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kwikdraw — Tutorial: Somebody to Love
Published: 2010-12-02 05:44:49 +0000 UTC; Views: 3565; Favourites: 65; Downloads: 77
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Description
I made this tutorial for Paloma Sodré (Palomasandrelle). I am a painter by instinct and do not follow any rules, so it may be difficult to follow my tutorial. However, I also believe the best way to get better is to experiment for yourself. It is also more fun that way. I will add more detailed text later, if I have time.For you, Paloma, with love! Techniques do not make your painting great; it is love that does. Find that love in each piece you paint, and greatness will find it.
December 1, 2010
Love,
KD
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Comments: 44
Thank you so much for sharing your tutorials appreciate it, I'm a complete newbie with digital painting and coming across your tutorials help me a great deal!
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I'm glad you can make use of it. Thank you for your comments!
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I'm still waiting for your photo to paint, and I will make your lips more "kissable". The title will be "Somebody to Kiss".
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thank you for sharing
such an easy way you go about teaching us newbs!
you did a lovely job
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Thank you very much. I am glad you find the tutorial helpful.
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thank you for sharing your process! I always find it hard to work with or start with 'ugly' colors, and mainly its because i think i'm too attached to a finished product before i've begun, so it's encouraging to see the rough painting and under colors built up in steps. hopefully it will contribute to freeing me from limiting myself to the 'skin tone' palette as i learn to paint on the computer.
as for the theory loving people in your comments-- I've had a vis. arts education (ceramics) and i think it's just how some people are wired as personality angles, being more technical than intuitive. but you're right in that intuition can not be taught in books and with fancy terms and that all of that needs to be cut away to allow us to operate our eye for seeing and unload our mind from overthinking it-- intuition can only modeled and encouraged by example and beyond that just practiced the living daylights out of the artist to achieve! (but that doesn't sell books and put butts on university rosters to pay teaching salaries, neh?)
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Thank you, Nikkidreamer, for your kind words. I am glad you find the tutorial useful.
I truthfully live what I preach when it comes to painting techniques. I have had experience painting both from live models and photos. One thing I notice is that there are a lot of flesh palettes to choose from in digital painting. While there is nothing wrong with using them, I personally find that using them does NOT give me the full pleasure and freedom of an artist. Instead, my approach (as I call it, "painter by instinct") is that I will look closely at my object (be it a live model or a face in a photo) and while doing so, I recognize subtle tints or hues that are not common by conventional wisdom. Then I will mix colors by intuition, not by formula or a predefined mindset. It is a good exercise for the brain, and in the end, each painting is unique, just like each model.
About art theory, yes, it is useful as a general guideline, just like notes or chords in music or recipes in cooking. However, recipe collectors are not necessary good cooks. I remember once I painted live model with a group of artists (professionals and amateurs). There was one amateur artist who brought in a color mixing handbook as a reference. There were color schemes, etc... that he was looking at throughout the painting session. The result: his painting failed miserably! And painting to him is like work: look at the model, then look at the book, then try to imitate the colors using the formulas in the book, etc... completely miserable!
Having said all that, I don't mean to criticize people who stick to theory or predefined approaches written in books, etc. Instead, I only mean that we artists should be brave and challenge ourselves to new frontiers and new experiments. We may struggle in the beginning, but that is the path to individuality in our painting.
Again, thank you for your comments. I am glad that the tutorial is helpful somewhat.
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the recipe analogy is a very good one. While its useful to have recipes to start out as a beginner or to use for repeated specific results, I find cooking most exciting and unique without the dictation. Of course, if you dont know how to soak beans, how to roast in a dutch oven, or the difference between ginger and garlic, you probably need to read a few recipes, or far better yet, cook alongside someone who does know what he's doing for a while to remove the mystical unknown. And ultimately, you have to be ready to burn and bomb a few dishes in the learning! A good reminder for me as I'm encouraged to look around more of the color wheel and follow my gut.
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Thank you! You are absolutely right about cooking there.
Have you ever eaten something that someone cooked, and felt like it was missing a certain ingredients, even though you never looked at its recipe? That is exactly the intuition I was talking about. A good chef must know not just how to cook, but more importantly, HOW TO EAT. If you don't have any idea what a good dish should taste like, how would you make it? If you can't see colors in an object with your own eyes and just use preset "flesh color template", how can you make the painting special. Sure, you may not screw up the skin colors, but the painting ends up looking very generic. (It is just like Campbell soup vs. the soup your grandma makes, you know.)
