Joined today, first painting

[Mary]

Hi everyone, I just joined the forum today. Attached is my first painting with ArtRage 2. I used ArtRage a little when it first came out and recently decided to re-visit the nifty little program. I thought this original Macaw painting was great...so jumped right in to try the tutorial...but I felt like I was overworking it. Does it need to be cleaned up more or need more detail....or did I stop in time! LOL :wink: I don't know a thing about these kind of birds!!

[drzeller]

I think this is a wonderful start! Great color and warm friendliness to the peice.

Welcome to the forums, too!

D.

[Mary]

thanks for welcome and nice comments

[Fashmir]

Mary- Welcome to the forum. I like the parrot very well. The question of where to call it finished is so subjective some times. It really depends upon what kind of image you want to express. This to me has the look of soft impressionism where the bird sits in diffused light as on a lightly overcast day with the sun still pushing through the clouds. A bright sunny day would perhaps require more contrast and this would doubtless be perceived as added detail. It's up to you. I like it as it is. I can see what I would add to it given my love of painting the effects of dramatic light.

Again welcome I'm glad you are here.

[Mary]

Thank you for the feedback Fashmir. I was feeling a little insecure with this first attempt, but I feel more confident now and will tackle some original work.

You certainly have a way with the descriptive words...you're a poet as well as an artist. I also like dramatic lighting but I was afraid I'd make mud if I kept adding color. I used the palatte knife tool to push paint around after it was applied. Do you have any tips for manipulating the paint without adding MORE paint?

[Fashmir]

Mary,

One thing you can do if you are using the full version, is to add highlights and shadows on seperate layers. This will allow you to experiment with placement, value, hue etc. without commiting it into your main paint layer. Once you have strokes that you are satisfied with, you can merge the layers and do some blending to tie it all together. I do this frequently and it helps me to get the results I am looking for.

[Mary]

Oh thanks! I got so absorbed in painting I guess, that I never thought of moving to another layer! LOL thanks again!

Can you help with this question? I saw in a post somewhere that someone mentioned a "blender" tool. Do you know what are they referring to? I don't find anything labeled "blender".

[Fashmir]

There are two or three ways you can blend color in ArtRage. None of them are the ideal blending tool... yet.

Using the oil brush take the loading down to zero and fiddle with the pressure and thinners to find the best setting for your needs.

Using the pallete knife tool with pressure set to zero has given good results depending on the medium you've laid down.

My third suggestion is more time consuming but can be worth the effort, again depending upon the results you are looking for. That is to use the Felt Pen set to pure white and 100% wetness. I have a brief on this technique here.

http://www2.ambientdesign.com/forums...opic.php?t=860

you can go directly to the quicktime movie here.

http://www.vismag.com/Forum%20Posts/...or_Pen_Sim.mov

[Mary]

Very interesting technique you demonstrate. Thank you. I will try all methods. ArtRage is so easy to use 'right out of the box' but I can see there's still a lot more that must be learned by experimenting. Just wish I had a little more time to play!

[Stephen Lo Piano]

Just wish I had a little more time to play!

Play? I thought they called this artwork? It's not like sitting in front of the tele watching and relaxing. Sometimes it can get downright frustrating and painstakingly difficult to accomplish an objective, just like a job where you get paid to work.

By the way nice painting, looks good the way it is. I'm really not one to follow any discipline with painting since style and technique are different for everyone. Trying to get everything almost photo realistic is good practice yet lacks character and expression. You may want to accentuate a character of your own personal expression in the painting, depending upon your objective.
Through experimentation you might find the perfect ingredient for accentuating your paintings. Most artists are identified this way, you can tell by looking at the painting who was the most likely person to have painted the piece.