Articles by Vyoma

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There is thing thought that being creative is to be without bounds; without constraints.

I have learned, dabbling with visual art that constraints can actually be a good tool towards bringing out your creativity.

To illustrate, consider a blank canvas, or a white paper. You want to draw anything that fancies your mind. I used to get myself into such a situation, and in the end would get quite frustrated with myself. It is when I put myself against challenges (like the Monster A Day challenge) that learned that I can be more creative. I get more subjects to study, more avenues to pursue.

Owing to this realization, I have been putting constraints within which I would work. Consider the field of digital art. It is a sub-category within visual arts, but it definitely cannot be called a niche. So as I worked on it, I though of focusing only on digital paiting and vector illustration. As I was working on different works on those styles (or mediums), certain subjects and underlying techniques seemed to appear.

Some of the subject studies I worked on, grew quite extensive. For example, check out the Dragon Workshop and the Peacock Workshop pages. Considering the subject matter, I have been able to study them in both the styles/mediums of my choice. I know there is quite more I can do, and in pursuit of that, I have realized the underlying principle that would be key to both digital painting and vector illustrations – that is drawing or depiction of forms using lines.

Effectively, by using constraints I have been able to expand to other techniques and styles strategically.

Though I was doing this subconsciously, it was not until recently as I have been discussing these techniques with others, that I realized this.

So, do not think of constraints as hindrance to your creativity. Leverage them effectively and you can use them as a tool to learn more.

  • Software: GIMP or Adobe Photoshop
  • Level: Intermediate
  • Subject: Glowing Objects – Lightning

This tutorial is a short one, but would be explaining an intermediate level of digital painting technique. It is a walkthrough of painting a lightning against a moderately dark plain sky. Once you understand the technique, you should be able to apply the same technique for painting variations in the subject – sparkles, energy beams, or light sabers.

When painting a glowing energy streak – remember to choose a color palette that is contrasting in terms of value. You may want to choose contrasting color too to help in composition of the piece but may not be always possible (it would be weird to draw a blue colored flame).

Painting Glowing Object - Lightning - 1

For this example, I used a moderately dark blue for the sky. It is just not possible to get the right effect of a lightning against a white background.

Painting Glowing Object - Lightning - 2

This step might seem a bit counter-intutive. Use a soft edged round brush, take a color even darker than the background and paint over the area roughly where you would be painting the lightning. Even it the lighting seems to glow, to achieve a bright effect, putting an even darker background helps achieve the contrast.

Painting Glowing Object - Lightning - 3
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Mumbai Firemen

Dedicated to the lives lost, those of the civilians and the public service personnel like policemen, firemen and armed forces of India, in the Mumbai attacks of 26 November.

An A4 size painting at 300 dpi in portrait layout, done using GIMP and Wacom Intuos3. Check out the deviantART entry – Mumbai Firemen – for a larger view.

Illustrate A Peacock

  • Software: Inkscape (or Adobe Illustrator)
  • Level: Advanced
  • Subject: Peacock

Peacock Workshop [Hide/Show]

In this tutorial, we would do a walkthrough of illustrating a vector artwork of a peacock. Much of the techniques mentioned in the other peacock tutorials here would be used.

Drawing

Illustrate A Peacock - 00

I used GIMP to do a rough work, but you can use any other tool that you find comfortable sketching. See Drawing A Standing Peacock for a detailed tutorial.

Illustrate A Peacock - 01

After we get the form of the peacock, a little work on the details is done to get the idea of how much detail we want to put into the vector artwork in the end.

Illustrate A Peacock - 02

Basic Form

At this point in time, I import the PNG file into Inkscape and get the rough outline form of the peacock. If you had done the sketch/lineart on paper, you can scan it in using a scanner and import into Inkscpae.

Illustrate A Peacock - 03

Make further shapes, to block out the different areas and depth using the lineart as a guide. Take extra care to layer them from back to front. A little bit of planning goes a long way when the amount of detailing is going to be quite complex.

Illustrate A Peacock - 04
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