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Achieving looseness in painting, digital painting thought


Photoshop painting tutorial achieving painterly effect or looseness in digital painting.  my thought on digital painting.
Many people asked me how did I make my digital painting in Photoshop looks so traditional like and loose. How do I make my piece look so analog instead of look very digital? Well, I've been thinking about it for a long while. As I analyzed how I paint and doodle around in Photoshop with my Wacom tablet and pen. I was thinking possible because I used to paint in gauche and acrylic before I even know digital painting exist? I don't really know, but I know what should my painting look like in the end. And possibly because I admire many oil painters such as John Singer Sargent, John Williams Waterhouse, Ander Zorn, Rick Berry, Richard Schmid, and Frank Frazetta. They are master oil painters and I always hoping that some day I could do something as great or somehow close to that caliber of work.
Anyway, I think the work of most artists often reflect their taste, influences or mentors. I love having brush strokes in my piece, not all of us like that. Some like their art work to be smooth and tight, some love airbrush work. But me, personally, I am not a big fan of airbrush or art work that are really tight. Though more often than not, I really love a lot of them and always wonder how they achieve such effect. But my most favorite remains painterly effect or looseness. And most painters who paint from light or "Direct painting" like Sargent, Mullins and Schmid are always my most favorite.


In humble my opinion, if you try to achieve looseness of traditional medium look in digital painting.  I would suggest play around with brush strokes.  And more importantly, you have to know how and where to define edges.  There are hard edge, soft edge and loose edge.  Don't try to make your painting looks too smooth.  If you can do that, then your digital art work would definitely look more like traditional work.
*More on edges go read "Three important rules for painting."


Craig Mullins once states, "So in digital terms, leave the airbrush and smudge tools alone and use a flat brush. I think the give-away for digital is the slickness. Finding the edge of forms is the first step to good shape design. Hope this helps!"


I was reading "Alla Prima" by Richard Schmid last night. He said something that I think you guys might find really useful. You can also apply that to practice of painting. To get your painting to look loose is not to let yourself loose.
He said, "Looseness is NOT a frivolous departure from control, quite the opposite. It arise from the freedom which comes with superb control." It is true in my opinion. Art, like many things I practice, the more discipline you have, the better you will get. If you constantly practice and treat it seriously with respect then you will achieve your goal.


Not much going on here, I've been busy moving all the video files from Payloadz to E-Junkie. Tons of work still left to do. All I want to do is paint, not moving files around and changing servers.
Here is the latest, It is still a long way to finish line.  I am hoping to finish it soon.  Step by step will come when it is done.  ;-)
dark mage sketch


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Comments

me9a7 said…
Very interesting Xia, been wondering about it too. What Richard Schmid said is very interesting, I've always thought that looseness is about creative strokes that comes out of spontaneity but realizing that its actually about control changes the game altogether. I think i'll get the book too and read it lol :)

Thanks for the post bro!
David said…
Love the quote by Richard Schmid. I find that with subjects I'm not as familiar with I subconsciously tend to do too much tidying up and smoothing to make up for not getting it right, generally giving it a more digital feel. Where what I really should do is study my subject matter longer and do a lot of study sketches to get a thorough understanding of what I'm creating and so my final drawing will come more naturally and keep that looseness in the piece.
me9a7 said…
Interesting post Xia, been wondering about it too. What Richard Schmid said is interesting, i've always thought that looseness is creative strokes that comes from spontaneity but realizing that its about control changes the game altogether. I should get Alla Prima too sounds like a good read :)

Thanks for the post bro!
idrawgirls said…
@Me9a7 & David Yeah, I know when I first started painting I thought pretty much along the same line, spontaneity. I am always very good at gesture drawing, but I always have a really hard time apply it to painting. When I am doing 2-5 mins gesture drawing, I have to be fast, accurate and spontaneous. I will usually have a good streak when I am in the zone. In painting, it is a lot harder because you have so many element to deal with. Fast, accurate and spontaneity can not come without a hard long thought process of where you will put your next stroke. Then what value and color, how thick, etc. And that is where superb control comes in. But that is the challenge and that is why we keep doing them. The quest for perfection and beauty.
Octavian Bene said…
Very useful post, Xia. Thanks for sharing. The character rocks! :)

PS: Greetings from Maria :)
Dan Ferreira said…
Such useful tips. TY!