photoshop experts?

[Shia Kyosuka]

Because I know you guys exist, here!

I'm going to attempt to get back into photoshop art, but, before I do, I'll need a coloring style that'll be taken seriously.

A sort of... painted style.

something like this: http://img213.echo.cx/img213/6746/megaman20zero2022020cool20wall.jpg

or this:

http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h202/MATT__ISHIDA1183/Megaman20Zero20Wallpaper.jpg

or maybe even this:

http://christiananime.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=26062

So, how do I start it?

outline, and use the wand tool? Soften the brush tool to 0%?

At least teach me the basics of a painting style. I need to know how! o.o

[samuraidragon]

Sorry, my expertise in Photoshop isn't in this field.

[Dante]

That pic is particularly decieving... It seems simple, but there the evil is in the details you don't notice conciously! My suggestion,

http://www.tutorialized.com

http://www.good-tutorials.com

These have some great photoshop tutorials things such as textures and special effects which you can have a great time with!

[Jingo Jaden]

http://www.webdesign.org

I found some areas there ^^

[Radical Dreamer]

I have a fantastic and amazing tutorial for you. It taught me how to paint in Photoshop like this: http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y185/RurouniKaoru/SeptemberEntry--finished.jpg

It's a VERY helpful and easy-to-use tutorial.

http://www.deviantart.com/view/21024511/

Good luck, and enjoy!

EDIT: The style he uses for the tutorial is a bit different from the one you seem to be looking for, but you can get the basics here, and play around with it to fit your design from there.

[mechana2015]

How I would (try to) replicate these.
The megaman pieces:

Use lots of layers or really get a sequence of art down if you plan to use one layer. Second block in main bacground colors. Start using selecions to color in lights and shadows Use masking or gradients for the fading light effects. Another thing to question though is if these were, indeed, digitally colored. They look like alcahol based marker to me...not digi.

The catgirl:
Definately digital. Could have used some real clouds for the background but most of it is just very detailed and careful brushing and coloring, probably with a tablet pen. One (unfortunate) thought is that its a combination of photoshop and Corel Painter, which allows for more paint like effects.

http://jajatom.moo.jp/E-top/E-frame.html <This is the beginning of a tutorial/process record for one of the better color illustrators in manga for one of the covers. All digital.

[Photosoph]

Great hints, Mechana. ^_^

A lot of layers definitely help you to separate into coloured-blocks, then play around with them with the dodge and burn tools, add different colours/light/shade with a soft-edged brush, and do filtered effects. They also allow you to concentrate on inidividual areas; especially since if you Cntrl+click the layer, it'll select everything in that layer and you can colour without fear of going over borders/outlines.

I'd definitely suggest checking out the tutorials posted. A lot of the things I've learned have become intuitive, since I've played around with photoshop and read different tutorials/pieces of advice over the years and it's pretty much natural to me now. I'm still far from being as good as the above photoshop artists who drew those pics you posted, though.

But sometimes if you use a large-sized dodge/burn tool with low exposure, you can build up the shading; also, if you play around with the shadows/highlights/medium settings, you'll find that one will shade/lighten towards white or black, while the other will shade/lighten towards a color -e.g, a green or orange if you're using it on yellow. While using the dodge/burn tools are great for getting used to shading, and for relatively easy shading and highlighting, it's suggested by other people, and I agree, that you can get better shading and highlighting if you use the brush tool effectively.

Playing around with the opacity of brushes, different layers and effects can all help you to learn more about photoshop and how to create textures and a style you like. Again, I suggest looking at those tutorials. Then play around with what they teach you, and just keep practicing in photoshop, to learn how to create the sort of effects/the sort of style that you like.

Sorry that I don't have more advice; I'm still learning about photoshop myself, and looking at tutorials too.

I hope you get the sort of answers that you're looking for in this thread.

[Debitt]

Thirding the advice for a lot of layers! Working by creating different layers for the base color, then the shadows, then the darker shadows, then the hilights and so on and so forth helps the colors you put down seem softer like in the pictures you posted. :3 It takes a bit to get used to keeping track of all the layers, but it's worth it.

Also, work slowly! Someone else already said that digital painting looks deceptively easy, and it's true. :O If you try to rush things, or find ways to cut corners, things can get hairy. One method that takes a while but yields good results is to use a big, soft brush set at 20-30% opacity. It takes a long time to achieve the shades you want and at the beginning it might not even look like you're doing anything, but it really can get you the painted feel you're looking for!

The dodge/burn tool set to 10-20% works well, but I'd also reccommend trying to hilight/shade by opening up the pallette and picking slightly lighter or slightly darker colors. :3 That way you won't just be darkening the colors, you can add different colors or tints to your work. For example, you could do something like this: http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b127/getbacker_kanchan/Aster-akachancolor-2.jpg (^^; I only colored, Aka-chan did the gorgeous line art)