drawing and coloring

[rivendellrose]

I've been working on coloring things in GIMP. It started out with a lovely bit of fan-art that maho_kiwi made for my birthday last year (sooo pretty!), and once I realized that it worked, I started messing around a bit more. Eventually, I got brave enough to try it with something of my own.

It's easier to make something really look good colored if it really looked good to begin with, so naturally Meggie and Jessie's stuff that I've played with looks better. ;) But this one's mine, so I feel okay showing it off a little bit.





Obviously, I'm still working on it. Especially the background. I'm not exactly having an easy time of making a good background, particularly since all the patterns come out looking dumb 'cause they're too little, and because the layers didn't quite work out the way I would've preferred, so I can't just add something under the main image. :P But there you go. If anybody's interested in seeing the original sketch, let me know... he looks way too young in it, though. The shading and all massively helped.

Suggestions are very welcome. I'm still going to be playing with/perfecting this, although I've got some other pieces I'm going to try to scan and work on, now that I've got the basic idea down.

Also... why can't I get LJ scrapbook to show me a direct-link URL for images? I'm sick of having to upload shit to my many GJ accounts just to show the picture here!

Comments

[zinjadu.livejournal.com]

Nice! =D I'm really impressed with the shading around his chin and neck, and how you got the light to fall. And also, he looks like he's considering if I'm useful for one of his plots. ^^;;;;

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Thanks! At least the expression came out right, then. ;)

I'm really pleased with how the shading worked, too! I was also happy 'cause I was able to go in after the fact and fix a few little things that I'd messed up in the original - his eyes were a bit too narrow, so I had a stressful but fun time fixing that last night. It's sooo nice fixing things in a situation where if I mess up I can just hit "EDIT > UNDO!!!"

[cassildra.livejournal.com]

That looks incredible. YAY FOR GARAK.

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Eee, thank you! I had way too much fun doing it - the Cardassians are just so damned cool-looking. :D

[cassildra.livejournal.com]

I KNOW. I want one of my very own.

< /weird >

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

I want one of my very own.

Me too. I've wanted one for years. Somehow, Santa just hasn't come through, yet.

...Of course, I've probably confused him with the "if not one of those, then how about Bashir? Or Aragorn? Or Mal? Or Zoe?" I'm just providing options! I'm trying to make it easier for him!

[cassildra.livejournal.com]

*chuckles.* For years, I've wanted a guy like Tuxedo Kamen. Is that so much to ask, Santa? Is it?! :(

[maho-kiwi.livejournal.com]

Very nice! The shading is very subtle, but it works really well!

As far as scrapbook goes, after you upload the picture, go into the gallery it's in (there's a series of links that should have it, like "My Art -->Annotate", (or whatever you've named the gallery)which is the screen that automatically comes up after uploading. If you click on the "my art" part, it will take you to the gallery, and then you click on "pictures", which will show you all the pictures you've uploaded so far. You click on the "pic" link next to the one you want, and it'll take you to a specific screen for that image. Somewhere below it, it will have the image dimensions as a link. If you click THAT, it'll take you to the image itself. Then you can copy-paste the link out of the address bar.

It's long and tedious, and there might be an easier way, but it's the only one I'VE ever found.

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I'm hoping I'll get a little more adventurous with the next few, in terms of shading and effects, but for now I'm just kind of dancing over the whole "color without tedious colored-pencil hours" thing. Computer coloring looks so smooth and nice! XD

Somewhere below it, it will have the image dimensions as a link.

Damn it. I'd gotten all the way to that point, but hadn't actually thought to click that link after all the other linky-clicky-ness. Argh. Okay, thank you!

[maho-kiwi.livejournal.com]

*nod* I am only just starting to work on being daring with shading myself, so I understand the um, timidity ^^;;;;

Well, it's not a very intuitive system for finding the link >->

[cassildra.livejournal.com]

Well, it's LJ.. as much as we love Livejournal, sometimes there's a lot left to be desired.

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

It makes sense in that "keep hitting links until you get to what you want" kind of way. I just gave up one step too soon!

