Step
by Step Graphics Tutorials
by
Daniel Hammonds a.k.a Wade/Haujobb & Fairlight
The idea behind this site came to me a long time ago. The purpose behind it is two-fold: firstly to redeem myself among anybody who believes that I cannot scratch paint graphics, and secondly, to pass on some techniques and ideas to other graphic artists.
No doubt there are quicker and more effective ways of achieving such results, and my hasty techniques could certainly be improved on. Admittedly, my understanding of Photoshop, its plug-ins and pull downs, could best be described as shallow, and I’m yet to see Painter, Photopaint or any other application. Nevertheless, I will try to share what I know in as much detail I can. Meanwhile, any tips or suggestions would be most welcome!
Tutorials
‘Me and Louie’s Sister’
Released at Breakpoint 2003, taking first place in the Freestyle Graphics competition. Intended as a parody of and a tribute to the picture ‘Me and My Little Sister’ by one of my favourite graphic artists, Louie/The Black Lotus.
While I have tried to cover all primary aspects of creating this picture, if anybody has any questions about specific aspects of this image or the tutorial, please feel free to email me at wadedan@softhome.net and I will try to answer and demonstrate these in a separate Q & A guide as soon as time permits.
Q. How long have you been
painting on computer?
A. Pretty much since I first bought my Amiga in 1990. I began doodling in Deluxe Paint 2, before discovering the art known as ‘pixelling’ a few years later. It was around 1994 (approximately the same time I joined the demo-scene) when I started taking graphics seriously. I started using AGA colour palettes from around 1996 until August 2001 when I first started painting in Photoshop.
Q. What is pixelling?
A. Pixelling basically involves painting with pixels – no filters, no airbrushes, no smudging, blurring etc. True pixelling generally works like building a large digital mosaic, laying down different coloured pixels one by one, while in recent times, the term is usually associated with up-close, hands-on pixel painting - as opposed to airbrushing or 3d graphics.
Although there is little requirement for such techniques when working in truecolour, there are still times when it can be adapted and applied to creating various details and textures.
Q.
How do you create your pictures?
A. I am asked this a lot, but unfortunately it is a far too general question to answer with a word, a sentence or even several paragraphs, which is why I have decided to put together this step-by-step guide, covering many aspects and techniques behind my pictures.
Q. What programs do you use?
A. Deluxe Paint 4, Personal Paint and Brilliance for Amiga graphics and Photoshop for 24bit graphics. I’m told that I should broaden my scope, but these suffice for now.
Q.
Do you copy your motifs or use reference photographs?
A. For the most part, yes. I
do my best to inject a personal style into the picture and present it in a new
way, but without reference I find it difficult to maintain basic proportion.
Although I have painted a number of images from imagination, and one or two from live subjects, the results are often disappointing. The truth is, I am not a gifted artist; I’m a demoscene gfxer and, for me, graphics is a hobby and not a professional ambition.
Q.
Do you use a scanner or photographic material in making your graphics?
A.
As a personal rule, NO!
I do, however, use a grid to maintain proportion, which some artists may see as 'cheating'. I won’t deny that it simplifies the process, but then so can graphics tablets and preliminary pencil sketches. In fact, there’s nothing to say that using a photograph is cheating. In my view, cheating is when a graphic artist lies about his or her short cuts so that their work will be judged more favourably by its critics.
Q. Why does this site suck?
A. Because I don’t know the first thing about making Web sites and right now I don’t have the time or motivation to invest in a better design. What you see was thrown together in a hurry using MS Word and my very limited knowledge of FrontPage. However, I will try to adapt these tutorials to a series of disk-magazine articles before too long.
Q. Where can I find more of your graphics?
A. Visit my personal gallery on Gfxzone.org or search for ‘Wade’ on Digitalart.org.