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OrmIrian — Coloring Tutorial
Published: 2009-11-23 16:14:48 +0000 UTC; Views: 1619; Favourites: 19; Downloads: 0
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Description
Well, I think it explains itself
I hope you all find this useful- I tried to keep it as simple as I could without omitting any important steps.
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Comments: 126
Thanks!
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That's great!
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It looks like you don't smooth or blur your lines at all, do you? That's probably why your art always has the very pencily look to it. It's a pretty distinctive style.
GIMP can't do overlay layers, I think... You can set the pencil/brush tools to overlay, but that's it. :/
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No- although that would be probably a good idea- I don't really like, when it has this pencily look on it :/ But really want to pack as many details into my creature designs as possible that's why I detail things always with such a small brush
Well, yeah, doing lines well is really difficukt without a tablet- I really doubt this can be done with a mouse, but hey! I see some amazing artworks that were completely done with a mouse.. I don't have a clue how that works, but I guess it's just enough training
Yeah.. But if this overlaying brush function on the same way, it doesn't really matter- only disadvantage would be that you can't change it that good after a while
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Hey, I use a mouse. lol And I am not giving up, I'm gonna try something like this with a mouse, definitely. I don't have a tablet, what other option do I have? XD I think it's all about 300% zoom and determination. With 300% zoom, one can do very good and detailed work.
Btw I like the pencily effect, it gives your drawing a more realistic feeling.
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Omg.. really? 
There are also some tablets around that aren't that expensive- like old ones that artists want to sell (because they have a new one) or just some older models... I started with a Volito2 actually (which was originally designed for writing stuff, but it had a pressure sensor) and now I have a Bamboo Fun, which is a great tablet, but not as expensive as the newest ones...
That's great, because I want to reach a realistic feeling- but sometimes I overuse the small lines..
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Aw, really? That's interesting, because the pencily look is definitely identifiable and really has become what I see as your style of art. I think it actually looks cool, because you can make the pencily look come out really good, but I don't think most people could!
I try to use a small brush as well, when I draw with a mouse, because then I can usually make the whole picture look a little better... The problem is that all of this white gets in between the lines, and when I go back to fix the white the lines that I have get darker...
Yes, it's very annoying. I'm not ready to draw on just one layer yet!
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But I'm heading towards realism: Real things don't look pencily that's why I don't really like if my pictures look like that- even if people start to think this as my style
That's why you need first a 'background' for your lines. I fill up my linearts with a color or just with graytones (like this one: [link] ) and then start doing the 'linework'... You don't have any white between the lines at the end. Still, it's very difficult to do this with a mouse, since a mouse don't have any pressure sensors..
Nor I'm ready to do that- all of my pictures have about 60 layers (or more) in the end
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Pencil drawings look pencily. Those are real, right? 
Yeah, I see people do this in their art sometimes. Leundra laid down a gradient background in her speedpaints... I don't know how well this would work for the way I draw, though, but perhaps I should try it and see if I can do anything better this way.
Yay! I'm glad I'm not the only one who uses an overabundance of layers.
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Probably using more different brushes would be a possibility- I need to try that anyway I think...
It's easier to draw the details if you already have a background- or else it will partly look transparent in the end.. 
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Or even just use a little bigger brush, maybe? *shrugs*
I try to always keep a background. Though it's annoying if you finish the dragon (or whatever) and then realize you hadn't drawn the background yet... XD Oops!
Wow, 130? My computer could not handle that at all. XD I try to give them good names, like 'head', 'head shading', 'head color', and so on... That way I can kind of tell what each layer is, because otherwise it would be absolutely impossible to know what I was doing. XD
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Yeah, but than I can't draw that many details and I start to rush with my pictures
That's what happens all the time with my pictures- that's why I try at least to draw the background, before I draw the creature...
Well, my computer is a really good one, even if it's about 2 years old and my soundcard died...
I also try to give useful names to my layers, but I always forget about that after a while..
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Yeah, it's kind of a trade-off... I guess you have to do a little of both - large brushes so it looks less pencily, and small brushes so you don't lose your details.
Some people draw the background first so that they don't mess up the shading on the creature. But I don't think I'd have the patience for drawing the background that often. I draw because I want to draw whatever creature I have, no the background! 
I thought mine was a good one, when I got it this summer... But it's been slowly degrading. I used to be able to play a bunch of games on it just fine, but now it goes slow... GIMP lags sometimes. It's annoying.
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Hehe yeah, but that's not that easy like it sounds..
Yep, that's why I should do the background first more often- I always ruin the lighting in the end, because I didn't thought through the whole picture
Backgrounds are important! It adds much to a quality of a picture, if it's well done.
That's why most artists (also me) uses references for the background- so they always fit to creature.
