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hi there. let's take a look at the hardware and software required to create
digital paintings.
first of all, you need a digital canvas to paint on.
most artists paint on a standard computer monitor
but I prefer to use a large HDTV.
this one is a 47" VIZIO.
if you're beginner, you probably don't need something this big, but I will recommend it
to artists who want to work on a more professional level. --- Why?
there's two distinct advantages. one is the size. it's way bigger
than your average computer monitor,
so you won't have to
zoom-in and zoom-out when you're working on something and pan around.
you can just work on it full size. there's plenty of room for all these palettes
and that's really nice.
also the color is very accurate.
I find that when I print work created on my HDTV, the color is very
consistent.
and it's important that your colors appear accurately on-screen because if they
don't, there's a good chance that when you make a print
it's not going to turn out the way you thought it was going to look.
the colors may shift
or it may be too dark or too light
and that would be no good.
in addition to the HDTV, I have a standard 21" monitor.
it comes in handy for storing windows, palettes and reference images.
I also use it to gauge and calibrate color for my prints by comparing one screen to
the other, I can get a feel for how each of my images will look in print and on the
average person's computer screen.
It's good to get a feel for both.
the second component you'll need is a computer.
you probably have a computer,
but unless it's fairly modern, it may not be capable of running
digital painting software effectively.
a lot of RAM memory and
CPU processor power are required to make digital art, so you might need to upgrade some
parts or maybe even buy a new system.
if that's the case, if you going to choose between Mac or PC,
go with the one you are more comparable operating
don't just buy a Mac because someone says a Mac is better
for graphic designer or art because that's not true at all.
I use both Mac and PC.
I'm more comfortable working on PC, so I'm not going to choose Mac just because somebody
tells me it's better. I mean
there's really no difference other than the operating system.
the hardware and software used in digital painting are compatible with both
Mac and PC, so you don't have to worry about that.
my current computer is a PC with Windows 7. It has a quad-core processor and
12 GB of RAM memory.
it runs Painter fairly smoothly except for when I use an extra-large canvas or extra-large
brushes, but
that would bog-down just about any computer.
in another video, I will go into more detail about other ways you can optimize
your computer for digital painting.
the third component needed
is a drawing tablet
like this one I have here.
and
the most popular brand
is "Wacom"
but you don't necessarily have to buy that brand. there's a lot of off-brands
you can get that are just as good.
this is a 9" x 12." I think it's good to have a large surface area
because you can do
broader, wider gestures.
it gives you more
space to move around
and I think that's better.
it doesn't have any fancy buttons or anything like some of the Wacom tablets do.
it doesn't have touch-pads
and all that stuff.
I don't think any of that stuff is necessary. I don't use it. you can use your mouse and keyboard to
navigate just fine, so don't spend extra money just to get all that stuff.
I would recommend getting at least 8" x 6" inch tablet
but if you want to start and get something smaller... or if you work from a laptop,
it might be better to start out with a smaller tablet.
I like to have options, so I have this smaller one that I use with my laptop
because it's really thin
and I can bring it with me.
it's not as comfortable to work on because you can see, in comparison to the
other tablet,
it's quite a bit smaller. so the surface is like
drawing on an envelope.
and then working on a laptop screen isn't always fun either.
once you get the pallets and everything,
there's not really much room to work.
I really prefer to work on a desktop if possible,
but if you have a laptop set up, that's fine too. you can still do digital painting.
a more powerful computer just means that
Corel Painter is going to respond a little bit faster.
If you're a patient person,
that doesn't matter. you can do digital painting just fine.
after you've got your tablet,
donates and is locatedyou'll need some digital painting software. I'm using Corel Painter 12,
but you can use other programs. there's a lot of free ones that are really good
ArtRage is very affordable and it has a lot of features that Painter doesn't.
I like it a lot.
Then, once you have your software installed
and
you have your tablet plugged in and hooked up,
you can start drawing.
anything you draw on your tablet here
is going to show up on the screen.
for instance...
I'll put some paint on here.
and the cool thing about this software
is that you can use just about any medium you want.
this is digital watercolor. if you watch, it's bleeding into
the paper texture.
it's a lot like working with real watercolor. it's really processor-intensive
so it works kind of slow,
but it's really fun to work with if you're patient,
it's a lot like working with real watercolor.
there's other media too. there's oils, chalk, pencils and acrylic.
pretty much anything. and you can mix them all together.
you don't have to clean up any mess. you don't have to buy any supplies and materials. it's all organized
in one place
and you can go in and just start working on it.
Whether or not you're an
experienced digital artist
or
you're new to it, or you've never made art at all (even with traditional media), this is something
really fun to check out. and it doesn't take that much to get into.
you probably have a computer, you just need to get a tablet; they're not that much.
and most of the tablets come with
free digital painting software trials
or you can download stuff online that's free that you can do digital paintings with.
so hopefully this gives you an idea of how you can get started doing it or
improve the setup that you have...
to step it up a notch and be more professional with your work.
As I mentioned before, I'm going to post another video about how to
optimize your computer with some more additional parts to make it work even faster
so stay tuned and thanks for watching.