The Fuery,
layer masking:
using adobe photoshop, in order to stay inside the lines when I color, I use the magic selection tool and click next to the line art, the whole picture should be selected, then i right click and in that menu I click on "select inverse" that should now have your character selected, then on the right on the layers menu and preview window, at the bottom is a square with a circle. click that and your line art now has a layer mask, click back on the layer you masked and start coloring without going out of the lines!

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one day i will find out how to have a LINK to my gallery

Very Cool Idea
Johndowson
Traditional Art - drawing

When you draw something, I think is really useful at a certain point of the process to reverse the paper, put it on a light source and look at your work as it shoud be if mirrored. Than you can start drawing it again. It is really a simple thing to do, but it helps a lot to detect errors and anatomy mistakes, because you can look at your pic from a different point of view. It is even possible to scan it and tha reverse it with PS.
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--
Envy is the soul cancer.
L’invidia è il cancro dell’anima.

AlsoBroken said:

Shading-
"Be careful with that burning and dodging. Changes your colors too much for my liking. You're better off making a new multiply layer, grabbing a very dark blue color and painting shadows on with a low opacity brush.
Then flatten and blend with surrounding colors with a big, soft brush again at a low opacity."
..thanks for your contribution John Clementi

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<sub>"Zero is for the weak, infinite is for the brave"

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Maestro Tomberi

Zoom lights:

For any layer you want to add it specifically a zoom light, copy it, apply to it radial blur --> Zoom at max of quality and amount. (After this, you may duplicate this resulting layer and merge it with the previous one due to it transparence).

Apply a bit of gaussian blur, enough to make disappear the graininess, and place this layer above of the original one and in the center of it. Turn the layer lighting mode into "Dodge" and you'll have a very nice zoom light.

More in the future...

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Become a winner --> [link]

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larafairie (larajade)

photography: experimentation is the key to your style, practice always makes perfect. Never be totally satisfied with what you do, always try to push yourself and your horizons.

--

_{Lara Jade.
larajadephotography@gmail.com
l a r a j a d e . c o . uk}

ReallyReallyBigBang

Dream-like shading:

Try starting on a very dark background and drawing entirely with airbrush. Pick a harsh light source right off the bat and lay down hard details with a high opacity in the order of brightness (a quick initial sketch in another layer may be necessary.) Add reflective highlights with a lower opacity and fill some of the mass in with a very low opacity. Make sure to leave some some of the form untouched to create proximity. Highlight with dodge if you want, but generally avoid any shading on the bulk or near the reflective highlight. Continue layering with a high opacity if the image is too hazy and avoid using lines except for shading's sake. You should wind up with a dreamlike image which makes realism irreverent.

Fox-Dev

Proportions:

This may be sort of basic, but none the less I seem to be asked this question all the time. Not to mention we all start somewhere. People don't realize that stick figures have proportions. If you're having issues getting lengths and sizes down, draw stick figures in various poses. Trust me...if something's too short or too long, you'll see it. Not only does it help with proportions, but with different poses as well. Assuming you realize the knee doesn't normally bend backwards.

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Foxy: Kitten fell off the planet again.
Kitten: Not really, just...thinking how odd all you are.
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--- Beware The Ninja Kitten KittySilver! ---

CrocsaberSG12

On the use of Prismacolors or wooden colored pencils:

NEVER use two very similar colors. They get lost. Also, try to do the highlights before shading and colouring since erasing can be quite the drag, specially if you have an oaf of an eraser.

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Treat others like you'd like to b-
OH SHUT UP AND EAT YOUR LEMON!
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Gunner Romantic

said:

Painting in Photoshop:

If you're using a tablet, set your brushes to 100% Opacity, 10% Flow, and opacity variation by Pen Pressure. This will make blending colors smoothly, à la Painter, quite easy. To add additional painterliness to your work, have one finger over the eyedropper hotkey (usually I) at all times. Constantly pick up and paint with different colors from your canvas as you blend. This lends a degree of opacity, randomness and "weight" to the blended colors that you probably wouldn't get otherwise.

thank you Gunner Romantic

--
<sub>"Zero is for the weak, infinite is for the brave"

!| My Gallery | MY Journal Project |!</sub>