That's it! 100% agree :)

Sounds awesome. I totally know what you mean - that chaos and expressiveness makes art feel so alive

Glad it was helpful!

Thank you! Will do!

100% agreed! I do have a slightly adapted approach for character design but it really isn't that different. Check out this character that I did for Christophe Young's channel last month - it shows the method pretty well kzfaq.info/get/bejne/q9CUeNOYvbG8e30.html

Ooh i watched both yours and his videos. The phantom hands OMG. That looks so cool. It blew my mind tbh. And also christophe's character design with the blackhole.. chef's kiss.

Oh thanks! I really appreciate the support and that will make the algorithm overlords happy :) Thanks, I hope you enjoy it.

That's an awesome idea!

I'm a Procreate user, we don't get stuff. please tell me what a colour lookup is

Brush economy - I love that term. Such mastery in using the fewest possible strokes to communicate your idea

Happy to help!

He is indeed extra extra fluffy :)

thanks :) I identify with friendly Hulk most of all :)

Glad it was helpful! Sounds like it appeared at the exact right moment :) I appreciate your kinds words :)

I struggle with the value part :(( it's hard for me to take the shape into a 3d position or pose. I suck though so it makes sense lol

That sounds awesome - I need to try that

Thank you!

Awesome - glad this resonated!

Awesome! Thank you for the recommendation - those are really cool

Thanks!

Thanks! I appreciate it. I may have been channeling Appa (and probably Falcor) a little bit here. Fur is always a great way to make a creature seem fit for a cold environment but it also makes them seem fun to ride and friendly (like you could fall asleep on the way to wherever :)

Glad it was helpful! Thanks

I'm so glad this was helpful! I identify completely with what you've said here

That's awesome! Glad to hear it

That's so cool! I love pixel art and it's cool to know that these ideas apply there too.

Thanks :)

@@fowlerillus you should start live streaming your voice is nice to listen to.

Awesome! I hope it works for you

Thanks! Glad you liked it. That's awesome - we have a session starting in August. If you have any questions, just let me know. office@digitalpaintingstudio.com

Hi Tatiana! Nice to hear from you. That's so cool, I'm glad that idea is working for you

I know what you mean - that is definitely the hard part. I have turned it into a bit of a formula over the years and the design principles behind that are actually the foundation of my mentorship program.

Can't wait! Thanks for the recommendation.

That was totally unintentional but you're 100% right.

Thanks! Glad this resonated. Actually, yes I approach even complex things like robots and architecture in largely the same way, at least for design. Basically trying to nail down silhouette shapes that look pleasing and then dividing interior spaces following the same principles. It makes the process much less daunting and more reliable which I really count on.

@@fowlerillus OOh I see. That's cool! thanks again~

Thank you! Actually I'm planning on doing exactly that fairly soon - this technique totally works for that too

Oh thanks! I'm glad you think so. I have thought about that but I have really enjoyed the mentorship program that I've started at my school and it's taking just about all of my teaching bandwidth these days.

The smudge brush that I'm using for that works like magic. It takes surprisingly little to blur those edges into brushy texture and it also can be used for that furry texture by pulling little wisps out when the brush is made small. It's a pretty standard photoshop brush (I think) but it's also available on the DPS discord Freebies channel if you'd like to play with it.

@@fowlerillus I was having doubts, but I went ahead and played around with the smudge tool, and it's actually working really well. A rake brush smudge helped me make that nice painterly looking transition. I wouldn't be able to do this just given a hard round brush with opacity, but it's forward progress. Thank you so much!

It is something that I needed a lot of help with. I love rendering and making things look realistic first as a younger artist. I filled portfolios with polished paintings that somehow never looked right - what I eventually realized is that I had been rendering without designing and I had totally disregarded shapes. There are actually some core principles that can be learned and drilled to help those things flow, so I promise this is worth pursuing and there is a path. Not trying to sell you on anything but that is a main focus of my mentorship. I think searching Shape Design on youtube would be a great start though. Sinnix has some really nice stuff on this.

Hi! I'm so glad to hear it. This shape design stuff is the main focus on the design module in my concept art academy mentorship. I don't currently have any udemy or skillshare courses directly on that unfortunately.

I'm planning a detailed video about brushes and effects like that! For the dirty effect in the final product, that is just going to Filter>Add Noise (2%) and then I do an unsharp mask filter. It gives it a nice extra punch.

Thank you so much! Im looking forward to that!@@fowlerillus

I can help with that. When you first join the server, there is a Start Here channel where you choose a role. Just one click, I think. After that all channels will be open. The Freebies channel is near the top of the list in the Information section

Incredible timing! I'm working on a giant new people painting resource and I have a project where we do exactly that. It's not my go to for figure drawing BUT, I do design clothing shapes on top of a figure sketch in exactly this same way. It's just such an easy way to instantly see shape relationships.

Oh sorry! I can help with that. When you first join the server, there is a Start Here channel where you choose a role. Just one click, I think. After that all channels will be open. The Freebies channel is near the top of the list in the Information section

Yes! It is an ABR file which should work well with procreate

@@fowlerillus Hey, thanks for responding back after 5 seconds; when I joined the Discord server and tried to go to the #freebies thread, it says, "you do not have permission to view the message history" of the thread. Could you please help me with it?

@@nenesart Sorry about that! So, make sure you go to the start here channel and select one of those three roles. That should open up the rest of the channels to you.

@@fowlerillus Thanks for the help; once i did it i had to refresh it, but then it showed the file. Thanks for responding!

Great question. I think including pieces like that in your portfolio is important for a concept artist. Those extra views are part of what is called a modeling sheet which is what gets passed to a 3D artist to help bring your creations to life. My strategy is to have a sheet where we have a single polished painting of your character in a natural pose and then include those front, back, side (etc) views as simple line art in the margins. This shows painting and problem solving skills in one portfolio piece which is great. I hope that is helpful!

@@fowlerillus omg! Thank you so much for the information! I was always wondering about this question, thank you very much again!:3

Also sorry for asking so many (probably silly) questions

The questions aren't silly at all and it's what I make these videos for :) Drawing from invention is definitely a challenge but I do have some strategies and principles that make designing with shapes first easier and more formulaic. I definitely agree that you don't want to dive into an expensive mentorship without a grasp of fundamentals. Solid familiarity with basic drawing and digital painting apps (of your choice) are a prerequisite so that no one feels out of their depth. I do have an introductory course that is $9 if you want to brush up on those foundational skills. Feel free to email us at office@digitalpaintingstudio.com with a portfolio link and I can give you my impressions - whether you would be ready for the mentorship or if there are skills I would recommend working on first. Regardless, I wish you and your art the very best!

@@fowlerillus thanks so much. I'll try to draw a few before I send em your way as I only have 1 (deleted everything for a fresh start)

2021

Here! www.digitalpaintingstudio.com/community

We do! You can check it out here www.digitalpaintingstudio.com/community

You nailed it - I typically use a line drawing to get a human figure in place if there is foreshortening or overlap of limbs and then I design with shapes on top. It is definitely possible to design people this way, but it works best when limbs are not overlapping each other or main body masses.