mentalstatement : OMG this Magna Carta artwork is f3cking great, BTW ! I have a feeling it's korean though, as japanese manga rarely use colours, and not in this style anyway. I'll have to look up on that.

[edited by - ahw on February 11, 2003 12:40:35 PM]

yup, Magna Carta and War of Genesis (designed by the same artist) are Korean games...

there are many computer artist that use a natural medium style on their artwork. However the examples in this game stand out in particular.. I just love the oily, almost liquid like effect created in those images

here is another example
http://www.animewallpapers.com/wallpapers/magna/full_2_800.asp


for the note, i do have painter and a Wacom tablet.. However most of my pictures look to dry, and show no evidence of paint strokes. Almost like the style used in american comics..

in not saying there is anything wrong with such a style, however, i do not feel like that is the one i should use in my artwork...

The artist is Hyung tae Kim, there''s a lot of magna carta concepts from him around, some here: http://nitty.beramode.nu/miscellany.html

About getting that style, nothing but practice and experience will help, painter or Photoshop and a wacom is all you need technically.

WEll, I went on the MAgna Carta website and download the hi-res pictures they have
(Rose's close up shot makes a beautiful wallpaper).
You should look at it with a good zoom, it's pretty easy to see the strokes
(particularly on this picture I am on about, the one close up on the legs of Rose).
If you are used to Painter, then I am quite sure you can recognise the style of the brushes...

It's simply a question of setting up your tablet with the software so that pressure is used properly.
I tried various approaches with Photoshop, and I tend to have only a few guidelines.

First I do a nice lineout using pressure to vary the size of the brush (but not the colour or the opacity !).
I use a non-round brush, the ones at the bottom of the brush palette.
Experiment a bit to get a feel for the various results you can get.
The brushes work quite well to give a natural feel to the strokes.

Once you got your lineout, time to paint over, oil-painting style.
I set the brush to vary the opacity with the pressure
(but not the size anymore, and certainly not the colour.One thing at a time works best for me.)
You might want to experiment between using the pressure sensitivity to control the colour, or the opacity.
Personally I prefer the opacity as it gives a beautiful "icing" effect, which translates well
what you get when you paint with oil. Plus it works very well with the colouring technique I use.

So the technique is pretty simple. Start with your main colour, paint all over the place.
The fact that you are using the pressure to control the opacity means that your painting will not be totally uniform,
showing off the strokes, which is a desirable thing (more natural...)
The trick is in the highlighting/shading.
What you need is to use a more "artsy" approach. Normally, in basic tutorials, you'll read something like :
"choose your base colour, then a darker shade and lighter shade that you will use to create shadows and highlights".
Well, the trick is to overdo this. I did an example (I'll post it when I get the time) in a few minutes,
my base colour is Red. My highlights are orange, with a few tiny points of almost pure white/slightly beige for the shiny highlights
(Again, observe the picture of Rose, the highlights on her breast for instance).
The shadows are not brown or darker red, they are purple, and green. You think it would look crap ? Well, it doesnt
I simply use the basics of colour theory (you learn this sort of thing at the Fine Arts, but do a look up on the Net,
there are some good articles on it)

The thing is to dare use what at first thought would be like extremely different colours and put them together.
In fact, when you respect the rules of colour theory, they blend in a very pleasant fashion,
and you get a very "realistic" look.
If you study art by masters like Brom, Keith Parkinson, Don Maitz and other
(that's fantasy artists, but you could also look "real" classics like Ingres, for instance, and numerous others like the impressionists),
you'll see how wonderfully they use simple rules to make a scene that we know can't be painted from life
look like it was painted from models. (whereas Vallejo totally overdo it, but dont get me started on Vallejo...)

Also when looking at artwork, you need to be more precise and detached.
Stop gawping five seconds and actually look at the colours being used.
You'll realise the variety that are used. A good artist never says that the night sky is black (anyway, that's what I say).
It's a dark navy blue with bits of purple, orange, peach rose, the shiny white of stars,
the various hues that the moon can take... man, it *anything* but black and white.
When you start being able to observe that, you will start being able to use it in your own art.


****************

practical example in 10 minutes without my tablet (I am at school):


(The 3 black dots on the top left corner are the brushes I used, to give you an idea)

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Sancte Isidore ora pro nobis !

[edited by - ahw on February 13, 2003 1:43:10 PM]