight Lines - not represented by a separate icon in the Tools palette.)
K = Paint Bucket
D = Dropper
R = Rectangular Selection
O = Oval Selection
F = Layer Adjuster
S = Selection Adjuster
H = Shape Selection
T = Text
Z = Scissors
A = Add Point
X = Remove Point
Y = Convert Point

I got this list from this ConceptArt forum.

2. "Merging" layers is called "collapsing" layers in Painter.
First select the layers you want merged by holding the "shift" key and selecting them with the mouse. Second, press "Command+G" to put them in a group. Third, press "Command+Shift+X" to collapse them.

3. Undo is the same as Photoshop "Command+Z", but redo is "Command+Y".

4. When you create a layer sometimes you can't paint on the new layer. Here is what I found out about that:

Painter X (and I assume Painter 9) has a bug that makes it appear the Preserve Transparency box is disabled when it actually is enabled (even though there's no check in the box).

Solution:

Click in the Preserve Transparency box until a checkmark appears. Then click once more to uncheck it and you should now be able to draw and paint on transparent areas of the Layer.

You'll need to do this again in each new Painter session.

I got that here.
-----

There are many more questions answered in this forum:
http://www.conceptart.org/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=23 at ConceptArt.org
You can sign up for the forum and ask questions yourself as well.

I just wanted to thank the people that I quoted for the helps they have provided.

Illustration Friday Topic

The topic this week is "Plain". Let's see if you can make something exciting for that topic.

On Tuesday please bring your Master Copy in progress and your Illustration Friday "Plain" piece in progress. We will be spending time in class working on both of them.

If you are struggling with Painter and would rather use Photoshop, you are welcome to do so. Please just explain your process to me when we are in class on Tuesday. (You can open your Photoshop files in Painter and they still have the separate layers so it's pretty easy to back and forth between the two.)

Good luck!

Corel Painter X: Student Edition

For everyone that is thinking about buying Painter, here is a link to the student edition with the $99 price tag.

Corel Painter X: Student Edition

Please, for Tuesday bring your in-progress master copy and at least the sketch for your Illustration Friday piece.

Thanks!

Apple in class assignment...

This is my apple from the first in class assignment.