Digital Painting in Grayscale
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Digital Painting in Grayscale
courseDigital Painting FundamentalsSelected 2 parts (104 lessons)
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@philipp_stein
Hey jo people,  here are my submissions for the assignment, I spend about two evenings on one piece, my most obvious weak points I think are the hands and feet.  Something that I really need to work on is keeping a consistent edge quality when working with a textured brush, as I find myself losing control more often than not and getting a muddied result in the end. I hope you like my pieces and feedback of any sort is greatly appreciated.
LESSON NOTES

What's in Premium?

It's time to start painting. We explore a simplified digital workflow to get you comfortable with the medium. We start by creating a solid drawing foundation using references. You'll learn to use digital advantages like the Lasso Tool and Free Transform to adjust proportions quickly.

Once the drawing is set, we move to the painting phase. I'll walk you through toning the canvas, blocking in shadow shapes, and separating the figure from the background. You will learn my specific blending technique using the Eyedropper tool and brush pressure to create smooth transitions. We also cover edge control and how to simplify details to create a strong focal point. This lesson includes a full demonstration of a grayscale figure painting.

Get this lesson and more in the premium course!

Related Links:
Getting Started with Digital Painting
How to Draw a Figure
Digital Painting Basics - Simple Forms to Complex Paintings

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Assignment-Images.zip
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digital-painting-in-grayscale.mp4
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digital-painting-in-grayscale-transcript-english.txt
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digital-painting-in-grayscale-transcript-spanish.txt
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digital-painting-in-grayscale-captions-english.srt
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digital-painting-in-grayscale-captions-spanish.srt
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ASSIGNMENTS

Now that you've seen me do it, it's your turn to practice working from a reference to understand how shapes and values work in real life! 

Start with a clean drawing, do a value block-in, and then build up your painting working from general to specific details.

You're more than welcome to find your own reference, but I've also provided three references that can be found in the downloads tab for this lesson. There is an easy reference, an intermediate reference for those who'd like to try clothing a figure and painting fabric, and a hard reference with lots of costume details and fun material challenges. 

@jaylandeweer
Please critique my work :)
Josh Fiddler
I love the contrast you made with the figure against the background as well as the choice to leave in the line work. Overall, I get a strong sense of light where we want it and shadow where we want it. A good painterly effect with the broad, loose strokes. I did a little paint over where, in my opinion, softening the edge between the triangle shape between the arm and the arch of the back reduces the contrast there, creating less of a draw for the eye compared to the face. I also brought the light shape in the background down a bit for some asymmetry but also to separate the hip from the background is it comes forward relative to the other side. This helps sell the idea of the slight turn in space, with the other hip fading more into the background thanks to that heavier line on the contour. See also that I darkened the feet a bit more to reduce the sharpness of the edges against the floor. I hope that makes sense.
Josh Fiddler
Here's another one. 1 highlight, 1 mid-tone, and one Light for skin local value and 2 darks: one for core shadows and one for reflected light. Using Half-way to black for light and shadow values for hair and skin as different local values. I left the line drawing as I felt it adds some nice contrast.
Josh Fiddler
Reposting. Export lost the stool.
@mis_74
28d
any feed back is welcomed and appreciated!
D C
1mo
Any feedback would be greatly appreciated <3
Josh Fiddler
My feedback for you. I think there is nothing to worry about your value structure on the figure. Lightest shadow is about halfway from the main skin value. And your halftone is close enough to the light value to not appear as a shadow. Maybe the halftone in the screen-left calf is a bit bright so creates some distraction there. But overall, great use of texture for softening edges. Ah, there is one thing about the shadows of the face. Around the eyes that shadow is a touch too close to the halftone values. Step it down into your shadow range and soften the edges on the lower site. Some proportion issues in the arms and pecs but this is not an anatomy course so meh. One additional point to consider is the background. The overall dark value is too dark for the figure and creates a really stark contrast that flattens your painting. The light patch tries to bridge the gap but the black is too dark. Step it up to somewhere near your darkest shadow but lower than it. Then consider the fact that on the reference the screen-right side is in shadow while the screen-left side is lit. See what putting a slightly darker value on the screen-left side and a slightly lighter value screen right. There will be a separation that you can play with where you want to bring the forward hip forward and the slight back hip (screen-left), will be behind. Have fun and keep it up!
Jessica Jones
Trying to learn digital art. I'm using krita vs PS.
D C
1mo
Hello, I appreciate any feedback <3
@lucykairi
1mo
I feel like i missed something. Gonna try to draw along with one of the Assignment Examples.
Cameron Roy
Any and all feedback is welcome!
@lucykairi
1mo
u did so well on the hair i also have to start with this assignment today i am a bit worryed i will not turn out well.
Ash
1mo
beautiful!
joseph chalmers
I used my own reference. I'm not much of a painter and would love any tips or feedback. :)
Torie Smith
Finished! Please share any comments and/or critiques.
J P
2mo
advice welcomed and encouraged :)
@aouenich
2mo
Hello, still working on greyscales
Turnip Van Dyke
Attaching a WIP screenshot of part of the way through. This was challenging for me most with edge control and making effective choices about mid-tones. I'm tempted to go back and take Jon's suggestion from an assignment video to do this exercise as a 4- or 5-value study to keep shadow and lights more distinct, but overall I hit a point after about 2.5 hours of work on this piece that I trust I can progress more in my fundamentals by doing more pieces. Onwards! Excited to be taking this course.
Ben Kraske
2mo
I had a lot of fun with this, digital painting has been something I've wanted to practice. I definitely get a bit fatigued and bored once it comes to rendering details, and I think I could've maybe gone a bit lighter in some areas of his skin, but overall I'm happy! I'll work on my attention span next ;P
Stephen Clark
Great study!
Bivek Tamang
Francisco Lopez
Hii! First assigment finish, I struggle with blending the shadows and i think my midtones are kind flat but had fun doing it any feedback or tips are wellcome :)
@bacco0
4mo
Hi! After some time I decided to finally start this course! Excited to continue. These are my results for now.
Elijah
4mo
Finished the first course assignment and had a lot of fun! Looking forward to more like this and, of course, much appreciated feedback :)
Alex Mon
4mo
i tried but would love feedback
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