{"id":815632,"date":"2024-02-26T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-02-26T17:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/?p=815632"},"modified":"2024-02-22T11:27:36","modified_gmt":"2024-02-22T19:27:36","slug":"painting-tips-digital-artists-proko-pt2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/painting-tips-digital-artists-proko-pt2\/","title":{"rendered":"Painting tips for digital artists from Proko, Part Two"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Over the years, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.proko.com\/\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.proko.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Proko<\/a> has grown from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@ProkoTV\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@ProkoTV\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">a Youtube channel<\/a> primarily featuring founder <a href=\"https:\/\/stanprokopenko.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Stan Prokopenko<\/a> to an art education empire with 116 instructors. The phenomenal concept artist <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jonneimeister.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Jon Neimeister<\/a>, artist behind the below tutorial, is one of them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In this two-part series, he gives advice to aspiring artists on their own monochrome studies and overpaints their work. He covers four students&#8217; work in total across the series\u2019 two parts. This is Part Two; <a href=\"https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/painting-tips-digital-artists-proko-pt1\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">click here to see Part One<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n<div style=\"height:20px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:20px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe title=\"Painting Tips for Digital Artists PART 2\" width=\"1080\" height=\"608\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/rL7iHnF6ryI?feature=oembed\"  allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n<div style=\"height:20px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:20px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">To begin Part Two, Neimeister critiques the students\u2019 layer organization as well as their use of light and shadow. It starts with a study by \u201cChris:\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"429\" src=\"https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/40\/2024\/02\/7-Painting-Tips-for-Digital-Artists-PART-2-0-21-screenshot.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-815634\" title=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/40\/2024\/02\/7-Painting-Tips-for-Digital-Artists-PART-2-0-21-screenshot.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/40\/2024\/02\/7-Painting-Tips-for-Digital-Artists-PART-2-0-21-screenshot-980x411.jpg 980w, https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/40\/2024\/02\/7-Painting-Tips-for-Digital-Artists-PART-2-0-21-screenshot-480x201.jpg 480w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 0px) and (max-width: 480px) 480px, (min-width: 481px) and (max-width: 980px) 980px, (min-width: 981px) 1024px, 100vw\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>L to R, original photo, grayscale conversion, then painting.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Chris, he says, has done a great job not just separating the dark clothes from the light skin and background, but his layer structure is on point too, with him keeping the body, hair, clothing, and hat all on their own layers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">One issue, however, is that he\u2019s only painted the hair up to where the arm covers it. That works in this piece, but if he wanted to adjust the arm\u2019s position later, this would leave a big gap in the painting.\u00a0Instead, Neimeister suggests, one way he could solve this is by painting the entirety of the hair, including what\u2019s not visible, on a separate layer, then using a layer mask to block out the areas of hair that are covered by the arm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The other way Chris could handle it is to create a separate layer for every part of the image, meaning not just a separate one for the main swath of hair, but one for the face, and another for the bit of hair that falls behind the face. He\u2019d paint the hat and the clothing on layers above that, then finally the arm and sword on a layer above all of them since they overlap everything.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" src=\"https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/40\/2024\/02\/8-Painting-Tips-for-Digital-Artists-PART-2-0-21-screenshot.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-815635\" title=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/40\/2024\/02\/8-Painting-Tips-for-Digital-Artists-PART-2-0-21-screenshot.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/40\/2024\/02\/8-Painting-Tips-for-Digital-Artists-PART-2-0-21-screenshot-980x551.jpg 980w, https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/40\/2024\/02\/8-Painting-Tips-for-Digital-Artists-PART-2-0-21-screenshot-480x270.jpg 480w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 0px) and (max-width: 480px) 480px, (min-width: 481px) and (max-width: 980px) 980px, (min-width: 981px) 1024px, 100vw\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>His breakdown of where he\u2019d divide up the layers.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This might seem like a lot of work across too many layers, but for more complicated characters and poses, \u201cyou\u2019ll often have to start adjusting your posing and your proportions to get things to look right, especially if you\u2019re working from imagination.\u201d&nbsp; So having the parts on separate layers will save you a lot of time having to repaint things compared to if multiple elements are painted onto the same layer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Next up are three assignments from \u201cNicole:\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" src=\"https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/40\/2024\/02\/9-Painting-Tips-for-Digital-Artists-PART-2-4-17-screenshot.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-815636\" title=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/40\/2024\/02\/9-Painting-Tips-for-Digital-Artists-PART-2-4-17-screenshot.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/40\/2024\/02\/9-Painting-Tips-for-Digital-Artists-PART-2-4-17-screenshot-980x551.jpg 980w, https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/40\/2024\/02\/9-Painting-Tips-for-Digital-Artists-PART-2-4-17-screenshot-480x270.jpg 480w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 0px) and (max-width: 480px) 480px, (min-width: 481px) and (max-width: 980px) 980px, (min-width: 981px) 1024px, 100vw\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Overall, he says, her paintings are really good, which they are: \u201cYou\u2019ve got a great grasp on your value control and are very clearly separating your light and your dark shapes, which makes these super easy to read.