here we go. C:
first we have to have a SKETCH!
either scan one in or draw it on the computer or whatever you want.
I usually draw my sketches on OPEN CANVAS 1.1 because of the smoooooooth lines. :B

MAKE SURE YOUR SKETCH IS SUPER BIG!!!! if you using a scanner, change the dpi from 72 or whatever to 300. :D
If you drew it on the computer, uh, resize it to a bigger size.
(don't just magnify it! =3=;;)





here we go, this is my sketch. :D it's huuuuuuuge. see? the 100% means that's how big your picture really is. see how her face takes up the screen? that's how big I make my pictures. the bigger you start out, the more detail you can put in! remember though, when your finish you'll have to resize it to a smaller size so don't go detail crazy. C:


next is lineart. :B MAKE A NEW LAYER OR ELSE. make sure it's transparent and name it lineart so you don't forget what it is.

I put a white layer in between my lineart and sketch layers so I can see what the lineart looks like with out the sketch. I just keep it invisible (click the eye button on and off) to see my sketch and stuff.
USE LAYERS AND PHOTOSHOP'S COOL BUTTONS TO YOUR ADVANTAGE!



tada! lineart on another layer (I used the pen tool for this. :])! I WILL EXPLAIN LINEART LATER. xP it'll have it's own section.

now for coloring. :D
MAKE A NEW LAYER!!!! dsafdksalfjksd. xD;;





I start with skin/fur/flesh/whatever first. because. I just do. xD so pick a color and color! you can use the paintbucket tool if you want to be fast, just make sure you select "use all layers" and you'll be able to fill stuff in even though you're on two different layers! NIFTY! 8D -shot-
sometimes the paint bucket tool does weird stuff, so I just color stuff in, and then erase where I went out of the lines. :B

then shade! ON A DIFFERENT LAYER! PLZZZZZ.


I'll explain shading later on.

then I color hair and eyes. |D I use around 3 layers for hair but only one or two for eyes.

hair! first layer for the base color. :3



second layer for the shading



3rd layer for the unrealistic crazy shines! 8D;
for these, just make a new layer, color solid white on whatever you want shiny, and then change the opacity. :D TADA! instant plastic look! xD



hair. xD

eyes.. make sure the eye layer is ON TOP of the skin layer. XD but under lineart. |D;;; and I'll explain how to do them later. they're SUPER easy. 83

now...? clothes and junk! xD

unlike skin and hair, I cram the base shading for clothes on one layer. :)



but I shade each article of clothing on a different one. xD;



then I make a sad attempt at texture on another layer, using opacity and stuff. |D



now just slap on a background and you're done. 83



LOL I AM SPARKELYYYYYY. *w*

this section is being redone, sorry for any inconveniences.

first, click on the pen tool! 8D -shot-
it looks like a pen nib. photoshop elements doesn't have it I'm sorry. D: but the others should. or I'll be a chicken.
make sure those two buttons on top are selected. :B



then uh... DO STUFF! 8D
make sure your lineart is on a TRANSPARENT NEW layer. then click and make a point where you want your line to be. :B



now just click more points where your line changes direction a lot like in the picture below.



now click the uh I forgot what it was called but it's in the picture below. XD;;;



now uh.... click in the center (or where ever) in one of those line segments.
Make it less linear by clicking and pulling the nodes.



now right click and do this number.



make sure you have a brush selected with the width you want your line to be.
if you have that check thing selected, it'll make your line all wispy like.
if you don't, the line will be the same width all the way around. :B
use whichever suits your drawing best.



now if you don't want to do all that rigth clicking okay junk, here's a short cut!
just go over to your layers window, click the paths tab, and then find the circle button at the bottom,
just click that, and it'll stroke the line for you. C:
when you've made a nice line, click the trashcan button.



WEEE! 8D
now you have a line. if you use just one pixel width, weird stuff will happen, like this:



so go up to like 3-4 or 5 yeah. or whatever. XD



HUZZAH! now since these lines taper, you might want to take a 1 px wide brush and thicken them up free hand where they meet with each other, like so:



yayay! Lineart with the pen tool! xD however there are two more ways I can tell you about. so uh. DON'T CHANGE THAT CHANNEL! O:

well, first, you need to actually ink a picture, like on real paper. o3o
I use the Sakura brand Micron pens. They come in, like, a bajillion deferent sizes, plus they're liquid resistant. :B


HAHA I TOTALLY SCANNED MY PEN IN MY SCANNER! 8D
so like draw a picture, ink it, and then erase your sketch.
(actually, if you make your pencil lines SUPER clean, you don't even have to ink it! |D)
if you sketched in light blue, then you don't have to erase it, cause photoshop has nifty buttons that can get rid of the blue. C:

anyway, scan that lineart in.


here's my lineart. :B
(Lol, this guy's name is Isaiah, he's one of my OC's. xD he's cool. lolzzz. anyway, moving along...)

