90 minute Plasma Stream

Plasma Stream

Still a no go Plasma?

LJ

I am never, ever one to look a gift art in the mouth, so in that, I THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart.


I think I know what it is now, the lines of the markers. In places my mind is telling me they should thin out, they don't and I think that is a limitation of the media.

Your own line art is as always something I love to look at.

Incidentally, I do like this piece and noticed a most likely accidental easter egg or my brains version of a Rorschak test on the bridge of her nose, it looks like there's a stick figure of someone standing with one leg over the other. This is NOT a criticism just something i like about the piece that hit me when i first looked at it.

I really like this one. Something about the set of the mouth and the translucency of the coloring that gives PlasmaStream the glassy edge I always imagined. Great character, great picture.

I have to confess I didn't look for my screenshot of you, so I used your avatar piece by Celtic Bolt for reference.

Here's how this style developed, I was drawing in Illustrator, I forget who, but I had spent a lot of time on the line work, and was dying to see it colored right away.

SO I figured, pop a layer under it and start coloring. But then Illustrator makes really flat color, I am not a wiz at gradients and meshes like the wifey who taught me Illustrator over a year ago... So for me the only way to color it was either at 100% opaque, or turn down the opacity and play with transparencies, which were new to me.

I pretty much only use this style when I don't feel like flatting in Photoshop, and for those who do that, then you know it's not a quick process if your subject is made of a million details. So basically I'm still learning this, I think I skipped the whole learning to color with markers phase growing up.

I know I did some of it, but man it's been a while. I think the more I do this, and perhaps study how others might do it, then I'll be able to polish this feel that I am going for...

Like my brain knows I should leave some of the white showing, but again, the speed demon in me, sometimes won't let me. I think I will buy myself some copic markers and play in my sketchbook, then see if I can reproduce that again in this program.

Thanks everyone for listening to me blab.

LJ

Hey LJ? Question for ya, you're using a tablet right? What I think would help is getting some pressure sensitivity in coloring. Just a thought

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Hey LJ? Question for ya, you're using a tablet right? What I think would help is getting some pressure sensitivity in coloring. Just a thought

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He's using Illustrator though. I'm not exactly certain but I don't Illustrator lets you do pressure sensitivity since it's all vectors. Although I COULD be wrong though since it's been ages since I tried Illustrator.

Sadly my wacom only has 512 levels of sensitivity... regardless though it only helps when I use a calligraphy brush, which helps some in the sizing of the line, but not so much in the intensity of the line. Thanks for the help though...

LJ, have you tried using a felt nib for the Wacom instead of the regular ones? The felt ones actually help the pressure sensitivity immensely.

I've seen those pens online, but no never ordered one... can you recommend a site, sounds tempting, say for a stocking stuffer...

Okay, lemme go dig around.

You da man!

I guess Wacom recently decreased their shipping price. Used to be $10 just to ship ~anything with them.
http://direct.wacom.com/stores/5/Felt_ni...f11e0fcA8$E6a

Thanks for the links, I did some research of my own, but I have a question, can those nibs be used for any wacom pen, or does it have to be the ones that come with an Intuos board? Also are they easy to change? I found some kit that sells 15 nibs, a changer and some other things... but before I order it, I'd rather not have to buy a replacement pen for $70, which is more than my tablet is worth.

Well, I've never tried attaching a felt nib (supposedly for Intuos) into a Graphire tablet but I've used Graphire nibs with my Intuos all the time so I honestly don't see any reason why it wouldn't. I mean, it fits perfectly since they're all made in a standard size.

As for changing, it's as easy to change as it is to change the regular one. It's probably a bit easier to change than the regular nibs since it's not quite as smooth as those so the C-clips (the circular tweezer thingy you use to pull them out with) has an easier time clipping onto it.

...we really need to get you a Intuos 2 or 3 LJ It's teh sex.

Ah k, then I'm gonna go ahead an order it... cool, can't wait...

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...we really need to get you a Intuos 2 or 3 LJ It's teh sex.

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QFT!!! SOOO TRUE!!!

