The Energon Pub

Please use this thread to share some tips and tricks for drawing, sketching, inking, painting colouring ect...
anything you think might be helpful for others. You can also use this thread to ask for particular tips and tricks!

Nice idea Metal!

If people would be interested I could throw together a guide to drawing/inking/colouring with vector graphics in Adobe Flash?
I use a different way to draw digitally to how I draw on paper, which creates smoother line art and a much neater effect.
I'm sure plenty of people could do a much better guide to drawing traditionally or digitally with Photoshop (considering I don't use it).

Anyone interested?

This might help someone if they're penciling an outline. I alway put a scrap piece of paper underneath my drawing hand while working, that way I don't accidently smudge the pencil or ink as I work.

Like I said might help might not its more a personal thing I do.

Justicity wrote:Nice idea Metal!

If people would be interested I could throw together a guide to drawing/inking/colouring with vector graphics in Adobe Flash?
I use a different way to draw digitally to how I draw on paper, which creates smoother line art and a much neater effect.
I'm sure plenty of people could do a much better guide to drawing traditionally or digitally with Photoshop (considering I don't use it).

Anyone interested?

I would be very interested in this and would greatly appreciate you doing it!

brandon29 wrote:

Justicity wrote:Nice idea Metal!

If people would be interested I could throw together a guide to drawing/inking/colouring with vector graphics in Adobe Flash?
I use a different way to draw digitally to how I draw on paper, which creates smoother line art and a much neater effect.
I'm sure plenty of people could do a much better guide to drawing traditionally or digitally with Photoshop (considering I don't use it).

Anyone interested?

I would be very interested in this and would greatly appreciate you doing it!

One persons good enough for me ^^ Consider it done... Or at least doing.
It'll take a while so check back in a day or two.

Awesome! Thanks again for helping out!

I wouldn't mind people giving tips and recommendations for computer painting programmes, like which one seems to be the best.

For those not in the know: Non-photo blue colored pencils.

They blew my mind when I started using them. lol

it is a good idea, would help me much.

Use a Mechanical Pencil, you can get them for 20pence in some stores and they help, you can get all that small detail and big detail

Just Negare wrote:I wouldn't mind people giving tips and recommendations for computer painting programmes, like which one seems to be the best.

For drawing and painting on a computer, a vector-based program (as opposed to a pixel-based one) is undoubtedly the best. Vector-based programs include Adobe Illustrator and offer concepts like line correction and can be zoomed and unzoomed unlimited amounts without loss of quality.

I don't know if GIMP supports vector or not...

As for nice drawing supplies, try an old-fashioned drafting or architecture store rather than some ritzy art(see: Scrapbooking) store. You can find things like drafting pencils, led-holders (which also come in blue AND purple, which show up even less in copies and scans) in places like this often at better prices.

yo!
Im just now getting into the whole....trying to draw Gaint Robots of doom and awsumes, and anyone who has tips on how to go about tring to ease the way in would be well loved and sent fudge.... because my first attempt was fail of epic proportions.

And if I shouldn't post this here the forgive me and I'll find a way to get it off.....

All the same!

Also for coloring and or great line work and layers I say you should go with the SAI programe.... it is love and the blending is amazing, the colors are very very nice.

memoryless wrote:yo!
Im just now getting into the whole....trying to draw Gaint Robots of doom and awsumes, and anyone who has tips on how to go about tring to ease the way in would be well loved and sent fudge.... because my first attempt was fail of epic proportions.

And if I shouldn't post this here the forgive me and I'll find a way to get it off.....

All the same!

Also for coloring and or great line work and layers I say you should go with the SAI programe.... it is love and the blending is amazing, the colors are very very nice.

Hey, I'm pretty new to the whole thing, too, but I might be able to help a bit. I assume that, like me, you're designing stuff from scratch? The way I've gone about it is applying my knowledge of human drawing and adapting it into something new. Pick an alt-mode for your machine, first, then deconstruct it with some basic sketches, figuring out how it should transform into its robot mode. Your own TF collection should give you plenty of ideas on how this can be done and there's no shame in at least partially recycling a transformation method(HasTakomy does it all the time).

Once you do that, try sketching a better version of the robot mode on paper, then figure out all the smaller details.

Load it into a vector-based program to get kick-ass, smooth lines with the pen tool and finish it up!

Granted, this is mostly theoretical on my part, but I this is the method I use. Then again, I'm no expert. Hope this helps!

Kohdok wrote:
Your own TF collection should give you plenty of ideas on how this can be done and there's no shame in at least partially recycling a transformation method(HasTakomy does it all the time).


Load it into a vector-based program to get kick-ass, smooth lines with the pen tool and finish it up!

If only I had a TF colection that could help TT.TT I have a vast poor, my poor wallet is currently on life suport due to schooling and such.

Also a vector-bases progam I do not own, but thats okay! I am going to try and create one, so Im guessing stalking the galleries is in order! ( not that I don't already) and you did help! I have a hard time somtimes figuring out the easiest way to go about things, when morning comes around Ill prowl around a bit to find a model I want to start with =D

memoryless wrote:

Kohdok wrote:
Your own TF collection should give you plenty of ideas on how this can be done and there's no shame in at least partially recycling a transformation method(HasTakomy does it all the time).


