Forums » Art & Creativity » Have you ever wanted to see an artist cry?

WELL! Let me share with you my blood, sweat and tears.

Recently I have been doing watercolors and decided to make digital replicas of them. I am a digital artist first, traditional second. And since none of my fellow Art major seniors know how much work it takes to produce a digital piece I went ahead and made this speed paint.

After going through several desktop recorders I finally found one that semi worked.... and then oh god... came the video editing. I thought Windows movie maker would be nice to me and do simple stuff, but apparently not. So after numerous breakdowns (because I am impatient) I finally broke down and downloaded a trial of Adobe Premiere which is amazing. I was able to speed my drawing up at 800% and add music. (I wish I did this to begin with).

I would be very grateful if you would all watch it and let me know what you think (Make sure you watch it in HD!!!)

I always love watching people work. I don't know what it is, it's super relaxing!

This looks pretty awesome to me! Very nice work!

Hopefully this'll give your fellow students some perspective, digital work is very much a time consuming process, probably more than traditional because there's no end to the amount of undos you have. Where traditional makes you learn to work with your mistakes, digital allows you to tweak it infinitely. x.x

A blessing and a curse for the perfectionist artist. (read: every one of them.)

N'yeah, there's a reason it tends to take me days, weeks, or even months (if I'm being busy/lazy) to complete a picture. I don't think I could even bother recording myself. It would just be... so long... Heck, the picture I've been working on, I think I'm on the third of forth complete redo of the blasted hair. And that's in SAI, where tweaking lineart is super easy.

Yeah, that's all I use, SAI. I just started a new piece, she's made me want to find a program and record the rest... which is still significant, my sketches go through three phases and I've only finished two, then it's onto the lineart and color, could be interesting, if only just for my own reference.

I feel you on the length though, my big pieces take that long, but only if they're paintings. My painted lines take maybe a day or two of phasework.

As far as drawing tools go, I've been eyeing this one recently. Mostly because of the 3D tool. And I've got a friend who tried SAI and hated it, possibly because she's been working in Photoshop so long and is used to that setup. There are definitely tools I like having in Photoshop that seem to be missing from SAI.

That's usually the way it goes in my experience. I hate working in Photoshop for a couple reasons. CS is a ridiculous resource hog, and it's difficult to just pick up and learn. I've worked in programs like SAI for so long, the setup comes naturally, BUT, my friend who is in Full Sail hates SAI and prefers Photoshop because it's what she was taught on. Biases, man.

When I first got my tablet I would switch between Sai and PS in the end I chose PS (Primarily because my computer class taught me how to use it). I wouldn't mind trying out Sai again but I can't find it anywhere... (Without fear of getting a virus.)

And thank you Detou!

Typically, I can take a few days to a few months to finish a piece. I was able to knock out 2 drawings in 24 hours because I had already drawn the picture on paper and water colored it. So I already knew what I was drawing which made it much easier for me to record. Usually when I draw I have no idea if the drawing will work out or not so I am always reluctant to do it. But because I drew a piece on paper I was relatively happy with, it made it easy (Idea wise, not drawing. Oh god did I struggle).

If anyone is interested, here is the original drawing. I also wanted to show my fellow seniors the advantages of using both. The drawing and coloring of Raine in the digital piece is considerably better, while the background and stones in the watercolor (i think) are way better.

I actually think the character looks better in the watercolor one, aside from the paint being a tad messy. *shrugs*

Really? That's super interesting! Its always interesting to look at what other people think versus what the person who drew it thinks. It will be interesting to see how people react when I put all three in the gallery

You made me want to do it. :<



Step one of a commission I'm working on. I don't really get camtasia yet, so the music wraps weird. AND ALSO THERE IS A TYPO, MY BAD.

oh maaaaaaaaaaan. I wish I could digitally paint like that. That's super cool.

Honestly, I only started last year. Prior to April of last year the most I did was like, one attempted bust, and then I discovered this tutorial for working in grayscale and then using a method of coloring called 'glazing,' and so I started painting in black, white and shades of gray for a while, used those training wheels well and just recently started painting with color.

It looks retarded when you first start. At least mine do. :x You should try it sometime!

Can you possibly post links to this tutorial? I've been trying portraits myself but I'm really terrible at colors xD

http://www.deviantart.com/art/black-general-walkthrough-334551425 <-- thata' one right there. I didn't follow it exactly, since SAI has some different layer functions, but I got the gist of it and used a similar method for some of my earlier stuffs.

Photoshop and SAI are tools for different purposes. PS tries its best to be useful for a wide array of types of art... typography, painting, graphic design, etc. SAI has all the excess features pruned away and focuses on the painting. Sometimes I wish SAI had the extra features but I realize they're totally different softwares! I just thought I'd weigh in as someone who transitioned from PS to SAI a few years ago and never looked back.

I've only ever used Photoshop but I've been looking to get Painter to try it out. I'm the worst at color theory and I was told it blends really well. I don't know anything about SAI though.

Thanks, Detou! Ironically I watch that artist on da and should have seen this before xD

I have to keep a handle on Photoshop (and Illustrator, and InDesign...) for the sake of career, but I draw in SAI.

I do still use PS for the stuff SAI can't do, so I feel you! (ANYTHING involving printing for one. >_<) But for painting, SAI's still my baby.

Lol! You're welcome. It was a pretty nice guideline.

@Heimdall - Great breakdown, wasn't sure how to say exactly, what the differences were. SAI is pretty basic, and like any program a little daunting initially, but oh do I love it.

Finished that piece, in case anyone was interested. :x

- got my music down this time.