Customer Reviews

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

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

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!

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.

Do not buy this book unless you have a solid background in painting fine art. Do not buy this book if your are expecting to learn the mechanics of how to paint in Photoshop. I have been working on one of the tutorials for about four weeks and have only come somewhat close to the results that the author demonstrates in the book. I must have done the tutorial about 20 times over so far. I can attribute this to two things: my lack of technical knowledge of how to paint fine art and the lack of information from the author about how to achieve the results that he is demonstrating. It's particularly frustrating when the author says, "continue to refine the painting" or "begin to clean up the contours" without explaining how exactly that is done using Photoshop. This whole book is supposed to be about painting with Photoshop but the whole process is never really dissected and explained. There is one short chapter on blending in Photoshop but it doesn't really help you all that much when you are going through a tutorial on how to paint something as complex as a a portrait of a face. I found the tutorials to be just brief overviews on how the author painted a particular piece. I would rather have one tutorial about how to really paint in Photoshop instead of 10 that just give you an overview of the process. The rest of the book is only mildly interesting. Why not have tutorials that delve into specific techniques like blending (briefly covered in book), shading and highlighting. How about getting into what brushes you would use to achieve certain effects. Or, how to use the opacity settings in combination with different types of brushes to achieve certain effects. I could go on and on. These are the kinds of things that I thought this book would cover; unfortunately it did not.

This must be one of the best books available on the process of using Photoshop to create original paintings. For that matter, many of the techniques described can also apply to other photo-editing programs. The section of the book about designing characters was enlightening, but I was more impressed with the way the author demonstrated digital painting methods. If you have an interest in art and a desire to create convincing paintings with a computer that goes beyond just using special effects filters, you'll find this book informative and inspirational.

For a while all I ever wanted out of a book when it comes to explaining to me about digital painting is how to actually approach it. From the first chapter all the way through it's incredibly descriptive and the way everything is explained is enough for me to take on board the vast amount of skills within each step. I am incredibly happy with this book and I know the skill sets within it are things that I will implement throughout the rest of my lifetime. I just want to point out that when it comes to digital painting I am a novice so this is the best introductory book I have come along for someone in my position who has no clue and in saying that I would recommend it for anyone else who interested in what it has to offer.

If you are thinking of getting started on the digital art world, this book is really good for you, it covers everything, since the process it takes BEFORE start working on the canvas to quick tips and tricks on the software interface, up until the actual tutorials wich come on a relatively easy learning curve from a small Eye to complex human form composition work, the only thing you find falling short is the accompanying CD-ROM, wich in my opinion lacks the most crucial files for an easy understanding, but even with this small problem, the tutorials stand so well on their own that you don't really miss the CD content at all.

yeah i am a little bit late for the review but fast delivery, no issues, good book, perfect

I bought this book because I love to paint with photoshop. This book teaches you everything you should need to succeed in digital painting. While having some experience already in the area of digital painting with photoshop, I was a beginner and after reading the book through from start to finish before applying Seegmiller's techniques, I got alot better and now I can finish a painting that's really beautiful and gets good ratings, I even have a couple fans of my art now!

I wasn't sure at first if I would actually need this book since I'm a more traditional artist who creates oil paintings. However, my styles are expanding and I wanted to try and create some digital art from my drawings, instead of transferring them to canvas. I've been doing a lot more contemporary, some might call it "pop art" work, and it's hard to find the colors I need in oil paint. This book is very well written and descriptive. I feel it is a valuable addition to my library and recommend it for anyone who even does a little drawing. It can help transform your work into different dimensions you may never have dreamed of. Hope this helps.