affinity designer Quick shading technique doodle - BAYMAX

[ronniemcbride]

I really should have titles this WIP: Disclaimer (This is really just a test I using really loose brush strokes on this and nothing really been cleaned up. ) 

 

 

So, this was just a quick little test in shading. 

 

I saw the movie, love the character so, why not draw him he seem to be  be a simple study for shading techniques.

 

:)

 

[MattP]

Using brush strokes to do highlights and shadows is a great technique and often produces very different results to those you'd get from the more 'classic' vector approach of highlight/shadow objects clipped to the outline. I think that most of the work done by Eejits (George) on here is done in this way - he's pretty much a master at it and might be along in a while with a few hints and tips! :)

 

I've been trying to get him to draw something for me since before we released, but I think he's ignoring me, haha ;)

[eejits]

Ooops.

 

Ronnie: Can't see the image at work, so I'll comment on it when I get home. I can tell you how I do my shading though. It's all done with a mixture of Cintiq and mouse, but both work equally as well in my case. I'll come back with comments once I can see yer image if you'd like?

 

MattP: :blink:  Goddammit! I'd forgotten about that. I really need someone to look after my life (my wife thinks I'm a grown man and responsible adult! ha!) Do you still want me to go ahead with the furry creature for starters? Now that I'm more comfortable with the program what I create should be a lot better than it would have been before (hear that sound? that's the sound that feeble excuses make!!)

 

George

[MattP]

Hi George! Aha, so you're not ignoring me after all! ;)  I'll double check with Ash if everything's still okay and then get back to you! :)

 

Thanks,

Matt

[eejits]

Cool for cats..........

[denironaut]

I quite like the rough and loose look, pretty much a style in itself.

[ronniemcbride]

GEORGE: hahahaha ohh man sorry George hahaha well played response though!

 

Yes, I would  love to hear more about your technique and or process you use.

 

MATT: Yah, Affinity designer has this awesome  hybrid vector and pixel ecosystem I am calling "vexels" that right you heard it here first lol. Seriously, Affinity Designer  it really lends itself nicely to this sort of workflow. The only question I really would be by using this technique is:

 

1. will I lose the ability to scale this up if I using pixel brushes to shade my vectors. for instance if I make a custom brush at lets say 512px x 512px at 300 dpi (notice how I mixed pixels with inches) will I take a speed hit in my brush strokes with in the application.

 

2. Will it be two small to scale up lets say to the size of my original image if it were done at an A3 size and then scaled up to lets say billboard or a 10x10 booth display size or hell to fit the of a jumbo jet? I mean this is an extreme case but I like to plan for the extreme possibility. :)

 

 

Thanks :)

[MattP]

Ronnie,

 

Performance should be pretty snappy unless you do something truly outlandish - the only thing to keep in mind is that if you start creating large amounts of pixels then when you save the file they'll be saved too, so your file size will start to inflate hugely - not a problem for most people, but something to keep in mind.

 

If you resize larger then you can decide in the Document Setup dialog which type of resampling to use when generating the new pixels - we've got some pretty fancy samplers there so you'll probably not see anything too noticeable. Best of all, the thing to remember with all of this is: Brushes are generally, by their nature, smooth and typically produced from blends of things - which translates perfectly into meaning that they generally don't show artefacts from being resized larger with a decent sampler.

 

I think you'd find it would work pretty well, to be honest :)

Matt

[ronniemcbride]

I quite like the rough and loose look, pretty much a style in itself.

 

Thanks denironault I guess you are right :)

[ronniemcbride]

Thanks Matt! 

 

Fabulous to know. Now I can sleep peacefully! 

 

Thank You so much for your clear response!

[retrograde]

Hey Ronnie thanks for bringing up the resolution question. I wanted to know that myself. I recently did a test comparison piece of an image I first did in PS. I re-did it in Designer to compare workflows and to see if I could replace PS for that kind of raster workflow. It turned out really great, I'll upload it in a new thread for discussion.  :)

[ronniemcbride]

Sweet! I will be watching for it. Glad the results were positive!

[eejits]

Looking good so far Ronnie. Are you using a tablet for the shading?

