Brush Economy

[Anonymous No.2114240]

Try to paint an apple (or any fruit) with only 5 brush strokes. You can sketch an outline or erase your edges, but no erasing highlights.

Not a competition, this is about understanding how and why you paint.

[Anonymous No.2114283]

>>2114240
I'm doing this with oils as soon as I get back from work.

Challenge accepted OP.

[Anonymous No.2114304]

>>2114240
If you proposed to draw with only one paint - I would understand. But to economize brush strokes is poor idea. I not in the game

[Anonymous No.2114305]

>>2114240
Neat, I've heard of people doing this with portraits with various numbers of strokes (50, 25, 15, 10, whatever). 5 for an apple is super extreme.

[Anonymous No.2114308]

>>2114304
I have no idea what you are talking about. What are you suggesting instead?

And why is economizing brush strokes a bad idea? Economy will always make things look better (supposing it is well done, and understanding that there is more than one kind of economy).

Sure, there's the danger of getting too caught up in counting brushstrokes, and then you can lose sight of more important things. Sorolla even has discussed this as an issue. But doing a quick exercise, or at least trying it, can't hurt at all. It might help you realize something or discover something, and it's a tiny investment of time and energy when it's only 5 strokes.

[Anonymous No.2114309]

That looks like shit

[Anonymous No.2114313]

>>2114305
Some graphs-artist are have fun sketching with only one line.

[Anonymous No.2114316]

The niggard tread ;-D

[Anonymous No.2114320]

Mad paint skills

[Anonymous No.2114342]

[Anonymous No.2114364]

[Anonymous No.2114387]

am i doing it right?

[Anonymous No.2114394]

>>2114240
This was super tough. I did two, I'll post em both. They both went over the limit of 5. I used an apple sitting on my desk.

First one here is a dozen strokes including the shadow.

[Anonymous No.2114396]

>>2114394
This one took 10 strokes. I dunno how you guys do it in 5.

[Anonymous No.2114478]

>>2114304
>But to economize brush strokes is poor idea
Literally the exact opposite of everything I've read

>>2114308
>It might help you realize something or discover something
This anon knows how to teach himself. The point of the exercise is think about how you use your brush strokes/ brushes to paint.

When you are limited, you have to consider which direction to paint in, how opacity will affect the underlying values, you will deconstruct the object you are painting into segments, and most of all, you are learning to make deliberate, CONFIDENT strokes.


>>2114342
A+ anon. so good it looks low poly

>>2114364
Good!

>>2114387
Doing better than me. Banana is the best of the three

>>2114394
>>2114396
Do the exercise in whatever way will benefit you the most. Five is the number that I saw, so I suggested that. The idea here is to analyse your technique, not make a photo reproduction. With that being said, both of yours look awesome

[Anonymous No.2114515]

>>2114240
i couldn't even do the stalk

[Anonymous No.2114522]

>>2114515
Looks nice

What kind of brushes are those and how do you get the texture to show up in the strokes?

[Anonymous No.2114548]

Thanks for the challenge, OP. I wish I would have an extra stroke to polish the strokes.

[Anonymous No.2114562]

>>2114548
I don't think you know what a stroke is.

[Anonymous No.2114569]

>>2114562
I thought not taking the pen off the canvas counts as a stroke.
What's a stroke then?

[Anonymous No.2114571]

>>2114522
probably something like the "oil pastel" brush in photoshop default brushes. it includes a sampled texture on the dual brush section of the bush window (f5), so you get some texuture within the stroke

[Anonymous No.2114581]

>>2114562
Like >>2114569 said. I didn't take the pen off the canvas during the "stroke".

[Anonymous No.2114584]

>>2114569
No, you are right. A stroke in photoshop is a single line of paint, no matter how complicated.

I think >>2114562 just means that you are kind of working around the problem of the OP instead of through it. Meaning, you should be using quick, concise strokes, rather than long, intricate strokes.

[Anonymous No.2114592]

Here are my attempts. They look better from the thumbnail

[Anonymous No.2114594]

>>2114592
Nice potatoes

[Anonymous No.2114604]

Shit, this was harder than I thought

[Anonymous No.2114605]

>>2114584
>>2114548 Here. You're right about using quick and concise strokes, so I re-did another apple using very little movement.

