what begins with spoon?

I already have shared roughly what my process is, in the post you’re referencing in this ask. I don’t feel comfortable sharing screenshots of my works in progress for several reasons - one, because I am doing most of it out of hours on my work computer, and I have sensitive information stored on it, and two, because I hate my work. Especially during the halfway mark, because it doesn’t look anything like what I want it to yet.

I was the same way when I was doing physical art. There is a very small amount people who I don’t mind showing things to because I know them well enough to know their judgements.

It’s basically. You know how you can play with contrast and lighting and colour balance? I do a lot of that. I use the signage software equivalent of the Magic Wand to select colours and put gradients and masks over them. I “cut” the figures out of the photograph and remove the backgrounds, and I play with layers and textures from stock images.

It’s all trial and error and I keep going until I don’t hate it anymore, at which point I share it on here and hope that it resonates with people (and that they don’t accuse me of using AI).

Artists tracing over photos to create a piece and then tagging it as #digital painting and not crediting the original image is, in fact, not cool. Im assuming its just a matter of not realizing that “digital painting” is not what op is doing, op is making digital artwork that is meant to look like a painting

I dont care how someone makes their art, i just think its nice to be upfront about how you make it! Especially when its made based on someone elses photo/artwork. Ive seen an artist get hounded for copying another artist, when they actually both copied (copied, not just used as general reference) the same photo. If either of them had been upfront about their source (which was from a photographer that would probably have appreciated being credited!), they could have avoided that mess.

I strongly believe artists should always be upfront when a work is traced or copied from a specific image. So i try to gently suggest this when i see them not doing so, unfortunately its not an easy thing to say without sounding petty (or maybe i just suck at it whoops)

I think op does a wonderful job at what they do, i appreciate the colours and designs, but i wont be trying to learn how to get proportions correct from them or aspire to be able to come up with poses like them since i know now that isnt something they do in their particular process.

All i knew was that they used digital signage software, fuck me for being curious. Artists get asked about their processes all the time, sometimes theyre curious, sometimes they want to learn, and yeah, sometimes they want to figure out if something is AI or not, because its hard to tell and people lie. I personally would not be mad if someone asked if my art was ai, i would tell them it wasnt and make sure they know i dont support it, and then id move on.

Bounce light is something I didn't cover but I adore it!

Gamut Mask

(image via )

James Gurney is an absolute master and gives really good clarity on colour techniques. Yes, it is traditional paint focused, but the principles are the same. Yes it is informed by the environmental colour but as a painting technique it is achieved this way!

While it's not super important to know about the mathematical side of blend modes, I think it's worth knowing at least enough about how each of the categories of blend modes works and why they do what they do; if for no other reason than having a starting point when you start experimenting with them in your work.

An overview of the basic blend modes and how they work from Genevieve's Design Studio: Accessible with minimal color knowledge; practical and illustration focused. https://youtu.be/kMc87hQrJd0?si=TWCB365pKSfWS8p0. (16 minutes) This creator also has a ton of free resources you can download, including a Blend Modes cheatsheet, but fair warning: you have to create an account to get them!