EDIT: 8/8/11
The final Image


Hello there
I was thinking about on how to make Krita bug testing and reporting more interesting. I decided to make a complete project from start to finish and share my own conclussions bugs, weird things and abnormal behaviours.

Also i would like to use this post as public post so, the image is open, CC 3.0 by. If you want experiment with it , you can do it freely.Also you can even change the drawing in any way.This way you don´t have to make an sketch for testing brushes for example. isn't it cool? you can test lighting, or whatever, the goal is to learn and share right?

for myself will be a challenge too. Chikita picture was fun but painted on a single layer so,not too much workflow there. in this case i am going to separate each step and save captures too. not really a tutorial but interesting for my own learning curve of krita .

I have no idea what time i am going to spend in this picture , but instead making more and more sketches i am going to try to make a "portfolio" image but done in Krita.

Any idea on how to make it more fun? i am open to suggestions. but remember this can be a long time project.now it is your turn.

so there we go...

Personally, what I think would be fun, would be if everyone took turns improving it. The rule would be that each artist can do whatever they like to the image, but that they have to start with what the last artist left them. Of course, this would make it not really your image any more, but maybe it could take place alongside your work on this image. It could be fun to compare the Ramon version of the painting with the "Entire Krita Artist Team" version at the end. lol. Maybe this thread should be titled "Ramon Vs The World"

Hi Kubuntiac,
This idea sounds great, it could be very very fun,. We could put the image .kra on a 4share service or something like that, this way we all would have the file.

Also we could make the sessions "timed" this way we wouldn´t waste too much time on the image.
1st round "xxx"
2nd round "yyy"
where "letters" are the painter.

If everybody agree we could make a list, and maybe another image also free with a voted theme (a girl, a dragon, still life , who knows). What do you think?

Well for the moment i have found some interesting things.
I began to sketch with not too much idea on what i want to draw, like doodling so i started my Krita and selected "sketch brush" . and Start to draw directly on the default layer.. BAD BOY! Use always new layer (transparent layer to make your sketches)left the first layer for color background
and be careful with backspace, this will fill your transparent layer with the BG color.



This image shows first stage of the sketch. you can see a preview of the layer hoovering your pointer over the layer dialog.
if the background of the layer is grey, that means it is transparent.

but imagine you have draw over a White filled layer by error.And then you make a mistake and need to erase a part. and get something like this.



the most easy way to fix that it is by creating a layer with the same color (white) under the Sketch layer and then combine them.(note that the layer preview is white, not grey.)

Happy sketching!

Yes, better always start drawing on a transparent layer.
But if you start drawing on a white layer anyway, just think about paint white instead of eraser mode to make corrections

By the way very nice sketch, and I like the idea to make a collaborative piece. I'll probably try to make something with it soon then…

Thanks Animtim, it will better if you contribute too. Next step is color .It is interesting how A bunch of brushstrokes can be enough to make an atmosphere. not really hard or difficult, they are only brushtrokes here and there with local color and a bit of shading.



But the "real" brushtrokes are here. If you hide the Original sketch, you see this.


What do you think about the colors, i have tried also "night" scheme wich is more dramatic but is cool. We can fix that easily by filters so for now i will stick to this scheme.

I am not a artist but i will be very interested in keeping up with what ya'll do with this sketch. This is a very intriguing thread. I really like what you did with the colors. I like the idea of each artist having to start with what the previous one did. I am sure that will lead to many interesting variations of the original sketch.

Today it is time for lighting effects. When i paint i usually use this technique to get a fast mood and atmosphere.

- Duplicate the layer that i want to affect by the "glow" effect.
- Select a mid-size brush with a dark color not too much saturated.
- Select the Blend mode "Addition" under "arithmetic" cathegory.



- Then i apply brushtrokes over the duplicate layer. this way we have the lighting in one layer but keeping the layer with local color only.



We can do the same with the shadows. Using "Substract" mode and it is very interesting because it doesn´t burn like "burn and dodge tool" which tends to make colors lifeless and flat. We can use the color wheel and a big range of color to get more interesting Shadows. just keep in mind that substract mode is not using the FG color,but the opposite on the wheel.
Lets take a look.



I see These modes are good and fun to use.Does anybody know another interesting blending modes for ligting? in another post i will talk about "Overlay" ,and "Soft light" modes

Let's go for shading a bit. as i am working in this piece i realized of two important things. I am painting much faster than i thought at the begining. that is good for production but not to teach things, so i have to have in mind "go slower". I paint in a lot of layers to show the process but sometimes my hand goes very fast so i paint too much, maybe , and the steps are not too much.

. and the second one is that as i am seeing my machine doesn´t go slower as i work. Krita is not killing my CPU. good.


Now i see the idea clearer. (at least in my mind)

RamonMiranda wrote:I see These modes are good and fun to use.Does anybody know another interesting blending modes for ligting? in another post i will talk about "Overlay" ,and "Soft light" modes

May be "Dodge" and "Burn" modes, and some other "Light" - "Hard", "Linear", "Vivid"...

Hello ALeXeY, "Hardlight" is also interesting. I find Burn and dodge not very good for me.When i was using them in PS , my pictures tends to be flats and dirty.

I am still working in thins picture refining shapes, with round basic brush. I have decided to make some sculptures on the wall to add more "Secret garden" feeling, They will be masks, and differents each other to add more interest to the picture , I am estill working on the flowers



I have start to see a lag sometimes, Krita stay frozen for a seconds and then runs smoothly again. i can´t predict when this happens but it is not very often. I have aprox 10 layers right now.

The next step will be redefine the wall and add basic shading to the sculptures. Stay tuned!

This part of the wall is finished so i can show you the end result. This is the level detail i want to achieve with Krita in this piece.

- Sketch brush over a "mid detailed textured" wall.
- Shading to achieve volumes and more definition.
- Detais everywhere! having in mind that light cames from the left, i work each part as a block.

hope you like it. This stage is time consuming, but the 100% image is just a bunch of brushtrokes overlapped. as you can see here

The Puppet!
Wow lot of time painting in session. too much for posting..but finally i have decided to make a bunny as a puppet because i have reserved the other puppet design for another illustration for kids.. In this case it is a cute Bunny. hope you like it too. Next stage the girl.and her Infernal clothes.



The lag problem is still there although i have simplified my file deleting all layers except 2. (of course it is a different file).

see you

I have noticed weird aliasing in small brush sizes. Take a look in the red circles.The brush it is an autobrush at 5px size. (multiplier 1) the same brush at 25 px is ok antialiased. Do you notice something like that . The Picture work size is Din A4. Any suggestions?

Yes, aliasing... And it really depends not size but hardness - try with hard pixel brush of size 25 or bigger. (With soft brush it's just not so noticeably)

Also, I checked (no carefully enough) other brush engines. It's seems that Sketch has good anti-aliasing, while Particle has some problem as a Pixel brush. The Hairy brush produce aliasing by default, but it have "Anti-aliasing" option, I turn it on and it's OK.