iRelle

Ambitious title, huh? It occurred to me today that I may be enjoying a false reputation as far as my digital art is concerned. I just sit at my laptop for a few hours, pressing buttons and experimenting with functions and filters and tools, until something halfway decent evolves.

I learned most of the skills and tricks that I know through online tutorials that real digital artists compile. I Began with the painstakingly detailed tutorials, going over and over each step until I had it perfect. Looking back at how little I knew five years ago, when I did Graphic Design at pre-tertiary level, I can’t believe how much I’ve picked up from a dozen tutorials. I’ve learned how to manipulate layers, maximise the effectiveness of tools and create so many more effects. I can remember completing the Grungy Island tutorial and feeling elated at the new level of skills I’d acquired – which were so small, compared to the things that I do every day now. I remember feeling jubilant, too, when I’d done a series of splatter portraits – only a bunch of brushes and layers, but they helped me understand opacity and layer blends so much better! And yet a tutorial a few years later introduced me to the world of manipulating everything from orientation to spread and jitter of a single brush to get the desired effect. I didn’t intend to learn those things when I started the tutorials – I just wanted to create something that looked good.

The only skill I’ve consciously set out to develop is using the pen tool in Adobe Photoshop. As much as I love the sketchy, earthy feel of pencil scratches and paint streaks, it’s not something I’ve ever been able to recreate very well in digital form. I tend to go for a smoother, inside-the-lines look, which I’m not entirely happy about, and is what I’m pushing now. The pen tool, however, is the necessary component for smooth, straight lines, and while the tutorials I used to learn how to use it aren’t as interesting, they did the job. The pen tool is always my first step in creating something new.

I guess the point I’m trying to make here is that digital art isn’t quite the same as regular art. Sure, I love it when someone labels me ‘arty’, and I’ll do any art courses you want to offer me, but I’m really not that good at it. Digital art is different in that I have access, in my working space, to find sources to help me get the shape of a leg or learn how to get that glossy look for an eye, or the glow of a distant light. I tend to enjoy more of a collage style of working, pulling bits and pieces from here, there and everywhere to make something that is relatively unique.

I’m not saying that I knock off other people’s work, mind you. I’m very particular (now – I can’t say I was always so careful) about using my own photographs whenever I can, and creative commons art when I can’t. The main focus of a piece is usually all my own work, by my own hand, although I will rely on other materials for patterns, textures or the occasional background.

Wow. I really need to put more effort into keeping a visual diary for my digital art. This post has gotten out of hand, and it’s all stuff that would make an art teacher give big, satisfied ticks to. After that incredibly self-absorbed blog, then, let me leave you with some of the more useful sites and tuts I’ve used. Basically, though, a Google search for ‘[topic/tool/style] photoshop tut’ will yield a good result.

Grungy Island

Planets

Splatter Portraits

Free Stock Images

You Might Like...