BUT THAT IS NOT ALL OMG.
the tricky part is getting that lineart on a TRANSPARENT LAYER! 8D but it's really easy. :B okay, so first we'll clean up those lines. |D
open the Levels window, it should be under image-mode-adjustments, or hit ctrl+L. C:
mess with the arrows until you get the blackest balck, and the whitest white, like below. :B
you can also use the brightness-contrast thing.. xD
then clean it up a bit, if there are like huge smudges.





so now select the whole picture, hit ctrl+A.
then copy it. ctrl+C
now MAKE ANEW LAYER, and make it completely black. C: paintbucket yay!
select that layer and NOW HIT THE LAYER MASK BUTTON -point's below- and paste. ctrl+V
It should be red.


now click that rectangle button next to the one you just clicked, and hit delete. C:
then deselect, ctrl+D, and you have lineart! 8D aaaaaaaaannnnd COLOR! YEAH!



C:

first, you know, have some eye lineart ready.
This eyes was drawn literally in 10 seconds in flash so it looks dumb, but we'll make it pretty.
START A NEW LAYER
call it eyes or something. :D and color it in. 8D



now get a darker color
and "shade" the eye around the outside and where the pupil will be. C:



now smudge it, the red lines/arrows indicate my brush strokes.
USE THE SMUDGE TOOL. it looks like a hand. NOT THE BLUR.
for the smudge tool, I'll keep it on a strength of 65-85% depending on how I feel. xD



alrighty, now get an even darker color and do (pretty much) the same thing. |D



now we'll make it shiny,
because in my brain, the shiny-er the better. xD
select your brush and get it into DODGE MODE! 8D Use LINEAR DODGE if you also have the COLOR DODGE option. C:
pick some areas of the eye where you want it to be shiny.





now uh, use the smudge tool again, and smudge the eye in lines radiating from the pupil, because that's what eyes do. |D
(man, the eye in this tutorial looks like poop. |D haha.)



now re-shine the eye with the DODGE mode again. :B
If you need to, use the BLUR TOOL to make the shine blend in a little better.



now put in some white shines and a pupil.
(the shines in this eye look weird and the pupil is too small, but, oh well. |D)



keep in mind that you'll be resizing your picture when you done, so the finished eye will be smaller, like this:



DONE! 8D

I skip steps, and add steps to this process, really, the only part that stays the same is the whole "using the dodge and smudge tools" thing.

I bet using the Burn tool as well will give you cool effects....

anyway, you can do eyes like 2130892830912830218302931313 different ways.
the key to making awesome eyes is EXPERIMENTATION!

here are some examples I whipped up:



TIPS! 8D

when using the Dodge tool, use uniquely shaped brushes! you can get some crazy shines that way. xD

The color you have selected will alter the tint the doge tool will make, for example, if you have blue selected and color on a purple surface, the shine will be purplish-blue, but if you have red selected, the shine will turn more pink.

using LOADS of white shines will make your character look watery eye'd, or even like they have a fever. |D so if you don't want that effect then limit your shines.

you can also start with gradients! and you don't always have to put pupils or shines, you can do whatever you want! C:

You don't have to have a bold black outline around the Iris of your eye either, you can use another color too, or just completely omit it! C:

that's why eyes are so fun to color.

remember, eyes are very important. They show the audience your character's personality. So make sure His or her eyes reflect the correct personality. xD

WEE! I AM DONE TALKING NOW, LOLZ. xD

get some lineart, make a new layer, and color the hair. :D



now, shade it.
MAKE A NEW LAYER FOR SHADING PLZ.
to shade hair, use brush strokes that follow the directional flow of the character's hair. C:




Now get a darker color and shade more. xD



now, highlight time.
take your eraser and erase some highlights. C: this should work and reveal the original hair color,
because you were smart and used another layer. XD



now take a lighter color a draw in some highlights.



now take the SMUDGE TOOL, 65-85 % strength, and make sure it is a hard brush. Then smudge, with the same brush stokes as step 2.



now use linear dodge and make some more highlights. :B



smudge them in, the select LINEAR BURN, or COLOR BURN, or something with the word BURN in it. xD



use this to fill in some more depth, e.g. shade with it. xD or whatever. then smudge it like you have been doing.



you can stop there, but lets make his hair PLASTIC! 8D

make A NEW LAYER and color pure white highlights on it.



smudge them.



then change the layer's opacity and fill to make the white less IN YOU FACE. xD



Now, MAKE A NEW LAYER! color white on it again, but this time, make it smooth, and not hair-strand-wispy shaped.
I usually make it kinda like a big fat curved line.
make it fattest where the light hits the head first. C:
also make sure it's only on the hair, erase where it goes one the face and stuff.



then change the opacity and fill to make it see-through.
feel free to add some little circle shines, or other weird shaped things. xD

and voila! x3





It's Tidus's head. xD

first grab some lineart,
MAKE A NEW LAYER (called skin)
and color the skin in. woop. C:



now we are going to add some shades.
-puts on sunglasses- B)

MAKE A NEW LAYER! call it skin shading or something. :V
now, make sure it's selected. |D;

