I began working on this painting for a competition in making a campain against drunk driving in Sweden. My main Idea was to create a poster with a slogan and a picture of a young girl, who'd been ran over by a car. I had been blown away by the opportunities Painter seemed to offer before, and after getting the program from my parents as a birthday present, I was determined to make my picture in that program. The only preventing fact was that I had no idea how to use it, and I had to spend a lot of time reading the manual and making uncountable unsecessful attemt to get the effects I wanted. After a while I finished the painting and sent it to the competition. Three months later I found out that a poster with a childish slogan ("all the children got over the road except Anne, the driver didn't had time to stop" ) wich did'nt have any illustration or any descent graphic had won . I got pretty disappointed about this. Am I really that bad? However, I changed the composition entirely and gave the face of the girl (the only part of the painting I was content with) an own simple backround. Now I would like to know what some normal people would think about this . Im unsertain about if the composition could be improved in any way. I also wonder i i can improve her facial features. I don't like her expression. Should i make the mouth more expanded? Many artist who are enrolled in Painter seem to achieve such beautiful hair - eg. Ursula Vernon at http://elfwood.lysator.liu.se/farp/realism/ursularealism.html She seem to have an earlier version of Painter than I do. What tools should I use in Painter 7 for a similar effect? In this painting I was using a dry chamel hair brush and the chalk tool for the hair. Most parts of the face is painted with a large chalk.
Lovely rendering of facial tones, terrific job for a first piece. Sorrie I can't bestow any advice since I don't use Painter, or not currently familiar enough with it to say much (more into Photoshop)... maybe more highlights and dark streaks to contrast? Highlights are what give hair its lustrous appearance, fine medium to dark streaks alongside the highlights would emphasise the delicate quality.
I wouldn't worry about the competition results, though - you're making good progress with the medium, so sooner or later you'll win some other awards?
Thanks a lot for your comments and compliments. My Internet has been down for a couple of weeks and I have been unable to send a reply or even notice that someone answered my message.
You’re right when saying that the hair needs some deeper contrasts. I have tried to add some darker stokes and highlights to the structure of the hair, but since I haven't got any graphic table and must work with the computer mouse, it's hard to get it all right. Long, thin and delicate strokes are very difficult to do. But honestly I think most of the problems are due to how I use the program and what tools I'm using, I can't blame the mouse for everything. I've been trying to follow the tutorial by Ursula Vernon, but I just can’t find the equivalents of the tools of her version of Painter and Painter 7. One thing that bothers me is that the watercolours tools seem to work incredibly well in the previous version. In the latest most are just worthless, and can't even be used for a proper background. Does anyone else know if there any recommended settings for the watercolours considering amount of water, grain and so on? I’m mainly lokking for optimised settings for “the water colour camel hair brush”.
I've been trying to improve my old, first picture for a while. Mainly for improving the hair structure and making the construction of the face better. I've discovered countless errors and mistakes in the old painting that I've tried to correct. But, honestly I finally just got fed up with it and started to paint a new picture. The painting and two close-ups are showed below. I got the same problems here. It's just impossible for me to make proper hair in a computer, not to mention feathers and clothing. I tried to "cheat" with the bird by adding a lot of grain for hiding the badly painted feathers and structures. But as you can see, it did really not work out properly. I'm mainly asking for advice when it comes to the following questions: What tools are to be used when painting hair and feathers in Painter 7? What settings for the tools are recommended? How am I supposed to make the clothing less glossy and smooth? Is the backround proper?
. I got pretty disappointed about this. Am I really that bad?
What tools are to be used when painting hair and feathers in Painter 7? What settings for the tools are recommended?