 

I use the selection tool to isolate the area I want to work on (say an arm or a finger) if it isn't already a seperate vector object. Then using a large (ish) brush (the size changes the whole time as I work) with the hardness set to 0% and opacity set to 20% I work on the shadows first. This is done on a pixel layer set to multiply with the brush colour the same as the object's colour. I also set up the other colour using a dark grey. Between the two colours I gradually build up the shadows. The rinse and repeat for the highlights using a pixel layer set to screen.

 

That's a brief explanation on how I work. Hope it helps a little. If anyone has anything to add or if there's a better way then please pipe up!

 

Cheers,

 

George

[ronniemcbride]

Looking good so far Ronnie. Are you using a tablet for the shading?

 

I use the selection tool to isolate the area I want to work on (say an arm or a finger) if it isn't already a seperate vector object. Then using a large (ish) brush (the size changes the whole time as I work) with the hardness set to 0% and opacity set to 20% I work on the shadows first. This is done on a pixel layer set to multiply with the brush colour the same as the object's colour. I also set up the other colour using a dark grey. Between the two colours I gradually build up the shadows. The rinse and repeat for the highlights using a pixel layer set to screen.

 

That's a brief explanation on how I work. Hope it helps a little. If anyone has anything to add or if there's a better way then please pipe up!

 

Cheers,

 

George

 

Yup, I am can't really see doing it without a pen tablet. 

 

So this was really just a test. I wanted to use tools I don't usually use. I usually use the pen tool for inking my lines. but this time I used the brush tool. I have to get a bit more use to that tool that ( I think i might be a bit of a control freak haha) The brush really has a nice feel to it but until I cant rotate my canvas  like i would like soI don't think I will  use it as much  as I like too. For some reason I didnt plan how I would trace my shapes as I would with the pen tool so that means I really did not have any closed shapes. So, I brushed in my flat color and then I usually use the same technique you described but I was trying a different method this time where I don't use blending modes but actually picking a color and mixing shades of that color in this case it was grey then I just made a separate pixel layer and used a light white intensity brush for the highlights. What I did not do is use the the selection method you described. 

 

Anyway, thanks for sharing your method it seems it though it similar in some of mine it really depends on the piece and style which method I use. I really don't think their a wrong way and a better way depends on what you plan on doing with the art after. really. What i would do to shapes and how I would lay them out in a still image as oppose to art that will be animated or composited or for web related work would be different due to how the file would be handed off to another party.

 

 

I would love to hear what other methods people use as well. so chime on in folks were open ears over here :)

[ronniemcbride]

Ok now I feel a bit more complete. It was lacking some story :)

 

 

[retrograde]

Hey Ronnie, I finally posted that PS/AD comparison piece here...

 

https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/3634-photoshop-piece-recreated-completely-in-affinity-designer/

 

it touches on some of the painting workflow your discussiing in this thread.

[Sunset]

Brush strokes - my fav part of Affinity, I love using them for shading, especially when I draw the faces and add the colour and they make beautiful sunsets. They can be very, very, subtle, also very easy to alter for fine detail. Typically I just use the vector brushes. 

[ronniemcbride]

Brush strokes - my fav part of Affinity, I love using them for shading, especially when I draw the faces and add the colour and they make beautiful sunsets. They can be very, very, subtle, also very easy to alter for fine detail. Typically I just use the vector brushes. 

 

Then you must be excited as I am for Affinity Photo ;) I think I read somewhere  there might be some more robust brush editor ( hope I not starting a rumor)

[Sunset]

I know nothing, but I assume that there will be - rightly or wrongly! I really am looking forward to Affinity Photo. Much as I love AD, the idea of combining it with Photo and then with a Publisher, too...................it's more exciting than chocolate!

[peter]

I've still to discover the pixel persona and realise its full potential. Or should that read; wait for the next forum user's tutorial. You know who you are? :P

[ronniemcbride]

it's more exciting than chocolate!

 

Wow!  now I know you are serious hahaha!

[Sunset]

Wow!  now I know you are serious hahaha!

Yep - a regular fruit and nut case :D

[peter]

Yep - a regular fruit and nut case :D

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