Meeting Overview, 2/10/12

Hey everyone! Sorry for a late recap, but we're having some technical difficulties with the video we shot of Wes' demo. As soon as we figure them out, we'll post it, hopefully in nice, digestible chunks for you. Going forward we should have a better handle on the logistics of video stuff.

Anywho, we began our meeting in the traditional way: talking about various "administrative" stuff:

•  We covered our plans for an Internship Calendar in the entrance to the labs, as well as here on the blog
• We talked about the our ideas for an end of year "show" focusing on the Art of Animation (storyboards, character designs, models, etc.), and the various locations we've scoped out for it thus far.
• We talked briefly about further networking tips, and Rico suggested using "the buddy system" when networking. Basically, have someone you can rely on to hype you to other people, as well as you do the same for them/someone. In essence, have someone else to say how great you are, so as not to appear egotistical

After all that, we moved in to the lab, where Rico introduced Wes Talbott, who gave us all a demonstration of his workflow while digital painting, as well as tips along the way:

To Make Linework from a scanned sketch:

• select outside sketch with wand tool
• inverse
• In "channels", choose "blue", then fill with black
• set to soft light or overlay (instead of multiply, use OVERLAY / SOFT LIGHT – doesn't muddy the colours)

This way, you have just your linework on its own, seperate layer.

Put in FLAT COLORS FIRST – basically in the order of how you would “dress” someone. Skin, hair, shirt, pants, shoes, etc.

• flats = select and fill with pen tool (like illustrator)
• free lasso for organic shapes (bushes, rocks)
• flats are darker, usually

If you select and fill, you get nice clean lines for your flats, and not the fuzzy edges a brush can leave.

Break everything up into layers – every new element on a new layer – Skin, Hair, Clothes, Trees, Grass, etc.

Make a clipping mask over your flat shape (ie, skin) and paint only over your shape (new layer, create clipping mask).

Figure out your light source!! Super important!

START PAINTING

• Start emphasizing areas with a lighter colour than the flats. Not technically highlights, but start building form/contrast

COLORS – paint from cool to warm

- start with medium (in between), add warm highlight, then cool shadow

Change things as you go! Step back and look at the whole piece every so often and adjust hue and saturation.

Lower the opacity on the lines, or turn them off all together – this way you are not dependent on them!!

Protip: Don't make the eyes white. Eyes are not usually as white as people thing they are. Your eyelids cast shadows, etc.

Figure drawing classes will absolutely help you learn anatomy/how the light hits the form, etc

Darks should be on a separate layer than the lights. Layer breakdown will be: Skin (flats), darks, lights, facial features.

After you've added your darks and lights, add “effects” – overlay, multiply, etc. soft touches of color to emphasize. Like red glows on the nose, cheeks, ears. Add cool spots in the shadows.

A finished piece can have something like 100-200 layers.

NOSES – contrast, sharp edges

METAL

• download brushes from the net! Lots of resources!
• Stipply brush
• the key to metal is a ton of contrast
• start vague/big, then add harder shapes

Tips:

Paint in huge areas and then erase away.

High contrast of value and high contrast of temperature.

Have reference! Even if it's something you've painted before. Until you get completely comfortable with it.

Common mistakes: not enough contrast/sharpness (fuzzy paintings), using textures in the wrong way.

Brushes – set to touch sensitivity and initial direction

Textures - don't do it wrong. Paint your own textures then put an actual texture over top of it to enhance it. Be subtle with textures – don't rely on them. Textures show in light, textures don't show in shadow. Paint accordingly.

Layers for textures – overlay, 30% opacity

Straight lines – draw with rulers, pen tool, clipping planes

Edge quality – if you paint with flats, you're going to get a lot of sharp edges, on a new layer, pick a medium colour and SOFTEN THOSE EDGES. Personal preference – metal can be sharp, for instance

INFLUENCES AND REFERENCE:

ZATRANSIS @ DeviantArt, Justin Gerard, Sam Burley, Brian Matyes

enliighten.com – resource for digital painting. Lots of tutorials, and talks about technology and it's ALL FREE. There's a community for where you can post your sketch book and people can look at it/talk to you about it

cgtextures.com (this is a resource Bethany uses, ask her)

WATCH TUTORIALS, mess around, make mistakes, practice

LEXICON – PENSSYLVANIA CON – had portfolio reviewed. Limited to artists, students, art teachers, art buyers, etc.

Message from Wes: “People can come into the Learning Resource Center on Thursday from 3:30-5:30 and Friday from 1:30 to 3:30. I can answer any painting questions they have, give critiques, etc.”

Here's a link to the painting Wes worked on, if you'd like to fool around with it, as well as some of the brushes he used:http://www.mediafire.com/?25uwsdae9jf811w


Next week's meeting is a Movie Night, and we'll be watching Cats Don't Dance. See you then!