Digital Character Design and Painting: The Photoshop CS Edition (Graphics Series) (Charles River Media Graphics) [Paperback]

Don Seegmiller (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1584503408 | ISBN-13: 978-1584503408 | Publication Date: August 2004 | Edition: BK&CD-ROM

Digital Character Design and Painting: The Photoshop? CS Edition, is a completely updated version of this beautifully illustrated, full-color book. In the first edition, users learned digital skills using Corel? Painter(TM) but in this edition, all the techniques have been updated and modified for use with Photoshop CS. The book provides a unique combination of ideas and techniques that teach both the fundamentals of character design and the skills of digital painting. It explores the key principles of design and teaches conventional artists how to enhance their traditional skills and transfer them to the Web, computer/video games, commercials, and film production work. Using a variety of tutorials and exercises, artists employ Photoshop CS to learn the techniques, methods, and artistic theory of digital painting. They explore how to create images that will be viewed in two dimensions, but actually look three-dimensional. And, they work through detailed projects on sketching, color theory, lighting, and texturing, along with specific techniques for trees and foliage, eyes, faces, hair, clothing, and fur. Using the practical ideas and techniques covered here, artists learn how to create and beautifully illustrate their own life-like or fantasy characters for games, movies, and other commercial productions.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Don Seegmiller is a very successful artist, author, and instructor. He has a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree and teaches senior-level illustration, traditional head painting, figure drawing, and digital painting courses at a variety of schools. He worked for six years as art director for Saffire Corporation, is a regular speaker at the game Developers Conference, and was the keynote speaker at the American Association of Medical Illustrators convention in 2003. He is the author of the first edition of this book, the Painter edition, and co-author of Mastering Digital 2D and 3D Art with Les Pardew. His work is also featured in The Painter 6 Wow Book, The Painter 7 Wow Book, Electronic Step-by-Step Design, Spectrum 7, Spectrum 8, and it has also been on display at Wadle Galleries of Santa Fe since 1981.

Product Details

• Paperback: 377 pages
• Publisher: Charles River Media; BK&CD-ROM edition (August 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1584503408
• ISBN-13: 978-1584503408
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #608,550 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars hardcore painting, December 11, 2004

By 

erik turchin (Pittsburgh, PA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Digital Character Design and Painting: The Photoshop CS Edition (Graphics Series) (Charles River Media Graphics) (Paperback)

Powerful Photoshop brushes on display here. Brushes may very well be the #1 feature of photoshop, and at the same time, the least known and used by many. I got this book because basically brushes were the final "unexplored frontier" for me in photoshop. I also got it because I thought it would tie in well with 3D art, which I guess in the end it really doesn't all that much. Everything in this book is geared toward mag cover art, game box art, ect.. Regardless, the techniques learned in this book can be applied to other artforms as well. The book alone is worth it for simply learning brushes and all their options. If you are a good painter, then it will make you a great painter, if you are not a painter, it will make one out of you in some form or another. First 1/2 of book discusses some theory and steps you through the brush engine and all of its vast options. Then you are exposed to numerous hardcore tutorials that if you do them all and take your time, will in turn boost your quality significantly. The tutorials are not step-by-step, but rather overviews of processes, which if you know photoshop well, you will have no problem. If you are a good painter, but know little of photoshop, then read a basic photoshop book first. Chances are, unless your a master painter, your versions of the tutorials will pail in comparison to Don S's, but like he says in the book, you will have learned a wealth of information along the way that you can use from there forward. All in all, a very worthwhile manual. Also of note is that working this book with only a mouse is tedious and uninspiring, but if you get a stylus after or during your reading of the book, you'll see the true nature of the painting power Don has given you.

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Must have!, September 23, 2004

By 

J. Farrington "*~ Starry ~*" (Dallas, TX) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Digital Character Design and Painting: The Photoshop CS Edition (Graphics Series) (Charles River Media Graphics) (Paperback)

A really good book. Same intro about Character Design as the Older Painter version, but new totally different tutorials. If you are looking for a totally 'hands held' walkthrough this isnt the book for you. He gives you a step by step image walkthrough and says verbally what he does. No real brush sizes, opacities, or color choices.

Still, a lot of different walkthroughs. Eyes, Hair, Skin, Characters, A little Dragon, and then the Wizard on the cover. A lot of his brushes are also included.

A definte best buy!

26 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Take a Class in Digital Character Painting and Design, February 10, 2005

By 

Diane Cipollo (Editor at BellaOnline.com) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Digital Character Design and Painting: The Photoshop CS Edition (Graphics Series) (Charles River Media Graphics) (Paperback)

This is one of the best books on digital painting and character design that I have found. Most computer painting books deal with digital filters and special effects but this book is truly like taking a class in digital character painting with Adobe Photoshop CS.

In the first part of the book the author, Don Seegmiller, discusses his approach to creating an original character design. He begins the process by answering a list of questions about the budding character he is creating. Then he builds on this by creating a fictional history for his character to give it a physical appearance and personality.

In the second part of the book Seegmiller discusses how traditional artistic principles apply to digital character design and painting. After covering the basics of color, value and light, he concentrates on the individual aspects of digital character painting. Then he discusses some of the tools in Photoshop CS that you will need to be familiar with.

The third part of the book is where the fun really begins. Seegmiller devotes an entire chapter to digital painting eyes, face, hair and fabric. In the rest of the chapters he helps you to apply what you have learned to designing and painting many diverse characters from a human to a wizard creature.

Don Seegmiller specializes in graphic design and illustration. He has taught figure drawing at Brigham Young University and has worked for the video game developer Saffire Corporation. He offers workshops demonstrating his approach to digital character design and painting and has written articles for Design Graphics magazine.