The Dark Elf
04-02-2005, 05:09 PM
Just noticed we haven't got a thread about this anywhere. So yeah, post your tips and tricks you've picked up over the years using Photoshop and Painter (any version, either program) Just those two apps, no sense in confusing the thread adding every single drawing app in existence.
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Some tips I find useful
1) Tablets only really - Setup one of the pen switches as the ALT key, then while painting get used to quickly selecting colors on the image itself, as you paint you'll have more shades to choose from and its quicker than messing around getting the right colors you need in the color panel or using keyboard shortcuts for the color picker
2) Have a duplicate image, or use the navigator panel filling half the screen and zoomed out so you can see the whole image (helps to have two monitors for this, and depending on the shape of your image you might want to shuffles the various windows about) and then work in a zoomed in window. The other will update as you work and you can quickly see how the changes you make look normally without zooming in and out all the time.
3) Most important and often forgotton. Calibrate your display. What looks good to you might look washed out to someone else. I saw a thread on cgtalk where someone pointed out that this is _never_ discussed in art forums or groups when it should be the first thing anyone thinks about. Also check images look correct when displayed in different apps. Sometimes it might look fine in Photoshop, then too dark or too light displayed in a browser. So get all the profiles organised so that the same image looks right on various apps and various displays.
---
Some tips I find useful
1) Tablets only really - Setup one of the pen switches as the ALT key, then while painting get used to quickly selecting colors on the image itself, as you paint you'll have more shades to choose from and its quicker than messing around getting the right colors you need in the color panel or using keyboard shortcuts for the color picker
2) Have a duplicate image, or use the navigator panel filling half the screen and zoomed out so you can see the whole image (helps to have two monitors for this, and depending on the shape of your image you might want to shuffles the various windows about) and then work in a zoomed in window. The other will update as you work and you can quickly see how the changes you make look normally without zooming in and out all the time.
3) Most important and often forgotton. Calibrate your display. What looks good to you might look washed out to someone else. I saw a thread on cgtalk where someone pointed out that this is _never_ discussed in art forums or groups when it should be the first thing anyone thinks about. Also check images look correct when displayed in different apps. Sometimes it might look fine in Photoshop, then too dark or too light displayed in a browser. So get all the profiles organised so that the same image looks right on various apps and various displays.