Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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204 of 206 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Finally, Digital Painting Fully Explained, December 14, 2004
Books on Photoshop and Painter are usually written to teach you to use all of the program's features. Learning to actually draw and paint with a graphics tablet has barely been covered. If you've been a traditional artist for years, you still need basic exercises to learn how to handle the "digital brush." If you're a beginner, you need not only the basics of using a graphics tablet, but an understanding of how art is created. Cher's book provides you with both. Software instruction is kept to the minimum you need to complete the lessons.
Through each lesson, Cher carefully explains how the pen makes different marks depending upon how we hold it, how much pressure we use, and how we modify the "brushes" we use. After a couple of frustrating starts, I found myself fighting the pen less and less, and reading more carefully about tilt, angle, pressure and the speed with which I made my strokes. My traditional `pencil and paper' style needed to change, and the lessons helped me concentrate on making those changes.
Strategies for getting from your first stroke to your last are explained in detail. Media can be mixed in ways that are very difficult, if not impossible, with traditional media, and a good portion of the book discusses your digital options. But this is real drawing and painting, no faking it, and the lessons will take some time to finish. The shortcuts and advantages of digital media aren't ignored. Scanning sketches, tracing, using photographic reference, and even direct cloning are covered thoroughly. Whatever digital tricks you use, though, you'll be the one painting the entire image, stroke by stroke, keeping the painting fresh and original.
There are two features of Cher's book that I found made the book easy to learn from. The pictures of her work in progress are so clear you can easily follow along with her methods. I would have preferred expensive spiral binding, but the book is bound well enough to stay open fairly easily while you refer to it. My second favorite feature is that all of the lessons are so timeless and useful, you can repeat them with different subjects, choosing different brushes, and never make the same painting twice. This is one computer book that won't be obsolete a year from now. Even as the software, Painter and/or Photoshop, changes with new versions, the lessons in this book remain the backbone of digital painting.
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38 of 38 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A digital artwork book by a true digital artist. Thank you!, September 20, 2005
This is a great book for anybody interested in digital artwork. Most examples are Cher's real world fine digital art - instead of the more usual simplified ones found in most books. It is obviously that Cher knows her craft. This book not only focuses on the programs themselves (Painter & Photoshop), the hardware options (graphic tablets, tablet PCs, and even pressure sensitive LCD monitors), but also often overlooked areas such as setting up your studio.
This is a book by an artist - it shows - and that's a good thing. Beginner & intermediate digital artists will find this book to be EXTREMELY useful and inspiring. The examples are easy to understand, follow, and are genuinely helpful. "Experts" may find this book's ease of use a bit underwhelming, but don't be fooled, there is some serious Painter & Photoshop power in there. That being said, if you are looking for a hardcore 'tech' book explaining all of the intricacies of these programs then this is likely not the book for you.
This book is much more than a simple 'how to' computer book. Interesting to read, packed with beautiful full color artwork & easy to follow examples showing how they were created.
I have been a professional digital artist for a number of years, and I highly recommend this book to anybody interested in getting started, or advancing their skills, in the world of digital artwork.
I hope you found this review useful. Best of luck with your own digitally created masterpieces!
Christopher Bailey
Digital Artist.
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70 of 75 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Check this one out!, December 1, 2004
Sometimes it's hard to write an honest review of a book by a long-time friend. But not this time.
No matter where you are on your way to learning to paint or draw on the computer, this beautiful book offers worlds of insight, training, and support. A scholar of art history and proficient with traditional artists' tools even before she developed her computer expertise, Cher Threinen-Pendarvis is uniquely qualified to teach both art and digital craft. If you're a painter but new to the computer, Cher's experience and strong, concise teaching style will very quickly make you comfortable with the new tools-Corel Painter, Adobe Photoshop, and the digital tablet and stylus. On the other hand, if you're experienced with the computer but new to painting, she demystifies the process of "seeing" your subject and translating its form and color into line and brushwork - so that's how they do that! Encouraged by her warmth and clarity, you can relax as you acquire artists' skills and develop your style. And if you're new to both computers and painting, how fortunate! The Photoshop and Painter Artist Tablet Book: Creative Techniques in Digital Painting offers you the opportunity to learn from a master of both, before you've developed any bad habits!
The Photoshop and Painter Artist Tablet Book: Creative Techniques in Digital Painting is a collector's item-a unique blend of art and computer craft. It's a book you'll want to open again and again just because the pages are so beautiful. But don't miss a word or an image. Regardless of whether you use Painter or Photoshop or both, you'll want to read all the instructions and sidebars. Having a tablet is important to getting the full benefit of what the author-artist has to offer, but it's a great book even if you don't have a tablet yet.
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by Cher Threinen-Pendarvis
by Rhoda Grossman