Aww.. :/ Well, you still can return it- I mean you still have the guarantee for it, I guess? Normally they last about for one year.
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Nope, not at all...
That will probably matter if I do detailed backgrounds. Right now I don't. XD And besides, I mess the lighting up even when I only have light on the creature.
Oh yes. Some artists do a fantastic job at drawing backgrounds at really high quality... O.O
Yeah, I guess I could... Though I was going to try to reformat the harddrive first. I don't think I have a virus or anything, but something is making my computer fun slow...
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Well, with some training the lighting will turn out also good- but you have to start training it for getting better!
Yep, and they all use references- I really should use them more often than I do now..
Well, I could check what for programms running always in the background- or if something don't work in your computer- normally you have not that many Ram memory, if it gets that slow.. I have 4GB Ram right now in my computer (the maximum for XP) and it's really much better than having just 1GB...
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I don't know when I'm going to start practicing to draw lighting... Probably at the same time I start to practice shading. XD They go hand-in-hand, after all...
I think my computer has 4 GB RAM... The real confusing part is that my computer did work just fine when I got it. And it seems to work a little better now (though I didn't change anything o.O).
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Well, yeah, I don't think you can shade something without doing some lighting
It may be some programm you use..
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I don't know. I don't have a whole lot of programs that run in the background...
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Well, but some programms don't ask you, if you want them to run in the background- usually there is a whole stuff of rubbish around that runs without you even knowing about it
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Yeah, annoying things... >.< But it's weird, because if I look at the CPU usage when my computer is idle, it's very low - low enough that it shouldn't suddenly cause a problem if I wanted to play a CPU-intensive game.
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Hmm.. Well, it could be also dust in the computer, but since your computer is only half a year old this is very improbable- as well as fragmented files
I think reinstall everything is the best idea after all
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Maybe I could bribe my computer to work better. Hmm. Do you think computers like chocolate?
I'll probably just do a reinstall. I'm waiting until the end of this semester, though. Christmas time will be a great opportunity to do it.
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Err.. My computer likes coffee- It don't work at all when I don't give it a cup of coffee each day... and don't try to start it in the morning.. it would need at least three cups of coffee than! 
I hate to reinstall computers, it's a long and boring work.. Heh, but I guess it's the best thing to try..
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XD That gives me a mental picture of a really hyper computer after someone accidentally gave it the wrong type of coffee...
Yeah, and it's so easy to forget certain parts. >.< I always have to write down everything I need to put back on the computer.
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Hehe, well, then the screen starts to flash in odd colors
I always made a backup of all programs on a external harddisk- most of them won't run anymore of course (they need to be reinstalled), but I can easily see what sort of (rubbish
..but I made a list of the really important stuff, like the antivirus, word and stuff like that.
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Ooh, sounds like a good way to fix dead pixels. Just give your computer some coffee.
That's probably a good idea. I was just going to back everything up onto some DVDs, but there's no way I can store 153 GB on 10-ish DVDs... So maybe I'll wait till I get home for Christmas to use the external harddrive my dad has. Though I still might back some things up onto a DVD anyways... I have a couple thousand dragon pictures I don't care to loose.
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Hehe, yeah
Well, I have a 300GB external hardrive and a 300GB internal harddrive- so I could easily push all of my files onto the the external HD, without needing to think about deleting something...
Yeah, I also have thousands of pictures on my HD- I let my computer count the files: 23000 files are in my picture folder
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My computer has some 360 GB, I think... I'm not using half of it, though. Not that it matters, because I don't have a harddrive right now anyways... XD
Wow. 
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I always have space problems on my harddrive
Errr, yeah I have a camera- let's see... I have 7200 files in my photo folder.. another 7000 files in my fantasy folder (where I save all pictures of other people which I like somehow)- 4500 files are in my 'working on' folder (all my psd files are there, and also all steps towards a final picture- still, wow, I didn't know I had already that many files there
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XD I'm running out of things to put on my computer, so I don't think I'll have space problems... I don't have a lot of pictures (and the ones I do are only dragon ones from DA), I don't have a lot of music or videos, I have games but only a handful...
Dang, 4500 pictures of your own works? You must save WIPs a lot! I only have the original scan (since I start with a traditional lineart), the scan after cleaning it up and cropping it, and the version I actually work on.
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Hehe, just start putting all sort of short movies and stuff like that on the harddrive- also a lot of games need place (especially the newer ones).. and music of course- I have 20 GB music on my harddrive (still not enough for me
Yep, I have a lot of WIPs! Normally, I have about 40 different steps for one picture- It's nice to look at them after a while and I really like to compare my progression while I'm drawing!
I used to have many different versions of the psd file, but since they really need much space I stopped doing that. Now I just have one psd file for each picture and maybe a second one.