Intuos is mad seksi! Mix it in with a Widescreen monitor + widescreen Intuos...and you've never have problems not having enough side space to put those annoying palette windows in Photoshop.

Yes I would like a Intuos 6 x 11... but I have dual LCD monitors for the palette problem (19"wide, and 17" regular)... but now yer all making me crave the felts nibby... no wonder you guys draw in Photoshop, you have the ultra 1024 sensitivity, and non of the line shakes. I ink in Illustrator cause it's so fricking forgiving, and I can move lines around all day or thicken them with 2 clicks.

Wasn't one of youse gonna hook me up with their Photoshop sketching set up...

[ QUOTE ]
Yes I would like a Intuos 6 x 11... but I have dual LCD monitors for the palette problem (19"wide, and 17" regular)... but now yer all making me crave the felts nibby... no wonder you guys draw in Photoshop, you have the ultra 1024 sensitivity, and non of the line shakes. I ink in Illustrator cause it's so fricking forgiving, and I can move lines around all day or thicken them with 2 clicks.

Wasn't one of youse gonna hook me up with their Photoshop sketching set up...

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I actually JUST started painting in Photoshop...I finally realized that I had "pressure sensitivity" turned off the whole time since I started using Wacoms (4 years)...although I do ink in Photoshop (gotta turn OFF pressure sensitivity for that). I've noticed that inking in Illustrator alters your lines alot and it becomes difficult to get hard edges since it winds up connecting the lines, turning it into a curve all the time. Anyways, if you teach me how to make a video in PS, I'd be happy to create an inking tutorial for you.

As for setup, I use the basic setup. :-P

That's because the brush tool in Illustrator is a lot like the pen tool in Photoshop, so you can alter the points on your line with the white arrow and black arrow at the top of the toolbox if a line is selected.

I'll come back to this thread tomorrow. I need sleep

Exactly! I love that about Illustrator, though I only alter lines when say I've drawn too far over another edge, I can just click the node, and make the line come back a fraction. As for recording a movie in PS, umm yer asking Say that one right?

A really handy way to get around the "line shakes" is to work on a larger canvas-- two to three times the size you intend to use in the final, and then scale down at the end. The scale-down makes the little bobbles much less noticable perceptually. What looks a bit shaky at 2000x2000 looks much cleaner shrunken down to 1000x1000. This is why I mentioned it in the other thread.

On a side note, if the graphire's anything like the Intuous, it's beyond easy to swap the nibs. I just gently grab the old nib with a fingernail trimmer(better grip than a tweezer, especially if the nib's old, but use a tweezer if you're not tossing out the old nib, since the clippers will damage it a little) and give a tug, then push the new nib in with my finger.

*hopes they all realize, I am taking notes on this since im getting my fiancee a tablet for christmas, a complete surprise gift*

The info I've read for the Intuos mentions a "removable tip pen", something NOT mentioned in any of the Graphire, or even their new line the Bamboo. The kit I found for replacing the tips are for the "grip pen" which seems standard with Intuos.

So I have a choice to buy a $70 grip pen and hope it works with my $70 tablet, or hold that money in escrow and wait till I hit the $300+ prices for the Intuos3 6 x 8, that I'd want.

The graphire4 pen I have now, has some pressure sensitivity, but it's 1/2 the levels the Intuos have... I'd love to test drive one, but our local electronics store has slim pickings. Oh well this just means I gotta start drawing more, and less yapping...

Oh and Su Lin - I work waaaay larger than 2,000 x 2,000, sometimes 3-4x that, and I still gets the shakes. Illustrator solves all that, and lets me edit the line, so I'm use to it. Thanks for the suggestion though...

Intuos3, Plas. Any size'll do, but I'd WAY recommend it for anyone that has any real need for a tablet.

Hmm. Well, that does change things, LJ. There are a set of exercises you can do that will help develop a steady tablet hand, but usually ongoing use takes care of that.

Do you tend to draw in short, overlapping strokes, or do you just set pen to page so to speak, and draw a whole line in one go? That might contribute, depending.