Taronites

Well, there's no going back now. I'm in love with Verve. So figured I'd start documenting my gradual progression since I'm no artist and my experience with creative and editing software is very limited it's probably gonna be slow progress. XD

Here's my latest attempt which sucks and has an overly fluffy mini tree (Don't ask what goes on in my mind...) I have some nice black lines going across the picture which for some reason I couldn't blend it on erase so I just left them there...lazy I know.



My first attempts:




Tips, tricks and advice all welcome I'm just starting out so keep having the read the manual as I go. Learning the brushes and trying out different techniques atm.

Swweeeet! ... I love reading that for sure!

Ouch on the black lines! Wow, I'm a little amazed you got that to happen so soon, hahaha, but it's an issue I've already tracked down and shouldn't be happening in the next version.
Other than that... it's good to show humility, but you don't have to tear yourself down everytime, Scott! You're adventure is just starting and you're leaping into it with both feet. That's something I enjoy and respect a lot, so just enjoy it and I'm sure we'll all be there to give you some pointers!

Obviously you're fully aware of lighting already, that's a good thing to have in your backpack as you start off. You should spend some time experimenting with brushes, various stipple and stroke techniques to get a feel for how you create what kind of texture and what kind of shapes. Part of those experiments is to work with the Fluidity settings...ehm...all of them!

One may think that Fluidity itself would be the most important dial up there, but- really- it is Fluid Smudge! With that you can control how soft the paint blend as it is being dragged around. Even with Fluidity at 0.0, Fluid Smudge determines how smudging ( holding down [Shift] while painting ) blends the paints!

Familiarize yourself with the brush gui (And then forget it again, hahaha, because the next version might be quite different, oops). But all in all I want to keep the spirit of it, where you will be working with parameters as opposed to cute icons and fixed presets. Therefore you won't waste your time to get a feel for this level of control over your brush!

Anyway, I'm super happy you're here and keep it coming!

Hahaha thanks Taron, as I said though I don't know the first thing about art. The lighting feature was really useful because I suck at judging where light is supposed to be coming from and highlighting, and my perspective is bad which is one of the reasons I never did art I feel much more comfortable using software though because you can touch up and delete any massive errors without spending loads of cash on paints haha. I found smudging with paintbrush 3 does some awesome grass/fuzz effects so working with that atm. I'm working on something new atm, trying to get a feel for adding detail but failing a little. I know I seem a little pessimistic about my creations but I'm just scratching the surface of what Verve is capable of and it's just a little frustrating not being able to put down what's in my mind haha, the toughest critic seems to be myself.
Just wish I could create something as beautiful as the images displayed across the top when I make a post, your Spock creation is wonderfully baffling. Also, don't worry about me forgetting the UI, I do it every 3 seconds I'm going to try and get my girlfriend to try this out, she's actually good at art >.>


Work in progress...I should really learn how to do the symmetry thing though.



Well, this is how it ended up after experimenting....I have no idea...I really like the cloud though, I'll remember how to do those.

Nice first steps, if you going deeper into the world of digital painting/drawing, there are some nice tutorials in the web, e.g. ctrlpaint.com (ok mostly with photoshop, but you can use the most also for VERVE) and in future you can also paint in values/grayscale first and made your color in the last steps, this is recommended by lot of good tuturials ...
cant wait to see this next verve update - with better possibilities to made values first and indirect painting http://taron.de/forum/viewtopic.php?p=8606#p8606

maybe you will also spend a good tablet, or did you have? And its also important to draw some thing with paper and pencil only, every day

Thanks! I'll check em out. As for paper and pen...well, they usually end up out of the window due to frustration....

You know, Scott, you're attempting a portrait there, even if it's a demonic alien of sorts, but a portrait is the absolute hardest thing to paint! That means you are really challenging yourself right off the bet. But that's kind of ok, as you will later on have a great reference to look back on, when you revisit that path again.
However, I recommend to you to make a lot more landscape and abstract explorations first to grow your artistic limbs, you know. When you get impatient with yourself you may miss out on the stunning transformation you can experience.
Now, I know it's kind of sad sometimes, when the part of becoming skilled at something takes so long that one forgets to recognize the wow factor when it finally has happened. But there are many moments of success you get to celebrate along the way that are always well worth the dedicated patience!

Anyway, naturally you should go for exactly what you want to go for, that's not only your total freedom, but also a great way to browse through your own state of perception and preferences. But as soon as you feel frustrated for what ever reason, slow down and do a tiny bit of happy grinding... most of us a ready to do that for weeks on some silly games, but when you do that to grow artistic skills, wow....little out there can beat that gratification!

So, yeah, take a moment and watch maybe my first demo again and consider the tricks behind the steps I've made, making that landscape!

Well, here's my 3rd attempt. It's a landscape, pretty simple and bare but I really like it I'm one of those people that spend hours on those silly games Taron, but so far I much prefer this xD

let's not talking about playing games
But yeah, once you tap into parts of your mind that actually make something happen you can present, that's eventually way more addictive than most games. Plus, you make shake off a game after some time, but once you find a way to activate your creativity...pfff...that's a mean drug!

Nice going there! I like the bushes!

You know, it's really kind of exciting to think about guiding someone into arts so early on. There's so much to explore for you, it's fantastic! Thanks for that opportunity!

Hahah no problem, although it's pretty mutually beneficial xD The better I get the more rewarding it feels opening up Verve xD

Well, last one for tonight. I appear to be getting better...I think. But had a play with different techniques and spent a little more time on it. I need to fill the foreground with something more creative in future though...dunno what...