[reve-lucide.livejournal.com]

Wow! So did you draw this by hand and then scan and color it in the GIMP? Or did you draw it with some sort of software? Either way, I'm impressed. XD

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Thanks! It was drawn by hand, originally, with mechanical pencil on plain sketch paper. And then, yeah, I scanned it about a year ago... and forgot about it. I only found it again because I was digging through my picture files looking for icon material.

[reve-lucide.livejournal.com]

That's awesome! I don't think I can even guess at how you colored it. That's something I've never tried (or needed) to do.

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Just a lot of use of the fuzzy and regular circle paint brushes in various sizes and colors, and a lot of dodge/burn to get the shadows right. It also really helps to duplicate the main image and make the white transparent, then color on a clear layer in between the two copies. That way the lines stay above the color. XD

*Has been thinking about this way too much*

[reve-lucide.livejournal.com]

Ah. Good to know! I might have to try that out sometime ... although not the drawing part, of course, because my artistic abilities most definitely do NOT include drawing or painting of any kind. Seriously. I can't even draw a convincing stick figure.

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

It might come in handy. *Shrugs*

I totally feel like that sometimes, with all the amazing artists I hang out with in everyday life. Seriously talented people. But I like playing around with my stuff. And you've got awesome icon and writing skills, so you make up for it! XD

[reve-lucide.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I keep telling myself that ... plus, I can (kind of) play the banjo! That counts, right?

LMAO.

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Oh, that totally counts! I'm so jealous! The most I can do is pluck at my poor old guitar - I've been trying to teach myself for years, with almost no progress whatsoever. :(

[reve-lucide.livejournal.com]

Haha. Well, I'm not THAT good, but I can manage. Actually, I became interested in the banjo because I sucked so much at the guitar. I can pick like crazy, but I can't strum to save my life. So banjo it was.

Also, have you tried Right Click->Copy Image Location? That always works for me.

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

I can pick, but... not fabulously. There was a time when I was very good at plucking out Greensleeves and a few other songs, but now I'm so out of practice I'm not even sure I could do that. :P I love my poor guitar, I'm just sooo not worthy of it.

o_O That totally would work, wouldn't it? Why didn't I ever think of that?!

Thank you. Sometimes the dumbest stuff doesn't occur to me...

[spazzychic.livejournal.com]

You can get the direct link URL, you just need to fight it a bit to get it.

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Yup, I see it now. I went just one click too few. :P Silly LJ, making everything so difficult!

[coralia13.livejournal.com]

Ooh, I love it! That's really good - I can never manage proportions, but you've got it down. Can't wait to see more of your stuff!

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Thanks so much! XD

Well... let's just say I got proportions here. I don't show the stuff that doesn't work!

[hermionesviolin.livejournal.com]

Also... why can't I get LJ scrapbook to show me a direct-link URL for images? I'm sick of having to upload shit to my many GJ accounts just to show the picture here!

I'm a big fan of using photobucket (esp. since I was in the habit before LJ implemented Scrapbook and I find Scrapbook unwieldy -- since it seems designed to _be_ a scrapbook, which is very rarely what I want).

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Yeah, Scrapbook seems to kind of... have issues. I'll have to look into getting a photobucket account. Thanks for the tip!

[sigelphoenix.livejournal.com]

That's really nice looking. Assuming that I do end up getting Photoshop on my computer, would you be willing to share some tips as someone who's still a semi-beginner? I have no experience, but I'd love to learn (that, and I have no decent colored pencils in my possession with which to color my drawings).

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

All my experience is with GIMP (which is free!), but from looking over Terra's shoulder I'd say that the basics should be fairly transferrable. It's pretty simple to work with, especially for coloring, once you get the hang of dealing with different layers. *g*

[sigelphoenix.livejournal.com]

I'm actually fine with layers - all my experience in Photoshop is with making layouts and icons, so I'm used to manipulating images. Just not actually *creating* art. So I'll probably be hitting you with random questions about shading and stuff. :D

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Oh, heck yeah - that I should definitely be able to help out with! It's seriously easy once you get going, you shouldn't have any trouble at all!