Load it into a vector-based program to get kick-ass, smooth lines with the pen tool and finish it up!

If only I had a TF colection that could help TT.TT I have a vast poor, my poor wallet is currently on life suport due to schooling and such.

Also a vector-bases progam I do not own, but thats okay! I am going to try and create one, so Im guessing stalking the galleries is in order! ( not that I don't already) and you did help! I have a hard time somtimes figuring out the easiest way to go about things, when morning comes around Ill prowl around a bit to find a model I want to start with =D

Well, pixel-based programs can still use the Pen tool, it just lacks the finesse and control of a vector program. As for a TF collection, try lurking around E-bay. I just won a set of six transformers (One Deluxe, four minis, and a Go-Bot for good measure) for $8. It's possible to get lucky sometimes.

Hey all!

I'm having trouble with my basic sketching lately, which is particularly important because sketching is all I do(I have no idea how to use the drawing programs or have any of them anyways)...recently I keep running into the problem that I can only draw things good...but sort of small.
Any advice on just drawing things larger?

zenosaurus_x wrote:Hey all!

I'm having trouble with my basic sketching lately, which is particularly important because sketching is all I do(I have no idea how to use the drawing programs or have any of them anyways)...recently I keep running into the problem that I can only draw things good...but sort of small.
Any advice on just drawing things larger?

The human brain kinda normalises what we are drawing. Reduces it to how you view what your looking at, you have to force yourself to draw bigger and your brain will fight you all the way. You will have to keep practicing and train yourself to draw larger. A good thing you can do is take a step back from your work and view it from a distance every so often. Drawing larger is actually easier to correct if you make mistakes than if you draw small. Just keep practicing and practicing and it will eventually become second nature to you.

A great way to give your art some depth is shading. When one part overlaps another, add some shadow.

Just like this:

Instead of scanning a drawing into Photoshop, try taking a pic of it with a digicam on manner/ museum setting. Once in the computer, desaturate the drawing using Image> Adjustments> Desaturate. Once you do that, use Brightness/Contrast to adjust the lines so they are visible. Then, right-click the drawing and " layer from background" so you can work on it. Create a new layer, use the paint bucket to make it all white; this is so that way you can see your line work easier. Then, choose the select tool and unclick the "contiguous" box; this will allow the select tool to remove all the white spaces at once, rather than you picking it out one at a time. Finally, use the contrast. Brightness tool again to completely darken your image. Lock the line layer and LABEL it before any work, and make sure to create layers UNDER it so you can color, shade and highlight without ruining the line layer!

Tips I learned the hard way!

I use traditional methods for my drawing. A thick illustration board,regular rulers and triangles,a mechanical pencil with 2h lead (It's harder then HB and is great for fine details.) and Pentel Click Erasers.
I ink with Micron Inking pens.they are clean and sharp.I use brush and crowquill for organic things(Trees,humans,textures) with a very dark india ink.I learned alot of illustrating from comic pros in the past,so my techniques are old school but it works for me.

When I do TF art nowadays I usually begin with extensive studies of the character I want to draw. The galleries on here are a great place for that as you can find a lot of nice figures in a very varried amount of poses.

And also, like someone noticed above, non photo blue Pencil can be a lifesaver. But really any regular colored pencil can work well too. They are usually easy to erase and get covered up nicely by the inks in the end.

Usually I segment my sketches into different parts. Blue for the characters, red or yellow for any kind of fire/smoke/gunfire, and gray or brown for the background and ground if there's details on it. I find that this makes it easier when I go over it with my mechanical pencils and inks, especially since I ink in a rather specific way.

Also, if you have the opportunity get a light board. It really makes it easy for you if you're doing comics since then you can draw backgrounds on one piece of paper, put in on the light ing table and draw your characters on another piece of paper that you put on top of the first. Easy to past it all together on the computer later on.

That's what I can come up with right now, hope any of it helps.

What do you people use? I can't find anything good for me so I stick to Paint, is there anything better?

(Preferably free)

[BW] Rainmaker wrote:What do you people use? I can't find anything good for me so I stick to Paint, is there anything better?

(Preferably free)

If I'm not doing traditional I use a combination of Photoshop, Illustrator and Manga Studio, neither of them are free. But if you want to use something nice and free that works really well, I would suggest GIMP, almost as practical but a bit less useful for the really heavy artistic stuff. I use GIMP all the time when teaching art class, since it's free the students I work with also download and use it, very practical. Try it out.

Justicity wrote:

brandon29 wrote:

Justicity wrote:Nice idea Metal!

If people would be interested I could throw together a guide to drawing/inking/colouring with vector graphics in Adobe Flash?
I use a different way to draw digitally to how I draw on paper, which creates smoother line art and a much neater effect.
I'm sure plenty of people could do a much better guide to drawing traditionally or digitally with Photoshop (considering I don't use it).

Anyone interested?

I would be very interested in this and would greatly appreciate you doing it!

One persons good enough for me ^^ Consider it done... Or at least doing.
It'll take a while so check back in a day or two.

Justicity, please share with me your digital drawing knowledge! I just started digital drawing!

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