[Anonymous No.2114614]

>>2114592
Redid watermelon

[Anonymous No.2114621]

im shit

[Anonymous No.2114626]

>>2114592
>>2114614
Fucking awesome work anon.

>>2114604
Yep. Definitely kicking my ass too. Try using opacity to layer the colors and create more complex values

>>2114605
If your colors were a little closer in harmony, you'd be on to something here.

[Anonymous No.2114627]

>>2114626
>If your colors were a little closer in harmony, you'd be on to something here.

Should I play more with the color palette or use more the opacity tool?

[Anonymous No.2114634]

>>2114627
Both would be ideal, but if you are not used to painting with opacity, I would desaturate the reference image, and focus on matching values with opacity.

Color comes after value in the fundamentals chain

[Anonymous No.2114720]

>>2114634
There I used a color pallete with web colors, so its from the same base color.

[Anonymous No.2114767]

>>2114309

You're dumb.

[Anonymous No.2114771]

>>2114767
fo real

[Anonymous No.2114830]

heres some i did

[Anonymous No.2114850]

Some of these fruits look absolutely DELICIOUS, good work everyone!

OP, this is a great idea, I can't try it out right now but I will probably tomorrow.

[Anonymous No.2114937]

[Anonymous No.2114970]

>>2114937
>le

You are using a solid brush, try it with opacity.

[Anonymous No.2115009]

>>2114970
Well I was going for a more solid look. Here's one with some opacity. It's really tempting to use a few more brush strokes.

[Anonymous No.2115025]

>>2115009

Use more opacity, you're still getting really thick lines. Also, look at where the light is, try to replicate it. Try putting the highlights down before you put the solid colors, paint over top of the white in place of putting white on top. :)

[Anonymous No.2115028]

>>2114720
The reds are better, but the grays are killing the picture. If you're gonna go desaturated like that in the shadows, make the tones go blue or blue-green. I recommend doing value studies.

>>2114830
Awesome work. The thumbnail really sells the concise brushwork. Maybe experiment with texture?

>>2114937
It's a little busy. Use a bigger brush and quicker strokes.

>>2115009
This one is better, but values on the right side are too close together.

[Anonymous No.2115041]

>>2115028

Try this if you guys want. From CA before it went down.

[Anonymous No.2115233]

[Anonymous No.2115262]

>>2115233
Fuck, anon. If you do like 20-30 of these, you'd probably be good enough at it to sell as prints.

Do one of plumbs like this, but use a BG color that goes with it nicely.

[Anonymous No.2115420]

Here's mine

[Anonymous No.2115448]

>>2115041
here is a larger version

[Anonymous No.2115456]

>>2114313
I've done that before, but never as complicated.

[Anonymous No.2115458]

[Anonymous No.2115484]

[Anonymous No.2115590]

6 without the stem

[Anonymous No.2115611]

>>2115420
lovely, i like the leaf.

[Anonymous No.2115651]

Blocked in with 5 strokes but couldn't stop myself from refining a bit

[Anonymous No.2115661]

damn this is fun

[eria-tarka No.2115750]

dang, my brain hurts.
It is so fucking hard, I dont think I nailed even one. the last one is just the same time as the others but with more strokes.

Thanks for posting this exercise.

[eria-tarka No.2115759]

last attempt on the apple.
Played around with the opacity pressure.
4 color strokes and 1 eraser stroke for the highlight.

[Anonymous No.2115783]

>>2114240

This is when I realize I should have more brushes

[Anonymous No.2115921]

>>2115750
I'm just glad that the people on this board were willing to try it.

This is something I would show others in my art courses and the other students would be like "Nah, that's not for me."

Meanwhile they complain that they are not getting any better and can't ever finish a drawing...

[Anonymous No.2115941]

this shit is all bout the brush you use, id like to see you do this with just the default round brush

[Anonymous No.2115948]

>>2115941
See >>2114396

[Anonymous No.2115975]

>>2115941
That thinking is flawed in a practical application. There is no point in using with a default round, in an exercise that should help you learn more about the digital medium. It should actually be encouraged to use the different brushes for this;
it would test you to pick appropriate brushes for texture, edges etc.

