[evil dead]

Well like the title says I have a question about digital art. I draw the artwork for our show posters and t-shirts in my local club. I will do the drawing, add colour (that's how we Canadians spell it) and then... I take it to someone else to digitize and render for the poster or shirt. My question is how do I go about learning to do this myself so I can render my own hand drawn images? I am not trying to be a control freak (well...) but I do want to be involved in it all. I am not as savy as it may seem with the technology and would like to find a way to not stray too far from a pen and paper style interface, I am rambling now...


So what do you use and how do you do it?

[evil dead]

so here is an example,

photo (taken at the A+W cruise night last year)


sketching


colour


and I am waiting on the digital rendering now

[stich626]

can't you just scan it with a good scanner..

[JBdesign]

I agree, scanning this in at a high resolution (300dpi or higher) will be perfectly fine for printing on posters. You will have to do some colour correction, but that's very easy with most imaging software. If you really wanted to learn how to do it yourself, there are hundreds of tutorials out on the net. Just try searching how to paint in Photoshop, guaranteed you will find how to video's on YouTube or step by step examples. A cheap tablet such as a Wacom Bamboo would be more then enough to start learning, and with practice it wont take long before you can translate your already good traditional skills to digital. Hope that helps.

[evil dead]

Thank you, actually it does help quite a bit. I have a friend who has offered to show me around MSPaint for some of it. he seems to do well with it. And thanks for the suggestion on the tablet, they seem reasonable enough to just play with. I apreciate it

[JBdesign]

Your welcome. I would stay away from MS Paint at all costs. Ms Paint is not proper imaging software to be used for printed media. Although you can get nice results from that software you have to remember its just free software Microsoft designed for people to have fun with back when Windows first started. I suggest you try to get a copy of Photoshop Elements, which is the more basic version of Photoshop, retail's for around $100 Canadian. Well worth it if you want to keep doing the work yourself and create professional results. Ms Paint is a good way to get started as many of the same tools can be found in Photoshop, just depends on how much time and money you want to dedicate to your process.

[evil dead]

Well after a lot of back and forth with the T-shirt place this is the end result. This file also goes to the poster shop

[StudebakerMatt]

I use mostly photoshop for mine. I have painter12 but it is taking a while to figure out. A tablet is a good idea as well, but I did it for a while without one. Lots of good help on youtube for sure.

[66SSImp454]

I am just getting in to digital art. My intention is different than yours as I want to take a picture and doctor it up so I have some sort of blueprint of what I am building.

I am very new to photoshop, but there is a bunch of stuff out there to help you learn it; youtube, books, this place. Reading your post, I would suggest scanning the image in and learn photoshop. I found it intimidating at first with unlimited possiblity, but I found it kinda easy to pick up and obviously hard to master. I learn every time I use it and it gives me something to do when the garage is too cold. You may be able to get to the point with a tablet to draw your image right to photoshop. I don't use the tablet a lot, but is pretty cool and handy.

[nine4gmc]

I see a lot of different size Wacom tablets, any certain preference for you guys?

[hotrodrendering]

I use Sketchbook Pro and Sketchbook Designer, Sketchbook Pro is $80 us, designer $450 Like the name implies, you do your sketches in it. I also use Photoshop elements fo layout. Both of those programs will teach you the basics of digital drawing.
As far as the tablet, I learned the old school way, drawing on velum sheets 24" long, so I don't draw small, I use a wacom intous 3 tablet, about $400 us. The drawing area is about 11 x 14 inches. I also use a wacom tablet at work. I had a tablet computer that I liked because you sketched directly on the screen, but they are small screens for me.
Look on amazon for drawing tablets and you will get the full selection. Make sure you read what they are compatiable with and the pressure sensitivity of the pen, that makes a world of difference when you are using it as an airbrush.
You can see my work on flickr, search for hotrodrendering (one word) if you want to see some examples.