OKAY! now we have to get the right brush, get a SOFT ROUND brush,
I right click to get the window below open, (in both PS7 and PSE 6)
but I don't know what you'll have to do, M SRY. Dx



okay now.... like shade the face (with a darker color),
make sure your light source stays pretty constant. C:
( I'M REALLY BAD AT THAT DON'T LOOK! D8 -runs away-)

typically, the side of the face Opposite or your light source will be completely shadowed, as well as under the nose, between the eyes ( not too much here though! O: ), under the lip, and like stuff. xD;



now get a darker color and shade some more. :B



now get the smudge tool, make the brush into AIRBRUSH SOFT ROUND MODE.
I will cry if you don't. D:



now smudge all around the face,
BUT HOLD UP HERE! the smudge tool can wreck your shading if you aren't careful.
look at the picture and then I'll explain. xP



in order to smudge right, you have to do this number, to explain, I'm going to try to smudge the black and gray together.
make a very small zigzag patterned brush stroke, like so:



woop. see? the smudge tool blends differently than the blur tool,
however, the black lost some of it's uh, "darkness" for lack of a better term.
just color some more black over and smudge it again. :B



Now, back to flesh. xD
lets had some highlights! ( and further make your character look like plastic! 8D; )




now smudge. :B



Now, we still have to add some more shadows. xD (you can never have too many, haha)
HOWEVER!
these shadows are different from the ones you just colored.
those shadows are what gives the face depth.
Now we're going to draw in the shadows made by like, the hair and nose and stuff, make them dark! I'd use either a dark greyish flesh tone or a dark blueish-gray-purple.
(because believe it or not, shadows are actually purple. I'm serious. xD)



for these, use the blur tool if you feel like it.
oops. I think I used the blur tool too much. Dx
but, you get the idea, I hope. xD



looky here, now your done. C:

(and look, Tidus suddenly has eyes! xD lolzzz isn't he purty?)



now, if you aren't sure how to get flesh tones in photoshop, here's some help. C:



basically, you get some red, orange, or yellow, and uh, follow those arrows I drew in. xD

to get this window, double click really fast on one of the two color squares in the tool-bar thing,
you know, where it shows where you color is selected. :B

when I shade stuff with this process, I go diagonally to the bottom right to get my shadows (and vice-verca for highlights).
then I add some purple-blue-gray (shadows) and like red and pink (highlights)and stuff. xD
just to make the person look alive.

well, there you go, skin! 8D LOL.

Here's the old way I used to do this,



yes... follow the arrows stating at the red thing. It is EXACTLY like coloring eyes. c:


but!!!

now I have a newer, more complicated way. C:


GEMS!

, first lineart ( I did this in paint for time's sake)


then base coloring on a different layer!!


NOW, MAKE A NEW LAYER.
Get some sort of shading color ( I usually use purple) and shade the shapes. C:



Now put that shading layer in "multiply" mode and VOILA!



now... DUPLICATE THE SHADING LAYER! 8D
make the copy invisible for now.



make sure you have THE FIRST one selected! now go to the Gaussian blur filter thing. c:



make the first layer all nice and smooth. c:



okay, now since we got our of our lines, go to your lineart layer, grab the Magic wand tool, and click OUTSIDE of your lines, everything outside should get highlighted.
GO BACK to your FIRST shading layer, and hit the delete button on your keyboard. everything out of the lines should go away. C:



Next, Turn your SECOND shading layer un-invisible, and play with he opacity to make it less In-your-face.



now shading's all done. c: time for sparkles. make a new layer, and just color blue on it. (or whatever color your gem/sparkley thing is)


Delete what you colored outside the lines, turn the layer to LINEAR DODGE MODE, or dodge mode, whichever.
then mess with the opacity.

Make a new layer, and put more blue (or whatever color your gem/sparkley thing is). I'd make it more concentrated than the last.





change the layer to Linear dodge mode. ^^



add the finishing shines, for instance, I made yet another layer, and put some white blobs, then I duplicated that layer, Gaussian blurred one of then, and made the other a little transparent, much like how we shaded here. Then I made ANOTHER layer, and added the whitest shines. c:



hope that made sense!

well, basically, just follow the pictures here. xD

this is for like, metals, particularly round ones. c:


lineart and base coloring. c:

Metal is usually characterized by super dark shines next to super light shines, the outside ring of a round metal thing is usually bright, where as whatever reflected in the center is darker and pushed and distorted to the sides. (just look at the picture. XD


now make it darker...


and darker... xD


and now blur it! 83

Now, make a new layer, and add white.. blur it too, and then make it really opaque.

then just make another layer, make some whiter circle shines, do that Duplication-Gaussian blur thing in the tutorial above... annnd there we go! 83

I also colored the lineart. xD



you can apply the same things to something not round, like this horribly drawn cylinder. 8D;



happy joy. C:

We shall begin with the lineart and base coloring for a glass sphere. c:



okaaaayyy, now, make some sort of gradient thing happen. XD
make the glass dark in the middle, and light on the outside! C:



now just shade it regularly with out Duplicate-Gaussian blur method. (in the above tutorial)
also lighten the opacity a lot.





now make a new layer, draw in some white shines, and make them opaque. 83



then make another layer, and do it again....

then make another layer and make more...but don't change the opacity of the last ones. c:





now as you can see, this is very dark Glass. x: so make the opacity of the shading and base color layers to make the glass lighter.



done! 8D

now Glass is transparent, but when something is seen through glass that isn't flat, it gets distorted... c:



and that is the end of my knowledge of glass. x:

When you first open up OC, you'll probably see about 5 or so little window with stuff on 'em.
(oh and if you're completely lost, to start a picture got to FILE and then NEW, then select the hight and width that you want)

anyway, one of these important windows is the TOOL BAR! 8D -insert confetti-
it looks like this:



A - have this selected when you want to use the brush, pencil, blur, or eraser tools.