\u201d He also compliments her layer structures and how she\u2019s separated every element of the characters onto their own layers.\u00a0He dedicates the rest of the video to her first study:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" src=\"https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/40\/2024\/02\/10-Painting-Tips-for-Digital-Artists-PART-2-5-14-screenshot.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-815637\" title=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/40\/2024\/02\/10-Painting-Tips-for-Digital-Artists-PART-2-5-14-screenshot.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/40\/2024\/02\/10-Painting-Tips-for-Digital-Artists-PART-2-5-14-screenshot-980x551.jpg 980w, https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/40\/2024\/02\/10-Painting-Tips-for-Digital-Artists-PART-2-5-14-screenshot-480x270.jpg 480w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 0px) and (max-width: 480px) 480px, (min-width: 481px) and (max-width: 980px) 980px, (min-width: 981px) 1024px, 100vw\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Unlike previous studies, instead of advising her to follow the reference more closely, he suggests she deviate a little more from it for the sake of a stronger composition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He starts with the arm. The folds on the sleeve are too contrasty, he says, creating a distraction.\u00a0And although that\u2019s how it is on the reference, she can paint more shadow over them to make them stand out less. The upper arm also appears too flat, so she should \u201cput a little less emphasis on the folds of the fabric and a little more on the cylinders of the arm.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"507\" src=\"https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/40\/2024\/02\/11-before-and-after.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-815638\" title=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/40\/2024\/02\/11-before-and-after.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/40\/2024\/02\/11-before-and-after-980x485.jpg 980w, https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/40\/2024\/02\/11-before-and-after-480x238.jpg 480w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 0px) and (max-width: 480px) 480px, (min-width: 481px) and (max-width: 980px) 980px, (min-width: 981px) 1024px, 100vw\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>Before and after<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">His next lesson is one in subtle shape design, as demonstrated by the clothing folds, which he then critiques. This one, he says, is \u201ctoo parallel and even.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-medium\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"600\" height=\"600\" src=\"https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/40\/2024\/02\/12-arrow-600x600.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-815639\" title=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/40\/2024\/02\/12-arrow-600x600.jpg 600w, https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/40\/2024\/02\/12-arrow-480x480.jpg 480w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 0px) and (max-width: 480px) 480px, (min-width: 481px) 600px, 100vw\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Although it\u2019s accurate to the reference, it\u2019s too boxy for his liking. So he tapers the bottom, turning it into a triangular shape.\u00a0 She also hasn\u2019t fully captured the cast shadow falling over the arm, so he paints a darker value over the armpit to complete it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In addition, he suggests deviating from the reference on the side of the shirt that\u2019s cast into shadow. Although she\u2019s captured it correctly, she could achieve a more atmospheric effect by darkening it so that it fades more into the background.\u00a0 Same with the bottom of the pant legs, to emphasize their cylindrical shape as they tuck into the boots.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n<div style=\"height:20px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:20px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns are-vertically-aligned-center is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-8f761849 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-vertically-aligned-center is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:20%\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/40\/2023\/02\/122327894_191048765808067_3200444786692052491_n-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"proko logo\" class=\"wp-image-808892\" title=\"Proko logo\"\/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-vertically-aligned-center is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:80%\">\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Want to learn more?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">To see more of Jon Neimeister\u2019s work, check out his&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.jonneimeister.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">website<\/a>&nbsp;or&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Andantonius\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Twitter.<\/a>&nbsp;If you\u2019re interested in expanding your digital painting skills even further, consider taking a full course from Proko.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This lesson is part of the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.proko.com\/course\/digital-painting-fundamentals\/lessons\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Digital Painting Fundamentals course<\/a>\u00a0taught by Neimeister, but Proko has\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.proko.com\/browse\/all\/courses\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">tons of courses<\/a>\u00a0by instructors such as\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.proko.com\/@stan\/activity\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Stan Prokopenko<\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.proko.com\/@marcobucci\/activity\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Marco Bucci<\/a>, and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.proko.com\/@aquatictrent\/activity\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Trent Kaniuga<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In this two-part series from Proko, Jon Neimeister gives advice to aspiring artists on their monochrome studies and overpaints their work.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":815640,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2317,2338],"tags":[2571,170],"class_list":["post-815632","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-digital-drawing-painting","category-how-to","tag-jon-neimeister","tag-proko"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/815632","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=815632"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/815632\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/815640"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=815632"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=815632"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=815632"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}