You'll also notice that no one in this thread is using color dynamics- there's no technical thinking that has gone into any of these. Its as bad as >draw an apple in 5 mins in mspaint threads

[Anonymous No.2115981]

>>2115975
>You'll also notice that no one in this thread is using color dynamics- there's no technical thinking that has gone into any of these. Its as bad as >draw an apple in 5 mins in mspaint threads

You're mainly dealing with people who are still figuring shit out, you're going to have to show/demo what you're explaining. I'm sure someone out there had their mind blown by the drawing the apple in five minutes, and that's a great thing imo.

[Anonymous No.2115984]

>>2115975
>You'll also notice that no one in this thread is using color dynamics
>there's no technical thinking that has gone into any of these.

Entire point of this exercise is to learn how to mentally process an image into brush strokes. In other words, learning how to fucking paint.


>Practicing scales is pointless because you aren't thinking about harmony and syncopation

Nigga this is how stupid you sound right now

[Anonymous No.2115993]

Let's step it up. Anyone up for trying to paint a landscape in 20 strokes or less? Pic related, it's actually a legit exercise Nathan Fowkes posted on his blog some time ago.

[Anonymous No.2116005]

fuck

[Anonymous No.2116041]

ended up using a million strokes but made me more aware of brush economy

[Anonymous No.2116058]

>>2116041

you could actually do all of those with 5 strokes and get the same results. Look at the bottom center apple, try laying down the color underneath first *( the yellowish-green) and then move on to the brown around the edges. Two red streaks on either side and the white for the highlight.

I'd love to see you read the 5 stroke goal, it's possible and your rendering is great.

[Anonymous No.2116238]

Way more than 5 strokes.

[Anonymous No.2116347]

>>2114240

i actually find this really fun

[Anonymous No.2116728]

Man, this is really hard. Great exercise though, will study other pics in this thread and try again.
I guess i either don't understand the form completely, or i'm just terrible at applying brush strokes to it.

[Anonymous No.2116770]

>>2116347

Its very hit and miss but I'm becoming a lot more aware of different painting concepts when I'm trying to do these.

[Anonymous No.2116772]

>>2116347

Oops forgot my image.

Really feeling number 8, the rest not so much.

[Anonymous No.2116780]

>>2116772

8 looks the best. You got one good one out of 3 bad ones. Do more! I really fucking like 8.

[Anonymous No.2116922]

>>2114240
I hate you apple.

[Anonymous No.2116936]

>>2116772

8 felt like a happy accident, 14 was done with more purpose/intent by looking at an apple on my desk. I'm not particularly focusing on stroke count though, just general painting.

>>2116780

cheers m8

[Anonymous No.2116949]

i like this exercise

[Anonymous No.2117149]

>>2116936
loving the colors on #13

[Anonymous No.2117155]

Are you all colour-picking or mixing your own?

[Anonymous No.2117177]

shit, this is hard.

[Anonymous No.2117211]

>>2116936

gr8 m8 i r8 8/8

16 is really fucking nice. You're getting the hang really quick. You should do a gif of your process for other people, I'm sure a lot would appreciate the effort.

[Anonymous No.2118256]

>>2117211
It looks like he is laying his strokes down and using the smudge tool after the fact

[Anonymous No.2118267]

>>2118256
All jokes aside, Sycra has a tutorial on this method of blending if you need help understanding. It's pretty helpful, and I use it all the time.

[Anonymous No.2118285]

>>2118267
I already know how to do it

[Anonymous No.2118289]

>>2118267
Can you post it please?

[Anonymous No.2118329]

>>2117211
What program do you use?

[Anonymous No.2118336]

Struggling with this strawberry so much, it's a great exercise I wish I'd tried it before now.

[Anonymous No.2118436]

Yes, no?

[Anonymous No.2118444]

>>2118436

You used a solid color of red to coat the entire apple, but that's now how an apple looks. That's how you're imagining the apple looking. Try again!

[Anonymous No.2118445]

>>2118444
So basically, you want me to use two strokes for the entire apple?