B - eye dropper, it selects colors. you can also just right click. o3o

C - square thing, it makes squares that are the color you have selected. XDDD

D - weird shape thing. It supposed to make shapes but it's really kinda hard to do, I don't recommend using it at all.

E - this moves your "paper" around on the screen

F - Zoom in! or you can hit ctrl + for the same effect.

G - this moves the IMAGE around on your paper. CAREFUL!! if you move the image past the edges of the paper, you'll lose it!

H - line tool, it only makes straight lines. o3o

I - White square thing, it makes white squares I guess. xD

J - white weird shape thing, uh, just.. don't use it. D|

K - this rotates your paper.

L - Zoom out! just hit ctrl - for convenience.


the next window you see is the Pencil/brush/blur/Eraser Window thing. C:



A- this changes the size of your brush/eraser/pencil/blur tool

B- this changes the size of the middle part of the brush and pencil tools. Blur and eraser don't have this.

C- this changes the hardness of your tool. just mess with it to see what it does. it's hard to explain. xD

D- enable/disable size. I actually have no idea how to explain what this does... just mess with it. |D

E- enable/disable transparency. uhhh. same here. |D sorry.

F- enable/disable edge smoothness. This is self explanatory. o3o only the brush and eraser have this.

G - these are only available for the brush, it changes how the brush spreads color around and junk.


also, there are five little tabs at the top of the window. when you mess with a brush or pencil or whatever to attributes that you like, click the little blue disc button in the corner to save it to that tab.



the brush tool is probably the most complicated thing on OC.
this is what happens when you put those three little bars at the top at zero.



It makes the color come out very quickly and fully. I usually have this preset saved on one of my tabs. I use it to color the base color layer because there is no flood fill on OC.


next this is what happens when you put them all on 100 percent. (the blue dot over to the side is showing you what color I actually have selected)



It comes out VERY light, and blends a lot with the white like so. o3o


next, this is what happens when you just have the green strip on. (the horizontal solid colors were done with the default preset, just focus on the two vertical strokes)



as you can see, the more green bar you have, the more the brush lets white blur in with your color.


now what if we had just red? or just blue? they do this:



as you can see, they just let the selected color (green in this case) show through. o3o


now what about red and blue but no green? it does this number:



I have no idea why, but it does. |D

yeah, just experiment with the bars until you find something you like.


now the blur tool. I hardly ever use it, but here it is: (you can only change the size, FYI)



and then the eraser.



1 has both transparency and smooth edge selected
2 has just smooth edge selected
and 3 has neither selected.

woop. again just experiment with the tools until you get something you like. then SAVE IT TO A TAB SO YOU DON'T LOSE IT! C8




remember how I said I didn't use the blur tool? yeah I use the brush to blur things, and I'll show you what my tool preset is to do that:



I will explain exactly how I do this in a later section. c:




the next window? Layers!it looks like this:





A - toggles the layer visibility on and off.

B - changes the layer to either multiply, add, subtract. c:

C - shows you what's on the layer

D - changes the layer's opacity.

click and drag between B and C if you want to move the layer on or under another layer.

to make a new layer, click on layer, and then select new layer. there are three different types of layers on OC.

the default is multiply, It's like the multiply mode on photoshop



It makes things look overlapped.

next is the Add layer, it's like the dodge mode on Photoshop.



this is how I make thing's shiny looking in OC. Experiment and you'll see what I mean.

next is the subtract Layer, it basically inverts all the colors. I never use this. |D



and there you go. o3o



now there's the color picker.



you can only select one color at a time, unlike photoshop. however if you want to "save" a certain color, just right click on one of the 16 rectangles to the far left. As you can see I keep those rainbow colors saved. the rest of this thing is pretty self explanatory. :B



Now I'm just going to warn you about changing the "paper" size of your picture. the window looks like this:



to get to it you got to EDIT and then RESIZE. (reoloution is like resize in photoshop)

everything is backwards in OC, so if you want pixels added to the top of your picture, you have to select bottom, if you want them on added on the bottom, select top, left and right are also like this. xD


now, if you wanna watch yourself draw, just go to FILE and then EXPORT EVENT FILE.



then click IMPORT EVENT FILE, find the file and open it. and then watch yourself draw! xD

NOTE: you can't export events if you start with or paste a JPEG (or any other file type) into the picture at any given time. :B you'll get a message telling you this. you also can't export event files if you do other things as well but I can't remember what they are... haha, you'll get a message though. c:




and those are all OC's tools. x3 I didn't explain everything though, so you'll have to explore OC by yourself. :B

EGADS! New single image file format!

