Learning to Paint...Digitally.

I have aptitude in a number of artistic mediums; pencils, ink, soft pastels, oil pastels and even charcoal (to a degree) but painting is not a skill I've acquired and in my own foolishness, have avoided for years and years. It's come back to bite me on the ass though as my BA Game Art degree at De Montfort University requires you to have skill in painting both traditionally and digitally. I've heard mutterings that often people can do one and not the other (at least not easily), so where does that leave me as I have skill in neither!

Well let me tell you: BONED. That's where.

I splashed out with as much money as I could afford and bought myself a Waccom Intuos4 with some student loan money and have immediately begun using it in an attempt to do what everyone who is an artist of any calibre tells you to do - Draw, Draw, Draw.

Unfortunately I don't have the time to solely dedicate to just digital painting, but I am attempting to do at least one a day, even if it's just something small. My first attempt was this rather shoddy excuse for a painting:-

I wasn't pleased with how this turned out, so I went in search of some tutorials and posted on DMUGA facebook for some crits, went away today, after watching a great video tutorial (which can be found here: http://vimeo.com/1715081) and painted this:-

I rather thought it was an improvement and rather pleased with my second ever digital painting. Inspired and pleased that I'm getting to grips with my tablet and Photoshop CS5 as a painting package and not just a photo manipulator and processing package I began my first landscape. It's just the bare-bones for now as I work out what I want to put in it. I was desolate, misty and ethereal in the end. Watch this space for the final piece!

Edit:

Final piece.