[Anonymous No.2118446]

>>2118445
I mean the base of the apple, discluding lightning and stem

[eria-tarka No.2118467]

>>2118336
number 10 looks so fucking tasty.

[Anonymous No.2118472]

>>2118444
You have some weird settings just for blending. Can't begin to imagine the headache your workflow would bring me.

[Anonymous No.2118486]

>>2118445

Five, yo. Use different hues of red. One stroke IS the entire apple, the 2nd stroke is the lighting on the apple. Just imagine if it was a silhouette, the first mark would be black, the 2nd would be a mid grey, third would be a lighter/darker grey depending on your 2nd choice, fourth would be a shadow, fifth would be a highlight.

OR

You can use the white background as a highlight and not worry abotu that stroke

[Anonymous No.2118506]

>>2118486
Am I doing better, apple sensei?

[Anonymous No.2118541]

>>2118506

Yes!

Keep going, you're on the right path with those, the top right and the bottom center look really nice.

[Anonymous No.2119117]

>>2116728
Tried again, 5 strokes on the base of the fruit, not counting the twig/leaves. Thanks to all who posted i here i think i'm starting to get it - playing around with the Flow, being brave with the strokes and picking the colors which subtly work together seems to be the key.

[Anonymous No.2119187]

>>2118256

nah m8, just using a brush which lets me vary density according to pen pressure.

16 was definitely way more than 5 strokes though, but I'm still in love with 14 and 8

[Anonymous No.2119195]

>>2115458

Best.

[Anonymous No.2119254]

[Anonymous No.2119278]

I'VE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS THREAD!
No one ever mentions brush efficiency.

>>2114342
resize

[Anonymous No.2119409]

more like 10 strokes

[Anonymous No.2119444]

>>2114515
Kek

[Anonymous No.2119447]

How can I make interesting shapes if I'm not allowed to erase my strokes?

[Anonymous No.2120574]

>>2119409
Oh, I like yours. What kind of brushes did you use?

[Anonymous No.2120600]

>>2119447
>How can I make interesting shapes if I'm not allowed to erase my strokes?
>"You can sketch an outline or erase your edges"

[Anonymous No.2120791]

>>2118267
Please post.

[Anonymous No.2120908]

>>2120600
Oh okay, I thought they meant the contour, not the individual strokes.

[Anonymous No.2120959]

first try, i think they look good maybe?? atleast the ones other than the mangoes

[Anonymous No.2120985]

no tablet so all the stroke play is out, the best i can do is try to break it down into basic shapes in paint i guess

[Anonymous No.2121017]

my brain hurts trying to do this

that probably means i should do it a lot

[Anonymous No.2121196]

[Anonymous No.2121316]

my attempt

[Anonymous No.2122028]

>>2121196

these are really fucking nice.

[Anonymous No.2122074]

they were in season, so...

[Anonymous No.2122081]

I tried a few more today. Trying to not cheat with scribbling lines but its hard to stop myself

[Anonymous No.2122090]

Shit's rough, yo.

[Anonymous No.2122095]

>>2122074

Try using a hard brush for the form and a soft brush for everything else.

[Anonymous No.2122110]

[Anonymous No.2122916]

>>2122028
fanks

[Anonymous No.2122936]

>>2122081
Looks good, I don't see too much scribbling. You could make the brush a few times bigger for the main strokes to really force yourself to do single strokes.

[Anonymous No.2123035]

>>2114240
Tried with dogs, but I had to add more brush strokes.

[Anonymous No.2123100]

what a fun thing to do

ill have to try this with faces

[Anonymous No.2123426]

>>2123035
damn nigga

[Anonymous No.2124016]

>>2119195

That's a lot more than 5 strokes. I understand why everyone's looks different now. Some people are calling a stroke a single brush stroke.

>>2119447 is an example of someone using a single stroke to add different opacity per stroke.

>>2121316 uses a single stroke. If he did what the others did, it would be a night and day outcome.

[Anonymous No.2124022]

I haven't flipped through the thread so I don't know if someone suggested it but you can fiddle with load in the brush settings so it "runs out" of paint after the brush is pulled x far

[Anonymous No.2124027]

[Anonymous No.2124519]

this was fun.