About color wheel, I am using Corel Painter with a mixer. What I always do is just load the Artist's Oil colors (i.e. just like those in oil tubes), then eyeball the colors on the reference photo and mix them on the mixer. The process is very similar to real, traditional oil painting. Challenging, but a lot of fun. And a great exercise as well.
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nah, your technique is exactly what other painters use.
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i don't know the name of the technique but its been used pretty widely.
Using a complimentary color for the skin and build it up from there is a common oil painting technique and now digital painting technique, it's what one uses to get skin tone color temperature changes in the face.
This particular one is newer, started from the impressionist movement, a branch of painters paint this way, traditional painter starts from earth brown or gray scale.
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Oh boy. Do you even read what you wrote? Take it easy, OK?
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oops, I guess my geeky side is typing.
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Well, just make sure you know what you are writing. All the big words, theory, color schemes, complimentary, etc... are for people who write them to sell their books. You read them, then you should forget about them when you paint. Trust your eyes, especially if you have good ones. All the theory just bores me to tears.
That is what "painter by instinct" means. For crying out loud, loads of artists who are good at theories, but their paintings are like cookies -- they are all cut from the same molds.
Beginning cooks read recipes; intuitive chefs make recipes.
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It's nice to have this conversation that got me thinking, but i don't want to make you read a long-winded reply.
My take on art theory is this:
I see art theory as a tool of communication in the arts,
it takes out the mysteriousness of art and verbalize it for the professionals. (not for the general audience)
It's an extra tool that can help an artist in their tool box.
Though they don't need it to be good artists, it's a good tool to have.
You may not take pride in theory but you are pretty good at it on how you explain things in your tutorial,
you should consider embracing the idea of studying art theory a bit more.
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"you are pretty good at it on how you explain things in your tutorial"
Did it ever occur to you that perhaps I have read tons of books already and did not burden the readers with them. Instead, I gave them a taste of my own intuition and experience?
I am not trying to be critical, but you make a lot of conclusions based on my phrase 'painter by instinct". By that, I just means that I don't analyze "ooh, that color is a complimentary of this one", or "oh, that purple goes well with yellow to create the most contrast", etc... Instead, I use my observation and intuition to create the colors for the painting.
So, I don't agree with you when you say "many other painters use this technique". That conclusion has no base, because it is not easy (if not impossible) to find two people who would mix the same color (hue, intensity, value) to paint a portrait (even when they use the same reference photo). This statement is even more valid when I do NOT mix colors based on any color scheme (contrast, complimentary, triad, or what have you). All from observation and intuition.
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I apologize for making quick judgment and assumptions and taking comments away from the topic of your tutorial's kind intention.
I agree with you there are no painters who mix the same colors,
but we are not really on the same page about recognizing techniques,
I rather not argue further at this point,
there are very little to gain from our disagreements.
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You don't have to apologize. I don't take any of this personally. And I hope that we continue to be friends. Thanks for your comments.
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No hard feelings, OK? I am very serious in learning, but I love to make friends on here as well. I sincerely hope we can learn from each other. Thanks much.
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What you showed in the tutorial is actually a very common portrait painting technique.
You are a good self learner to figure it out on your own and call it painter intuition,
but it is actually very technical stuff, looking up more painting and color theory will
be good for you personally so you can become a better teacher.
Good tutorial, i like what you did for this one.
i would just make the text a bit bigger so its easier to read.
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I hope you realize that there is a download image button which gives you an image of 2400x6000 pixels on the right side. The text in that image is 45 dpi. The common legible size is 12-14 dpi.
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Techniques do not make your painting great; it is love that does. Find that love in each piece you paint, and greatness will find it.
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I'm glad you like it! Isn't it true, though? 
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Dang~
Thanks a ton for posting this up! I learned something new Ohohoho~~
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You're welcome! Let me know when you finish a portrait. I'd love to see!
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That's so fabulously neat! At first I was a little skeptical to see the result of your painting, but dear lord, you do it beautifully. C:
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Ah... You thought I cheated somehow, eh? 
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Haha! No, I was just afraid that it wouldn't look good because of the sketchiness at the beginning, but I'm starting to realize that's how a lot of people digitally paint. :3
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Or real traditional painting, too. The reason is because with oil painting, you can paint over as many layers as you wish. The same with digital painting software, which allows layers.
That said, I painted this piece with only one layer. (Pretty much the same way I would do a traditional oil painting.)
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That's so neat. I would love to do stuff like this, it's just that I would need to practice my realism and anatomy. C: I should try to get my hands on some oil painting things.
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Oil painting is fun, but cleaning is tiring. You can at least try digital oil painting first. Digital is much easier to clean up.
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I would be a little depressed if it didn't work that way
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