Please tell me what you think about it. You know, what you like/hate about it, and why you like it better/not as much as the other format. c:
Please voice your opinion because I'm going to start updating other sections to look like this. c|
neomail meeeee~

now the Tutorial, just click and drag it to the address bar or a tab, or wherever you need to, to make the full image appear.
There are lots of typos because I'm the world's worst speller, so, deal I guess.. sorry. xD

Part 1: Part 2:

first, lineart is good. I don't need to explain sketching and such. A Better MSpaint tutorial does that.
|D;; (link at the bottom)


so lineart. I'm a lazy dumbface, so I made this lineart with photoshop and pixelated it. It looks horrid, and I'm lazy. |D



Now fill in base colors, which are the MID RANGE colors in your picture.
Keep in mind with my style, shading will eat most of the base colors, as seen below:


so if you don't want your picture to be insanely dark, start with lighter base colors. c:

okay... now shade. ^^ with a darker color, or whatever. |D;



NOW DO IT AGAIN. 83



now add some highlights. 83
With stuff like Aru's Mane and feathery wings here, I just added white atop the shading.
No blending with these, it makes them glow more. ^^;
also add darker tones to stuff in the distance. (the wings on the other side)



now for the blending. @_@;;
what I do is pick about 3 tones in between each shading level, and scribble them in.





See? it's really easy, just takes a while. o_x;
I also add in those shiney circle things at the end. |D




now finish the rest like that, and slapp on a background, and you're done. |D






END OF POOPY TUTORIAL! 8D

sorry the pictures are so big. ^-^;;

LET'S LEARN THE BASICS! 8D


Let's start off with some art terms shall we? Just by reading and keeping these in your memory banks, not only will you feel like an artist, You'll think like one too! There are a lot of 'em, but they'll help you explain your picture better to other people, and they'll help you when you critique someone else.Don't overuse em though, you'll drive everyone nuts. xD;

TERMS:
These definitions and such were taken from my Art History Starter Kit.

Artwork has two very important parts to it. Form and Content.
When we say Form, we think of the visual aspects of a piece. Form Consists of Line, Color, Texture, Spatial, and Composition.

Line: This is an "element that defines shape." If we say art is linear, we mean that it has a strong emphasis on Line. "Lines can range from angular (straight) to Curvilinear (curvy), Delicate to bold, and/or from Solid to sketchy." They can be real (the outline of an object or something) or imaginary (When your eye runs across a picture in a linear way, it is following an imaginary line).



Color: defined by Hue, Value, and Saturation.
Often, we mistakingly use the word color for Hue instead of using the word Hue itself. Hue consists of the primary colors (red, blue, and yellow) and the secondary colors (green, orange, and purple). (and then tertiary colors and so on)
Warm hues are red, orange and yellow, while cool hues are blue, green and purple. Warm colors come towards you, while cool colors recede. c:

Value is the degree of Light and dark a Hue has. In black and white pictures, you only see value, not hue or saturation. Light blue's value is not as deep as Dark Blue's value. A lot of folks use values to shade stuff.

Saturation is how bright or dull something is. What I mean is, Neon signs have more saturation than, say, a sidewalk. Neon yellow has more saturation than Mustard yellow. xD The higher the saturation, the more vivid it'll look. The lower the saturation, the more.. dull it'll look.


Texture: is what your eye thinks something will feel like if you were to touch it. For instance, A picture of a Rabbit could have a soft, fluffy, or furry texture. Rocks would have a hard or graining texture.. stuff like that. "Texture" can refer to both the texture of the actual canvas or paper the picture is drawn on, or it can refer to what the artist is depicting.


Spacial: this includes Space, Volume and Mass.
Space is when the artist depicts recession in a picture. You can create 3-D space on the 2-D drawing plane. If I were to draw a box, there would be space in it, and around it.. unless I put someone in the box, then that space would be taken up. xD
Mass and Volume are pretty much.. 3-D things. so you don't need to worry about those unless you're sculpting or building something lol. xD


Composition: This is how an artist Organizes the picture. It's kinda like how directors place actors on a stage to get an effect. If you draw a character floating with a surreal-like background, that composition will give your picture a "spiritual" look. If you place your character in front of a cave, ferociously fighting a monster that's holding a princess, well, that composition will tell a concrete story (we call that Narrative. c=).



That's the first part, now on to Content.
Content Includes: Subject Matter, Context, Intention/Reception, Style, and Medium.
Subject Matter is what the artist is depicting. xD um duh. lol. A portrait, a picture of a cat, and/or anything in the BC is Representational Art. Paint splattered on a canvas, or something else that you can't tell what it is, is called Non-objective, or Nonrepresentational Art.


Context: this is more for art history, it's basically when and where the work was made, you probably won't need it much. Just know that where you come from and any other factors that define you as a person are going to effect your art.

Intention and Reception: Basically why the picture was made, and how other people take the work.