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XD Why do you need that much music? I have probably 2400 songs on my computer, but I only listen to about 100 of them. The other ones are mostly backup or if I'm ever in the mood for them... I certainly don't need 20 GB of songs. XD That's an impressive amount, though.
That's actually a good idea, when you think about it... I think I might start saving more WIPs too. Though I probably wouldn't post them on DA or anything, so they would be just for me...
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I need them especially for drawing, reading and surfing in the net- really, I get used to songs rather fast. I put all the songs into the Winamp libary (2719 songs overall), but I still know many songs by heart (well, I can't sing them, but I know the melody very well) and that's really boring for me- so I always search for new songs.
Yep, I don't post them on DA either- just when someone ask me for it.
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Music becomes a distraction if I'm trying to read. XD Though it's usually nice to have music when you draw. 2719 songs is a lot! Still, that's not very many songs for 20GB. You must have them at an incredibly high bit-rate or something. XD
Aw, I'm sure you could sing them if you wanted to. 
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Hmm no.. I also listen to music while I read- probably because most of my music is without any textes- just melodies.
Yeah, but I sorted out all songs that I started to dislike really much- I might add them again after a while, though.
Err, no, I don't think so
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I prefer music without words in general. Though it's still a little distracting to have music while I read, because I want to listen to the music and read at the same time...
Most people think that about themselves, but it's usually not true. I bet you could sing if you really wanted to.
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Yep, music without words (mostly soundtracks from movies or games) are most over better than music with words.
I don't have any problems to read something while I reading- is more like I miss something when I read without music..
Heh, I had music class in the school and we had a sing exam from time to time, but I always had to train the songs over and over again, while others just sing it without having to train much
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I'll turn on soft music if there's a lot of other noises around, but usually the music is just a distraction - for the same reason the other noises are a distraction. It's hard for me to ignore sounds, I guess.
Well, how is that any different from any other things where some people have to train hard and others don't?
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Yeah, that's true- I couldn't listen to music when I did some math exercises for example- it would keep me away from concentrate myself
Hmm, yeah.. It has also to do with 'talent' I guess... But I managed to become a good mark through hard training, so it's possible to beat talent with training..
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I can usually listen to music when I do math... Though it might still be a little distracting. Math is different than reading, though; I actually want to remember what I read, but I don't care if I forget the math problems.
That's quite true. You can't forget the advantage of natural talent... even though talent doesn't matter if you don't practice it.
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Heh, but I always get distracted from solving the problem- I need twice as long for one problem when I listen music at the same time- but I let myself distract very easy, when doing math exercises.
I don't have any problems to remember what I read, even if I listened to music at the same tome, though.
Yep- natural talent just worth something, if it's trained properly.
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Have you ever been reading and had to completely re-read a paragraph because you got nothing out of it? That's what reading with music tends to do to me.
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Err, yeah- but that happened more because I didn't really want to read through the things
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Well, I'm talking about something more like your eyes going on auto-pilot, continuing to move over the words without them registering in your brain. Like if your thoughts start to wander while you're reading something. XD
Er, yeah, it's probably not a good thing to fall asleep while studying.
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Yep, I understand that- that also happens sometimes to me, but as I said only if I'm not really interested in reading the text or if I'm tired (or if I'm really busy with thinking about something)
It was really hard to read some boring texts at school, I always needed to reread some paragraphs, even if it was completely silent in the classroom
Nope, it definitaly is not.
I usually read though my notes and the most important information sheet, we had become during the weeks- normally one read would have been enough for that (depends what subject it is of course, biology was always very easy to learn for me)
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XD Yes, it happens often with textbooks or other readings for school... Last year in my English class we had to read Crime and Punishment by Dostoevsky, which has some very boring parts...
I've never really had a language class yet, so I don't know what it's like to study for those (sign language came really easily to me, so it doesn't count XD), but I think a language would be one of the hardest classes to study for. After that is history because you just have nothing but facts and dates. Math classes are pretty easy, just review the formulas before taking the test.
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Hehe, the embarrasing thing is always, if you have to read something and answer to some questions afterwards- and you don't even have a clue what the text is about
It's really unfair- language classes counts the most in our school system, so somebody who's bad at language, but good in math, physic and stuff would have a much harder job to pass then someone who is good at languages..
Heh, I always needed to do several exercises again before a math exam, because I didn't understand something too well- and you have to learn several stuff too there..
History class is indeed difficult, but it depends on the teacher- some pay more attention to dates and some doesn't..
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Yes, very much so...
That seems weird to me. Languages don't get a very heavy emphasis where I live. It's suggested that you take two years of a language, but I almost got through high school without doing any languages at all. There's a lot more emphasis on the "core" classes, like English, math, science, or history.
Really? You seem to do a great job with English, so I would never tag you as someone who might have struggled with language classes in school.
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