Digital Painting technique

Tutorial here

My work in progress trying to use this method of digital painting.

Very time consuming but with practise, I think the results could be very good. 

Reminds me of the kind of artwork used for games.

Elle Wills

Brisbane based artist/tattoo apprentice

Another artist I came across on Instagram - a really useful way to stay up to date with other creative types.

When I first saw her work I was blown away by the amount of detail she managed to show just using a pencil.

I think it's amazing what kind of visual impact you can create just using a pencil and hard work.

In OUIL403 Studio Brief 4, I realised I was really struggling with the human form, realism and what seemed like basic shading to me. Outside of my projects I decided to try and tackle this issue and really work on creating some more reaslistic images.

To begin with, I simply typed into Google, 'Drawing realism'

This was the first page I looked at - basic steps and materials I'd need. I found it really useful to go back to the basics and get myself in the right mindset for learning how to do this - after reading this tutorial, I started to use tissue paper to blend my pencil and the results were so much better. 

I also took a tip from Elle Wills and scaled up my drawings so it would be easier to draw in the detail.

I used an eye as my first subject as I have always struggled with getting them to look realistic. Used a photo as reference.

A3 Portrait of Bryan Cranston, work in progress.

So far, I have found it difficult to draw the texture of the skin and find myself going back and adding little bits of detail. Pleased with progress so far.

Adrian Baxter

Freelance illustrator

Works primarily in black and white - however does use broken colour sometimes

Uses very fine lines, crosshatching and stippling to show detail

Most of Baxter's work is commissioned for things such as album artwork and I think the signs/imagery is very fitting. 

My favorite thing about his work is the detail. I know these pieces aren't all especially big - usually no larger than A3, so the detail will be a long and careful process. This is something I'd like to incorporate into my own work to give it more depth and texture. 

Mikaela Jane

Mikaela Jane is an artist I have been following on Instagram for almost two years and was one of the first artists that I really paid attention to their techniques. 

Although she calls herself an illustrator, most of her work is just portraiture and doesn't communicate anything other than her skill with stippling. 

Each piece is created with dots using fine liners.

Her more recent work doesn't show any pen outlines - the stippling shows all the information of the image. This is a technique I am really interested in developing and I love the amount of time and effort used is really visible in the piece.