For example, Usually the intention of a beauty Contest entry is to get votes, and in order to do that, the audience must like it enough to vote for it. (yes I know there is the advertising factor, I'm just focusing on the ART portion of the BC). This also includes the overall meaning of the work in both that artist and the other folks. IT IS VERY IMPORTANT TO THINK ABOUT THE AUDIENCE THAT WILL SEE YOUR PICTURE. If you include personal symbolism in your art, don't expect the audience to get it, because they won't. xD if you want your symbolism to be recognized, use universal things like a heart for love or whatever. xD; Don't completely dismiss yourself in order to get your audience to like your picture, otherwise you'll hate your art and that's not a fun time. For example, if you hate anime, but you feel that it would get you more votes in the BC, don't draw it just for that reason. I mean, come on! you hate it! The BC is for fun, and if you don't have fun drawing the picture, it'll turn out like poop. c:
Here's yet another Intention/Reception example:
For the BC, I usually draw Full-body images. I make the character the main focus, so usually the background (if there is one) isn't very detailed. (the detail might take away from the focus on the character) Also, my characters might appear "floating" or barely reacting to the background. This is because I feel that my designs are the strongest factor for winning the BC, so they are my main focus. If I'm drawing a narrative picture for my pet's petpage, then I'm going to have the character interact with the background and such. c: See? if you think about the purpose of your picture before you draw it, it's easy to get the effect you want.

Style: this is REALLY IMPORTANT OMG. XD Style can be individual and uh.. not individual.. |D (no term for this? I guess I made it up in my head..) Your individual style defines you as an artist, just like your appearance and personality defines you has a person. For example, many people draw pictures in some type of Anime or cartoon style, however they each have their own individual styles that separate them from others. Please note that ANTHRO, ZOOMORPH, AND QUAD ARE SUBJECT MATTERS, NOT STYLES. |D;;; Just to get that across. HOW you draw your anthro or quad character is a style (for example you can draw a dog character realistically or in a cartoon way).

A note from myself: If you plan on trying to draw in a certain style like Cubism or Japanese woodblock prints, I'd suggest following the styles EXACTLY for a few tries before imposing your own style on it. c: That way people will recognize it as a style, and not "bad art." xD;; (following it exactly means try to use the same mediums and everything. FOLLOW IT EXACTLY). c:

Lastly, Medium: This is what you use to do your picture. There are Digital and Traditional Mediums. (say Traditional, not hand-drawn, digital art uses hands too!) Digital is on the computer. It ranges form photo-manipulation to digital painting, and everything in between and beyond. Programs are also referred to as mediums. MsPaint, OC, and Photoshop are the digital mediums I use most. c: You can also have Pixel-art and smooth shading stuff, which if I'm not mistaken, is usually called CG. |D Traditional mediums include just about everything that's not digital. xD note that whatever you are working on is also a medium, not just the materials you draw or paint with. Walls, canvas, paper, and even your own skin (lol tattoos!) can be considered mediums.

People often refer to digital pictures as graphics, however Graphic Art refers to Traditional art made using stuff like engravings, woodcuts, etchings, drypoint, metal engravings, lithography.. etc.
don't get them confused!




well there you go! Thinking like an artist yet? Well I've got more. XD;; (lol sorry)

let's move on to some more specific things.

the big Anthro vs. Quad deal

I'll make this short. |D



Animals have no human qualities... well.. as far as science goes. xD But to keep all the animal lovers happy, animals do have emotions. Emotions aren't just a human thing. But talking is.. except for maybe parrots? Well, you get what I'm saying here.

Quad (Quadroped) is basically animals with very few human qualities. Technically speaking they could be classified as anthro, but that's very confusing. So give up on the Technicalities. If it looks mostly animal it's probably quad.

Anthro is short for Anthropomorphic. This is when Animals OR objects are given human-like qualities, such as the ability to speak. However, Anthro has more animal or object qualities than human qualities. Anthro has more human qualities than quad.

Zoomorph is short for Zoomorphic, at least is according to my research. I found that this term as three definitions. XP

a) A human with animal qualities. (my pets are zoomorphic, since they have human anatomy and act the same.)
b) A human that can transform into an animal or creature.
or C) a pattern, usually Celtic knot type things, with animal figures intertwined in it.

Humans are well.. all human. LOL. |D duuuuhh.

so there you go. Now these are just what I've found. someone else's definitions might be different.


Alright, now for some REAL technical stuff, ready to get you're head exploded?

Shading will have it's own section.

Perspective: There are TONS of types of Perspective. the most commonly known are 1-Point, 2-point, and 3-point. (together called linear perspective, and yes, you can have 400-point perspective if you wanted to. xDD) They're complicated, so get a book about them. I AM SERIOUS. Perspective is important for illusionistic pictures.
Other types include Overlapping, Diminution, Vertical, Diagnol, Atmospheric, Divergent, and Intuitive.

in Linear perspective, all the diagnol "lines" (they're called Orthaganols) meet at a common point (vanishing point)on the horizon line. (basically the line that seperates the sky from the ground. xD)
you can look all those terms up because I don't feel like explaining them lol. xD;


Foreground, Middleground, and Background are pretty self explanitory I guess. Everyone knows what a Background is. xD typically the focus of the image is in the middleground, and then the foreground is in front. Most people (including myself) don't include stuff in the foreground, but if you do it draws the viewer into your picture and makes a real snazzy affect. c8

Foreshortening is the thing we all hate. It is an exageration of size created by linear perspective. (even with oodles of math involved, linear perspective isn't accurate, by the way. xP)
basically, if you have a person pointing directly at you, their hand will appear larger than normal, and you won't be able to see most of their arm and stuff. (get what I'm saying? this is hard to explain, sorry!) it helps create dramatic poses and even more depth in a picture. HAPPY HAPPY JOY.



okay I think that's it?


