Hopefully, these images aren’t as blurry as they appear.

Hello everyone! Mari here. Boy, have I been busy! Between cleaning, cleaning, and cleaning (as well as yard work), I haven’t had time to breathe, let alone post anything. However, the past two weeks, I have been working on the above two images in order to show you what effects you can achieve by using downloadable Photoshop brushes. The majority of the brushes used were found on My Photoshop Brushes, a site I mentioned in a previous post. As I mentioned before, I love unique brushes simply because the default brushes are dull and don’t have much leeway when it comes to creating awesome images. For instance, if you want flower petals floating around, there isn’t a default brush for that. For example, there’s a grass brush in the default brushes, but it faces one direction or comes out in a string of multi-colored clumps that look like confetti at a parade. By searching a brush database, you can find a grass brush that suits your needs if the default brushes don’t work for you when learning how to draw. Click to read more …

Tags: Default photoshop brushes, downloadable photoshop, downloadable photoshop brushes, Flower Petal Brushes, Obsidian Dawn Photoshop, Obsidian Down Brushes, Photoshop Brushes, Skin Brushes

I believe EVERYONE has potential in them to create art of every and all forms. Even those who don’t draw, who draw rarely or just feel they can’t, with practice end up drawing great pictures! I’ve seen a girl in my class go from drawing silly, to developing her own style, applying what she learned to her artwork and BAM! She made some great pictures. Then there was Anthony, a kid who had never drawn before for anything, and went from making stick figures look good to making an animation that was noteworthy. The point being, anyone can grow with a little practice!

I like to point out someone who, at first, didn’t really do a lot of drawing when I asked him. He spent five hours just coloring something, and though his coloring was good for cell shading, he wanted to do much more. ^-^ He knows how to use Photoshop and outline with the pen tool, but when he got this new program to help with poses and proportions, and blending with photoshop brushes, his artistic talent just grew!

Click to read more …

This is part 2 of how to draw people sitting. In this guide, the exact same sitting position will be covered, only at completely different angles. Like before, I’ll be focusing on the position characters are in when they sit on a chair, a sofa, a rock or some other object. This is just another extremely practical how-to. Nothing fancy or exciting. Don’t worry, we’ll be covering how to draw pretty much anything we can conceive of, which should keep us busy from now until eternity. Click to read more …

Hi everyone. Sorry I’ve been gone so long. The evil finals are finally gone, so I’m back, hopefully for good. I hit a little burnout last week, but now I think I’m finally ready to go.

The tutorial I have today I came up with spontaneously while working on a picture of a tribal character I’m working on. He’s from the prehistory Phillipines, an area that I’ve never heard of a story being written about. Such a fascinating area.

That picture up there shows Snake Island in the Philippines. The completely naturally formed landbridge connecting two islands is shaped like a snake. Click the thumbnail to see how beautiful and clear the water looks. Anyway, I can’t get myself to draw the main protagonist as I see him in my mind.

Anyway, as I was working on trying to draw him a few nights ago, I realized that a lot of people draw the majority of their characters the same way. They’re always standing forward or to the side with their legs straight or slightly bend. But in real life there is a whole range of positions and motions that an individual can do. So I decided that my newest tutorial would be on how to draw a character sitting. Click to read more …

Tags: Anatomy, character, characters, draw, drawing, Drawings, drew, How to Draw, Life, lines, Night, Perspective, picture, poses, profile, proportions, real, Returning, side, Travel, Tutorial, Tutorials, Work

Now that it’s summer, I’m happy to say that I can draw daily. I’m in my element once again; woohoo! I haven’t done a lot of traditional art recently simply because I haven’t found my groove with that yet (I lost it over the LONG semester). However, digital art hasn’t been much of an issue, especially since the image is literally right in front of me instead of flat on a table. For those who don’t use a Wacom tablet, believe me, there is a world of difference. Especially when learning how to draw. Sometimes, stores like Best Buy offer a “Try Before You Buy” deal if you ask the sales associate (the hardware is hooked up to one of the in-store computers); if you’re curious, try this.

Anywho, but most of us use programs like Paint.net, GIMP, or Photoshop to create digital art. However, a lot of the default brushes, I find, are not as helpful as one may hope. Personally, I do like the airbrushes because of the soft colors and the softened look to the images, but sometimes, I need a little more than default brushes. Now, occassionally, I use Paint.net and GIMP, but I haven’t in awhile. So today, I’m going to focus mainly on Photoshop. So, Photoshop users, are you tired of default brushes? I am; so I’m going to show you some of the best places to find brushes for Photoshop. Here are my top three. Click to read more …

Tags: Art, Free Gimp Brushes, Free Photoshop Brushes, Gimp Brushes, Photoshop, Photoshop Brushes, Tutorials

Hello all! Tala here and it feels GOOD to say that I passed both my math and CGT class with flying colors. It wasn’t easy, it took a lot of studying and practicing, and major dedication hours in both classes, but I managed to pull it off. And what do I have here? My little animation project that I’m posting. Now, let me say this is my first full attempt at something like this, I’ve never done anything like this before but it was a lot of fun. It was all drawn on the computer using Photoshop CS2, then each picture was taken and put into flash. I’m not too great with flash, but I think I got the animation part. Some parts go fast, others look sloppy and the voice may not be completely fitting to the animation, but Click to read more …

Alex and I visited the Richard Driehaus Stained Glass Museum at Navy Pier. At first, this wasn’t our intention, for we were going to Navy Pier for some enjoyment. The weather started out good, but within an hour’s time, the sunshine gave way to heavy rain and thunderstorms; we had to stay inside and walk around the indoor mall and conference area. Thankfully, the rain led us to a diamond in the conference center: the Stained Glass Museum.

Alex and I posing in front of a funhouse mirror.

Upon the first impression, the Richard Driehaus museum was just a small dark room, but the entire conference hall was filled with the stained glass pieces. For those who don’t know, Richard Driehaus is a philanthropist from Chicago. His museum features Tiffany glass wall art, chandeliers, and windows. Most, if not all, of these pieces are from Driehaus’ personal collection (thank you for sharing!). Most of the pieces Alex and I saw were breathtakingly beautiful. Here are some of the images from our trip. Click to read more …

Tags: Angels, Chicago, Museum, Navy Pier, Navy Pier Attractions, RIchard Driehaus, RIchard Driehaus Glass Museum, Richard Driehaus Stained Glass Museum, Stained Glass

Woo! After several months of suffering, Alex, Tala, and I are back! The semester is finally over! Alex and I could have been back sooner, but we had the paper from Hell for our Chaucer class, and that zapped us big time. But it’s over now! New tutorials will be posted soon! As soon as my scanner is done being tempermental, I have a tutorial on bird wings. Later, I will be posting pictures from my and Alex’s trip to Navy Pier, where we visited the Stain Glass Museum–very beautiful! So, I will show those pictures, and Alex and I will offer some commentary on them.

In other news, we are still working on updating the site, so please be patient. Changes will come sooner than you think, so keep your eyes open. We’re still also looking for suggestions for updates, so please send us some. The suggestions can include anything from what you would like to see on our site or ideas as to how we can make our site more user friendly. Anything goes! Please help us out; this site is here for you!

There’s a brief update for now. Tonight, hopefully my scanner will work. Enjoy your days!

Mari

P.S: Alex, if you’re floating around here somewhere, I’ve been trying to get ahold of you all day (since 11 this morning; it’s now 7:30). Please gimme a call!

Tags: Returning, Thoughts