Welcome to Gaia! ::

Hello my fellow guild members. In case you dont' already know, I am this guild's mule account. But enough of that and let just get down to business.

This thread is for helping people who are struggling with their art works on the technical side, or people who wants to learn more about a particular media.

How this works:
You make a post that contains a question, or a general topic of discussion, and other guild members join in. The point is to help each other solve our problems.

What should be discussed here:
-techniques for different traditional media
-how to solve certain problems with traditional media
-tips on how to avoid diseasters with traditional media
-how certain medias work with or against each other

Please be specific with your questions. Posts such as "How do you use color pencils?" should be avoided. Instead, post things such as "How do you blend color pencils?" or "What type of colors should I use for [insert blank here]?". Just try to stay on topic and Let's talk art!!

somehow, i knew you were going to be the first to post mrgreen

this is easy for me to explain in color pencil terms. generally, if you're using cool tones, the easiest place to introduce other tones is in the shadow areas. *goes to find an example* this is something i did a long time ago....like over a year ago, but it gets my point across. well, the scanner screwed up a lot of the colors, but what can i do. so anyways. see the dark parts in the armor and clothes? that's not black i used. i used my 12 colors color pencil set to color this, and didn't use any black (except for on the hair) or poppy red, so that leaves me with 10 basic colors. in the blue and green, brown is the easiest color to introduce. often times, i would use brown to tone down my colors. but you're not limited to brown. i often use red and purple in the blue. but beware, if you don't know how to blend it, it can turn out like diseasters. always experiment with your colors before you apply them. i think i'm done blabing for now. let me know if this helps and if there's anything i missed or you want to know more about. 3nodding

mrgreen

should we maybe sticky it?

its true....but it would keep it from dying.

do you know anything about ballpoint? if so...i have a question about a problem i tend to encounter.

so i'm drawing along, draw draw nice and smooth and OMG, a huge blob of ink has just appeared on my paper (in the area i want the lightest, of course). what is the best way to deal with this? i mean, i'm begining to recognize when a blob of ink is building on the tip of the pen and then i wipe it off, but is there another way?


and how about an actual technical question: scanning my work. i always have trouble with that....
i have a lexmark 1200 scanner (woefully outdated, i had a 2400 a while ago, but it mysteriously stopped working) and it does fine with some things (black and white especially, not grey. it tends to turn my lighter areas white (not pick up any color at all) and my darker areas to one value (not black, but dark grey of course). there really aren't a lot of ways i can combat this. usually i just make it scan it like it was darker (adjust brightness to darker) and then edit it in my (also woefully outdated version) photoshop 5, but it never looks good.
so....do you have any cool tips for my scanner, or any cool tips for photoshop?

i have use those same ballpoint pens, but i can't find a full color pallette from Bic (a while ago, though, i noticed they've come out with purple and green; that's a step in the right direction). admittedly, i use very cheap ballpoint pens, but thats mostly because i have a full set (yellow, orange, red, light and dark blue and green, pink, and black). i bought this set for like 2 dolla at Big Lots (that place is amazing sometimes...). but i think you're probably right: it's the quality of the pen i'm using. i guess it's just something i'll have to deal with.


burn tool...i have used this when playing around in photoshop, but i really dont know what it does mrgreen does it just darken areas? what about the dodge tool, what does that do? -is obviously a photoshop idiot-
i'll keep what you've said in mind, though. unfortunately the brightness on my scanner is nowhere near fine tuning; it's either white, dark grey, or black, hehe. practice makes perfect, though. i remember when i first got a scanner and i could hardly make ANYTHING come out looking mediocre.

thankies sox!

i have to admit, i've seen some godly ballpoint drawings. there is this one guy who is super awesome with ballpoint on artwanted. he's my idol mrgreen

-plays around in photoshop, curses about not having version 7 anymore, formulates plan to deal-

so yeah. now i totally understand how that could be helpful. i'll have to give that a shot sometime. i think i might scan an in-progress thingy in a minute.

who would have thought that i could have gotten so used to the luxuries of 7 that 5 would seem so incredibly outdated? i didn't even know 7 had luxuries until i didnt have it anymore (like the history thing.....i HATE not having a history thing).

but anydangways, thanks a bunch you guys. i really appreciate your help (even though it seems that i am the only one with questions about anything in this guild....makes me feel....slow, somehow) eh. thanks!

yeah, i owned the full PS...i own it now, but version five. i was spoiled with version seven and now i complain. the old computer came with PS7, which was cool. but by the time i got a hang of it, the computer died and we had to get a new one. i didnt think to transfer PS7 onto the new one. i did, however, find an old PS 5 disc from a long time ago on the white computer, hehe. i'm hoping to get CS for X-mas from a freind's freind who works with computer things.

i could totally see it (and i'm glad too). that is a pretty awesome drawing. but by godly ballpoint drawings, i meant things like this or this <= all his stuff is good AND in ballpoint.

i admit, i would love to get the smoothness of color that you've shown in that link. i love how directional lines create their own texture in ballpoint....i love ballpoint in itself, actually. to become that good....i think i might just explode right on the spot.