[Anonymous No.2124748]

More attempts.

[sprias No.2124774]

Well that was fun. I'll do another tonight, it's a good exercise.

[Anonymous No.2125315]

Wow guys, this is actually a cool exercise. That isn't full of hocus pocus.

Thumbs up, and Ill contribute later.

[Anonymous No.2125396]

>>2125315
Contributin
I'm probably going to make a lot more, great practice for oil painting. I'm having trouble keeping it to five brush strokes. So when I hit that five mark, and it doesn't look like what its supposed to I just sorta go back to painting like normal to get it to look more like the subject. But this is fun and a great warmup.

1/4

[Anonymous No.2125397]

>>2125396
2/4

[Anonymous No.2125398]

>>2125397
3/4

[Anonymous No.2125400]

>>2125398
4/4

This and the free books thread are the best threads of the year in my book. Keep this constructive shit up /ic/ and this place might just be worth visiting on the reg.

[Anonymous No.2125438]

>>2125400

Sad thing is, this shouldn't be something new to IC and yet here we stand.

I like you. Here, enough of shit like this to keep you busy for a few years.

https://link.getsync.com/#f=Sample%20Pictures&sz=32E8&s=YDIMNOQRUEJSWP43PXOMWXZFK3B6VZO4&i=CG4W6ZL3HN5ZFCRF3WNSDIHMUSY4OBTU6&p=CDEIIYML5SOH7HWEMUBFIDFQHRV5NJI2&e=1435280159

[Anonymous No.2125446]

>>2125438
Not that anon, but I like you too anon, thanks for sharing.

[Anonymous No.2125449]

>>2125438
>https://link.getsync.com/#f=Sample%20Pictures&sz=32E8&s=YDIMNOQRUEJSWP43PXOMWXZFK3B6VZO4&i=CG4W6ZL3HN5ZFCRF3WNSDIHMUSY4OBTU6&p=CDEIIYML5SOH7HWEMUBFIDFQHRV5NJI2&e=1435280159

Cool shit. I just lost my reference folder a while ago, so this really helps me.

[Anonymous No.2125452]

>>2125449
Oh, and approve my thingy so I can get in your thingy.

[Anonymous No.2125464]

>>2125452

Didn't notice, you're all downloading it now. :D

[Anonymous No.2125478]

>>2125464
Its like some weird bit torrent approval thing.

[Anonymous No.2125485]

>>2125478

Yup, it's BitTorrent Sync. lol

[Anonymous No.2125551]

>>2125485
>BitTorrent Sync
>BitTorrent
are you sure you are not a fed and that thing not a honeypot?

[Anonymous No.2125569]

>>2125551

Already closed it bruh, don't be so paranoid on /ic/.

[Anonymous No.2125921]

This was a good idea, really got me thinking critically about what I was doing with brushes and colours.

These are all 5/6 strokes except the peach.

[Anonymous No.2126333]

>>2115458
Yeah, you're not Carol Marine, anon ....

[Anonymous No.2126498]

>>2125921
unfortunately the peach is the worst looking!

i like the bananas

[Anonymous No.2127747]

"A line is descriptive, and rich in detail"

This is what my art teacher always harped about, and its brought me a long way. Definitely going to try this when I find some time.

[Anonymous No.2128210]

>>2114342

what's the neat twisting brush you're using in the lower right half of the apple?

[Anonymous No.2128230]

[Anonymous No.2130683]

these are insanely fun and frustrating, i'm gonna do a million of these

[Anonymous No.2130862]

>>2115484
i know

[Anonymous No.2130925]

This was a fun exercise!! Really got me thinking :0

[Anonymous No.2130926]

>>2130925
wwoah, sorry about the huge file size!!

[Anonymous No.2131400]

>>2114240
where do you guys get these beautiful PS brushes? could someone share?

[Anonymous No.2131410]

shit, this is hard without a tablet that has tilt

[Anonymous No.2131417]

[Anonymous No.2131756]

i mean you only have room for the local value, lighted area, reflected light, the stem, and the highlights theres no other way to do it. Just robh rupple this shit up