This tutorial is for beginners or anybody willing to explore the use of digital art.
Digital Art compared to the many various mediums of art, including oils, pastels, water colors, inks, etc, can be seen as all types of mediums set into one. With new technology and programs, barriers and limitations can be broken easier and efficiently. It’s a good way to create your work with easy and fast editing, not worrying about smudges, finger marks, or other slight imperfections that come across many artists. I’ve been working with many different mediums my whole life and I’ve found that digital art, in my opinion, is one of the easiest, if not the easiest, mediums to work with.
Software:
First off, you’ll need some kind of digital art software to work with. This might sound like the expensive part of the process. However, the internet is filled with all types of opportunities for everybody. The most common software used for digital art is Adobe Photoshop. Titled as the standard software for digital art and graphics, it comes in different versions. I prefer using the older versions just because I’m already comfortable with them, but I would recommend the newest and latest versions to keep up to date with new applications and abilities. The newest version of Photoshop is currently Adobe Photoshop CS4 which is quite powerful with new 3D capabilities and video. You can buy the software at any electronics store, or you can order it online. If you are not willing to buy software because of any reasons or you want a taste of digital art before you buy anything, there are some free image manipulation programs. The best that I’ve found is GIMP, the GNU Image Manipulation Program. It’s capabilities for basic image manipulating and designs are similar to that of Photoshop. If you’re really lazy to download software, then give MS Paint (Microsoft Windows) a try. It’s not the greatest or easiest things to use but it’s the basic of the basic. These are just some suggestions that might help any beginner artists. All in all, finding the right program is important because it is essential that you are comfortable with the program to let your ideas flourish onto the screen. Also, it would help if you purchased a graphics tablet, which is a touch based pad that allows you to move the cursor as if it was the tip of your pen. This is not required though. I’ve been using a mouse to create images for years before I purchased my modbook. A mouse might be harder to control, however it is not impossible.
Starting:
So let’s get into the actual use and creation of digital art. For this small tutorial I’ll be basing the software on GIMP, just for general purposes. Most, if not all, programs work very similar and have the same basic abilities so if you are using a different program it shouldn’t be too hard to follow. Like any file on the computer, start with “File” and “New.” It should ask for the size of image you want to use. The standard image size I would use is 640×400px, or for a slightly larger size 800×600px. Now if you are a beginner to art in general, it is very important to know the basic concepts and gestalt of art. Art varies among different minds; however the basic mindset to it is from general to detail. You always want to think of the basic shapes and lines of the image before you get into the small details .
General Tools:
Tools that help with these basic shapes would be the paths tool. This tool helps you create straight lines as well as perfectly curved lines with the use of anchor points. You can also use the different select tools, which include the Rectangle Select Tool and the Ellipse Select Tool. With these select tools, you can select a region in which you want to work on. By selecting this, you can add color or designs in the selected region without having to worry about “coloring outside of the lines.” Another tool that is useful for general shades and color is the Blend Tool, which creates gradients and perfect blending. The Airbrush Tool allows a more blended and softer look than the paintbrush tool, which delivers a harder edged line. The Smudge Tool allows slight editing to your work. By dragging it along lines and colors, it smudges and blends them. These can all be used in various ways. To master them, it takes experience and experimentations. Get comfortable with the tools and learn their capabilities and you will be able to understand each element of each tool. There are many different tools and abilities that these programs provide. Experiment with them and see how each of them work.
Elements:
Now I will explain the elements of the tools. Each tool has different ones, but I will go over the similar characteristics. You will notice the Opacity options under each tool. Opacity is the ability to see the object. Therefore, the higher the opacity, the better you can see it; and the lower the opacity, the more transparent it is. Also, most tools include a scale option. This allows you to change the size of the “pen tip” or your tool. You can also change the color by clicking the color box and choosing the desired hue.
Layers:
Just like any other medium, layers are very important to keep in mind. With digital art, you can extend the use of layers from the many coatings of colors to organization and labeling of parts of your work. By adding new layers you can work over existing layers without changing the previous layers. You can also change the transparency of layers by changing the opacity, which is the same for tools.
More:
Digital Art can be compared to other types of art, they both require the knowledge and study of individual features and shapes. Such as with human physical features including eyes, noses, lips, and more.