YAY! are we done yet!? NOOOOO~ there's more! x3

The Design Elements! we can forget those can we? of course not!
(if you don't understand what one of these is, look it up, I'm tired of typing. |D;)
**also the design elements and principles vary from book to book a little bit, I'm just using these.

1) Line
2) Shape
3) Texture
4) Proportions/Size
5) Hue
6) Value
7) Direction


BUT WAIT, what abot The Principles of Design?


1) Balance
2) Gradation
3) Rhythm/Repetition
4) Contrast
5) Harmony
6) Unity
7) Emphasis/Dominance


WOW THIS IS A LOT OF CRAZY INFO. Well, you said you wanted to be an artist, and these are the basics.

Okay so with these two lists, think about how each thing is used in art. Most Artwork includes all of them. But it's not necessary. But still... They'rea all at your disposal. Cx

When you look at each element, think about what you can do with it. Will the lines in your picture dominate or will they be imaginary or invisable like in lineless art? Will your picture be balanced, or will it not, and give an unstable effect? Will the hues in your picture be harmonius with each other or will they clash? what about the lines, will they clash? Will the values in your picture contrast harshly, or will they even be there at all?

You see? think about these things helps you get a good compostition, nice effect, and an outstanding picture! c8


well there you go. xD

Now, let's apply it. o=

I'm using the BC as an example.

Okay so the point of the BC is to draw a picture of your pet and let other's vote for it. (yes I know that it's an advertisng contest, but again, I'm just focusing on the art part because it DOES play some role) and you want to WIN right? Duh!

so how do get others to vote for it? Draw a nice picture! but not just any picture, you want to draw a picture loads of folks will vote for!

so first, you want people to be able to SEE it and go WOW I'M VOTING. So what elements and principles should we use? It may differ for everybody, but the elements I focus on are line and value, and a little bit of Hue. The principles I use are Gradation, Contrast, and Emphasis. of course, I do try to use all of the elements and principles, but I focus on those. This is mainly because I want my entry to be eyecatching, and I want my art to say, "LOOK AT MY PET, IT HAS AN AWESOME DESIGN" like I stated above.

okay so Line should be pretty obvious. I typically use black lines, because they define the character and the shapes, which is helpful because my designs include lots of shapes SEPERATE from the character rather than like.. fur patterns. Now I don't make the lines TOO think and massive because then they'll swallow the character. Remember, I focus on my character the most. Next the type of lines I use depends on what type of picture I'm doing. I usually vary the line width of CGed pictures, but keep it equal on MSpaint ones. (usually of course lol there are always exceptions) I dunno why. xD
next is value, I want my shading to be seen, because.. well it helps define My designs, sooo.... I shade pretty dark compared to most I guess. Then there's hue.. I try to make sure all my hues in the picture overall balance nicely, however I make sure that the hues in my pet's design stand out more. All of this "standing out" stuff falls under dominance. Like I said twice before, I want my character to Dominate the picture.
Then Contrast. Contrast is my best friend. I use a full value range, (using black and white, black being the lineart, white bing maybe..I dunno.. the eyes or a shine?) that way it's already pretty eyecatching. Then I make sure there are highlights to match my shading.. stuff Like that. x3 If I have a pale color, I try to contrast it with a bold color. which I guess is balance too. xDDD
and then gradiation is tied in there somehow. xDDD uh yeah see? there IS thought to what I do. lol. |D


so yeah, THERE WE GO. 83

now you try it! 8D

OKAY I'M DONE! 8D

PARTAY! now we can actually start drawing. xDDD



a Mini rant thing on critiqueing, just wanted to add this in.. because... critiques annoy me. |D I'm bad at giving and taking them lol.

okay, so if you are critting someone, usually on the BC boards, the critique-e if that's a word, proabably wants you to fix their FORM, rather than CONTENT. Nothing annoys me more than getting a crit that says "you're pets are too human" or "your design doesn't even look like a neopet!" and trust I get that a lot. =/ I usually want people to help me fix anatomy mistakes and pose issues, and compositions stuff... you know, the Form stuff I talked about at the beginning.
I guess what I'm saying is, if you are asking for a crit be sure to say if you want it on FORM or CONTENT or both. Specify what you need help on. If you are Critiqueing someone else, be sure to think about what they are trying to accomplish and note the things they do Stylisticly. Try to think about the elements and principles they're focusing on. AND NOT EVERY PICTURE NEEDS COLOR. AND NOT EVERY PICTURE NEEDS SHADING. there. xD Not everybody wants to focus on Values and/or Hues. |D


THE END!

