10 Basic Tips on Digital Painting

Digital art is spreading as fast as wild fire across the Internet these days, and for a budding artist, getting a tablet is probably more important now than an expensive watercolor set.

Here are some known facts on digital art: You only need a tablet and a program such as Photoshop or Painter. That's true. Both of these programs have ready-to-use brushes of different kinds for different uses. True again. But a common misconception is that digital art is a lot easier than traditional. Not necessarily. For you have to be at least good enough using pen and paper to make this digital career to work. Get back to basics.

If you are a starter in digital painting and want to really excel in it, here are some basic tips I have learned over the months of looking into great digital artists' work and hearing their advices.

1. Watch a lot of tutorials. That's right. Don't be afraid to do so. You cannot buy your first tablet and automatically be a pro with it. Tutorials, especially speed-paintings that can be found in YouTube or Vimeo can give you a really good overview on how the pros do it, and you can even practicewhile watching them in the background.

2. Brushes are not everything. I have come across a lot of artists who only use that simple, boring round brush you find by default in Photoshop. Really. You don't need to download thousands of free brushes just to get things done. The secret is in how you use it (see #3).

3. Learn how to blend with your simple, boring round brush. Your best friend in this part is the "Brush Preset" tool that Photoshop offers. One little secret is ticking the "Other Dynamics" option there, and set everything under it in "Pen Pressure." This way, the brush strokes will depend on how much pressure you exert on your stylus. The lighter you stroke, the lighter the colors become, and so on. It would feel like actually painting on a canvas. This "Pen Pressure" option is merely one part of it; try experimenting with the other options to make the most out of that brush.

4. Master the light and toning. Light is important, as much as the consistent source of it. There are three main tones: the highlight, the midtone, and the shadows. To put it simply, the highlight is that small shiny part in an object where the light is bouncing off to. The midtone is the true color of an object, and the shadows are the ones farthest from the light. Learn how to establish the light source, and be consistent with it. Use models if you need to. Once you find the light, find where the shadows will fall, and even without a concrete drawing of a light source in the painting, your viewer will know where the light is coming from simply by looking at the highlights and shadows. This is vital in establishing the mood of the painting.

5. Flip it! Once you started your drawing, you're already getting used to seeing it that way that you think it's already perfect. But to confirm this, one advice passed down by almost all digital artists is to flip that image! Rotate the canvas horizontally to find mistakes, especially in body part proportions. The change of view can take your eyes out of that image that you've been staring at for hours on end.

6. Painting is not a racing contest. Take time doing it, polish the details, don't say "No one will zoom in to see the mistakes anyway." Don't rely on that, and don't paint if you're getting burned out. Don't push yourself too much. Take breaks; it doesn't matter if one painting takes you a month or two to finish. In time you will be able to get on the process naturally that you're finishing one drawing in a smaller amount of time.

7. Work in 300 DPI (dots per inch) or more. This allows you to really zoom in clearly into details, without the image looking pixelated, something that you can't do with the default 72 DPI. The 300 DPI also allows you to print the image later on in great resolution. Work in a nice, large document especially if you're working on a painting that needs more really detailed work.

8. Establish a color palette. The color palette varies on every painting. For example, if you're planning on painting a sunset scenery, you can use a distinct palette involving, but not limited to oranges, yellows, and reds. This way, your color scheme is constant and doesn't move from one extreme color to another.

9. Do not depend on Photoshop tools. Namely the "life-saver" Blur, Dodge, Liquify, Burn tools and the likes. You will never get the lowdown on how to do a painting using only a brush and eraser if you depend on these. You need to feel the painting as though you are only using some watercolors and paper, where there exists no such "quick perfection" tools.

10. Practice, practice, practice! It would get annoying. You might reach a point where you'd want to throw your tablet on the floor and pound it with a mallet. But practice really does make perfect. There is no easy road to this, but with practice, you'll get there. All great artists came from a time where they know nothing else to draw but stick figures. Let them inspire you, not intimidate you.

And for much needed inspiration, as I've said, here are five great artists I have come across the Internet. They are only a few from the long list I had:

Melanie Delon
Charlie Bowater
Diane Özdamar
Marc Simonetti
Liam Peters