Customer Reviews

Digital Character Painting Using Photoshop CS3 (Charles River Media Graphics)

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

 

 

I fell in love with Photoshop as a digital paint program a number of years ago. The effects available through Photoshop give you the versatility of physical media with no mess and much greater ability to edit your compositions as you work.

This is not a book for someone who just wants to use Photoshop for manipulating existing images. (Though you'd certainly have a chance to pick up a few pointers from this book.) This is definitely for someone who wants to create images "from scratch" using Photoshop's amazing array of tools and effects. As such, it helps if you have some previous art training (though you don't have to be an expert, the author does give intermediate level painting tips.)

It also helps if you have at least a basic working knowledge of Photoshop. However, I do mean basic. This book is so well laid out that if you have ever worked in Photoshop before, you should have little trouble following along. The author takes you through a series of exercises and gives clear step by step instructions and tips.

The author's experience as an art instructor really shows through in the clarity of the explanations. I was even able to follow the examples while sitting in a chair reading the book - not even opening Photoshop! I can't say that about some other books I've read on this topic.
I strongly recommend this book to artists looking for tips and inspiration for using Photoshop!

Great Book. Knowing some things about Photoshop beforehand will help with this book. He does give brief descriptions of the tools but his focus is on digital painting. Which is where this book shines. It is clearly written, shows different techniques and is very informative. One of the best how to books I've bought. It even beats some courses I have taken. If digital painting is what you want to learn more about, this is perfect.
Excellent book.

I returned this book it was so bad.

The title is misleading. This book looks repurposed from another book by the author with just some new screen shots. The techniques in Photoshop are dated and don't correspond with current recommendations. Instead of using Version Cue or History or Layer Comps or a host of many of the new features, the author recommends lots of saves with different names. As one reviewer said, the CS3 on the title is a joke.

Although there is some useful information for absolute beginners on lighting, chapters detailing the personality and history of the character are not necessary for a book titled Digital Character Painting Using Photoshop CS3. I wanted techniques on painting the textures and creating realistic compositions, not rehashed Photoshop basics or tutorials I could find on the web.

This book is NOT bad but I suggest that you:
PLAY THE VIDEO TUTORIAL before you decide to
do ANY of the excersises in the book!!

The process of selecting/ cutting/pasting the
art back into a layer is confusing. But after
watching the tutorial it all made sense. But
it's a process most PhotoShop users do intially
anyway.

But as a whole the book is good. Regardless
of WHAT version of Adobe CS you have. The book
prefaces the fact the you need/ must have a degree
of artistic skill[s] to create the kind of flawless
digital paintings seen in the book. If you already
know how to paint with oils, acrylic and/ or watercolors;
this book will help.

i'm new to the digital side of illustration and drawing, and this book was very informative. from color theory to technical photoshop tips, this is a great read for any budding digital artist. also, considering it's low price, it's pretty much a no brainer. i didn't expect so much great content for such a low price! highly recommended.

I've been using Photoshop Elements for a few years as a way to digitize my drawn illustrations and then finish the work on the computer. The techniques described in Mr. Seegmiller's book have solved a number of problems for me, even though I am using the simplified "Elements" program. Although it is a thick "manual" type of book, the techniques are thoroughly explained in easy to understand language.

Thanks to Don Seegmiller for adding a new dimension to my artwork.

I actually own Don's other book for Painter which was recommended due to the wealth of information not usually found for the other program for illustrators. So if you own one of the two, half of this book may become useless due to the repeated material. The section in question would be the character design.

The book was re-purposed from an earlier print run of Photoshop but updated for CS3.

While some of the tutorials are helpful, I found myself confused in other parts.

Prime example is The 11th Chapter on Painting the Dragon's Layer. Some of the brushes he's mentioning in 7, wasn't clearly explained where it would be found. "Cave Rock brush" wasn't found as far as I could tell in this book. It may have been misspoken or not clearly referenced to, but can help. I believe this was a new chapter added and more care should have been taken in the editorial department to make sure the explanations were more clear.

I also heard that there were movie files in the original printing which is a bit disappointing they weren't left in this version.

Overall this is still a helpful book if you meet the conditions:

1. You haven't purchased an earlier version of this book for Photoshop.
2. You have intermediate skills in drawing and some understanding of Photoshop already.

It's my understanding Don was somewhat disappointed in how the prints went too, so it may account for areas that seem to be left sparse, and confusing.

waste of time - you will learn more from the web - author spent more time going over literature to make the pages of his book seem fuller - trust me - avoid - the title of CS3 is so misleading - you would expect more from sucha bold title.....

Message to the Author - try harder and be truthful to the readers .... over and out

This is one of the best books ever, easy to understand,so informative,alot of sound knowledge,a real cut the the chase books,if you ever want to go to the next level"BUY THIS" Thank You for books like this!

it got here about when i expected it to, it was in the same condition i was told it was in, and i love the book!