Have you ever stared at a picture, wondered, "how did they paint/color that?" and then tried the same thing and get bad results? I definitly have. So how do we get better at coloring? Well, color theory can help us. (and we can apply it to designs too, not just painting/coloring.)

so let's take a look at our hues:



Primary colors: red, blue, and yellow. c: as long as you have these, you can make ANY color you want out of them.
Secondary colors: orange, green, and purple. we get these by adding even amounts of two primary colors
Tertiary colors: red-orange, blue-violet, yellow-green, and the like. They are the colors inbetween the secondaries. c:

Tints: you get these by adding white to a hue. c:
Shades: you get these by adding black to a hue.
Tones: and you get these by adding grey to a hue. c:


Neutral Grays are combinations of black and white.
(There are also warm grays and cool grays.)


Intesity/Chroma: like saturation, refers to the brightness or dullness of a color. c:

Compound Colors: Colors that include mixtures of all the primaries. These are colors like browns, tans, and earth tones.





Complementary colors: These are colors that are opposite to each other. Red's compliment is green, blue's compliment is orange, yellow's is purple, blue-green's is yellow-orange, get it?
to make a hue appear "darker" just add some of its complement!


Analogous colors: colors that are beside each other. c: orange, red-orange, and yellow-orange are analogues.


Warm colors (also known as Active or Agressive) come forward, cool colors (also known as Passice or receding) recede.

Split Complements: to get a split complement, take a hues's compliment, and use the two hues beside it. For example: Yellow, blue-violet, and red-violet are Split complements.

Diad: Diads are simply hues that are one hue away from eachother. Blue-green and blue-violet are Diads.

Triad: three colors that are equally spaced from eachother. Red, blue, and yellow form a triad on the color wheel.

Tetrad: contrast of four or more colors, they can make rectangle shapes and square shapes. the rectangle ones can also be called double complentaries.



alright, you know what everything is now, so let's do some designing! c8


I'll be using Aru's lineart. x3



okay so.... color combinations. c|
let's start off with Primary:




okay.. ew. this is what I'd like to call the "birthday party effect." you can decide whether you like it or not, but this is definately not a combination I like to see. |D;;

okay Primaries were a flop, what about secondaries?



getting better, but still. xD; let's keep trying:

now some tertiaries:

well... let's just keep going.. xD;;

how about a complementary scheme:


hmmm.... pretty decent. xD let's try something different though..

Analogous! these are pretty cool. c:




and what about mono-chromatic schemes?





okay... these schemes are all very bright and bold, they kind of hurt. Let's give them some variety.

alright let's try again. c: let's use a complementary scheme:
increase the value (lighten) of the yellow body, decrese (darken) the value of the blue.

desaturate and lighten the "hair

There we go, that's better isn't it? c: try it with other schemes, like primaries or analogous! You can even do tetrads and split complementaries.



So how does Zel design characters? What kind of thought processes does she use?

well, first I grab some lineart, and fill in just values:



then I use common sense. For Aru, he was already a glowing hissi, and those are green, so I wanted a color scheme that was mainly green.
hmm, Analogous or mono-chromatic? I picked monochromatic.



then I wanted a desaturated look because I love desaturated colors. xD; I also darkened up the values.



and that's Aru. c:
I decided his eyes should be red because that's green's complement. The red offers an accent. c:

Remember skintones and earthtones too! the best way to come up with design colors is to just make a lot of different color palettes~ c8 use complementary colors for contrast and emphasis. Be sure to think about what colors you want to be dominant in your scheme, what colors are sub-dominant, and what accent you want.



alright so how do we COLOR with this?

well? to be continued! 8'D

c: coming soon!

okay, first have your picture done and save it as a Photoshop file, then you may have to get rid of a background and/or crop extra space that doesn't include your pet. o3o this'll make resizing less excruciating. xD

hahah, my picture is reaaaaly big.

then we need to flatten the image. C: uh, do what I do in the picture. |D



Now click 'Save for Web' C:



Now, click the 2-up tab so you can see the original picture versus the compressed version.
make sure you have JPEG selected if your picture is mine, but if it's cell shaded or mspaint-like you may want to use Gif. (underlined in red)
you'll probably have to make your image smaller, so that tab in green near the corner is where you click to do that.
*** Quality (underlined in blue) is what you mess with to compress your file without making the picture smaller, my quality is usually between 20-45, just so you know. |D
try to leave as much quality as you can without exceeding 19.5 K (you can see the size at the bottom, it's underlined in red.


****** THE ARROW IN THE CIRCLE BUTTON IS WHAT YOU CLICK. CLICK IT TO OPEN THE NEXT WINDOW PLEASE. ****
it is circled in red, and near the top right corner.



now click that arrow button. C: this window should appear:
**TYPE IN 19.5 NOT 20
make sure the first circle thing is selected, then click OK! 8D



and voila, as you can see, my picture is VERY icky, I need to make the actual size smaller.



There, I resized it, and it's ready for the BC.