Drawing on a USB tablet can be challenging. Especially if you're used to drawing on paper, it's likely that your sketched lines are less confident than you'd like. This video offers a solution!
]]>In order to add details to a simplified 'dress-form' under drawing, you need to know how to think in proper 3D. This short video explains the importance of following the surface contours of your 3D form.
]]>In a bit of a technical snafu, this was supposed to be video #1 which I played on Tuesday. Oh well! This video introduces the film studies series, and explores a fundamental preparatory step: capturing stills.
]]>CtrlPaint - Film Studies: Capture from matt kohr on Vimeo.
I love watching movies. Sometimes, though, they can offer more than just entertainmt. This is the first entry in the "Film Studies" series, in which we'll dissect film stills to learn useful composition skills for illustration. So go grab a movie, and let's chop it up!
]]>Sometimes the basic hard round brush leaves your lines feeling... flat. If you want to throw in some quick pencil texture at the end of a digitla sketch, Photoshop makes it easy! This video is not a replacement for custom brushes, but it works well in a pinch.
Note: In the video I use the 'Multiply" blending mode, though sometimes others are more effective. Overlay is a nice alternative depending on the value range of your texture image.
]]>Beyond that, the re-design has been delayed a bit by the medical incident - but it's still in the works. Keeping the weekly free videos running is priority #1, but the re-design is a close second.
I want to thank everyone once again the the patience, comments, and support - you've really helped me through all of this.
]]>Cool stuff coming up – I am psyched to say that I’m re-designing ctrl+Paint. We’ve all seen that it’s getting cumbersome to navigate through the backlog of videos. If you’re worried that things are going to change around here… you don’t need to. I’m not putting in any ads. There is only one goal with the re-design: I want ctrl+Paint to be easier to use. Period.
Going all-in – Ctrl+Paint has been an experiment with a simple thesis: beginners need a good resource for digital painting, and people are willing to pay for what they value. That was the theory. One year in, I can say that my hunch was spot on! You guys are amazing. As a result, I’ve dramatically reduced my freelance work to make Ctl+Paint as great as it can be. Doing so has meant a drop in income. Keeping the quality bar high, and re-designing the site, is expensive. In a very real sense, the Ctrl+Paint store keeps the site alive.
How to help - Without telling you too much about my medical setback, I can say that it's going to be pretty expensive for me. It’s possible that I’ll need to ‘get a real job’ again (video games, etc) in order to pay these unexpected bills… which would put Ctrl+Paint into jeopardy. I want to put more energy into Ctrl+Paint, not less. So if you’ve been considering buying the videos in the store, now would be a great moment. Any money raised right now will go directly into putting my life back together and ensuring the future of the site.
Bottom line - Ctrl+Paint is incredibly meaningful for me. I’d rather make free videos for you guys than have a full-time video game job, So let’s work together towards that goal. Thanks for everything, and I can’t wait to show you the ctrl+Paint 2.0!
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