Cintiq, Amazon.com, and the BS CA Sales Tax

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Well folks, funs over with tax free purchases at Amazon.com for California residents like myself. Starting this Saturday, all purchases by CA residents will be subject to the CA sales tax of 9.75%. I’m an avid Amazon shopper, and this hurts–you can’t beat free shipping and no sales tax. At the bull-shit sales tax of 9.75%, it’s a big hit when buying high ticket items like electronics. I actually wouldn’t mind paying it if the state wasn’t run by these clowns who has put the state in a financial mess.

So if you’re in CA and looking to get a Cintiq on Amazon, you got another day before getting hit with a 9.75% sales tax. Amazon didn’t carry the 22HD when it came out, so I got mine off Wacom’s site, and they didn’t charge me sales tax. I’m not sure if that will be the case if you’re a resident at another state. Wacom.com would be a good alternative after today if you’re looking to purchase one.

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Head References for Artist – Lighting

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Do you need lighting references for a human head? In my reference library I have various lighting references on faces, but it’s never complete as they come from difference sources and of different people. So here I have taken the 3D head model from my Lady Dragon statue and created an animation with various lighting angles, creating a complete head reference for lighting. I’ve always wanted to create this kinds of references for myself. Now I have done it and I’m sharing it with you.

Head Reference Video Setup

Head Reference 1 Head Reference 2

Starting with her head facing toward the camera, the light starts up top and slightly behind her right side. The light circles around her and ends on her left side(The green arrow represents the light direction). Then the light repeats the circling motion but at a lower angle. The circling ends once it has reached well below her face.

Head Reference 3 Head Reference 4

The circling light starts up top again but with the head tilted upwards. Then her head tilts downward and finally to the side. There are two images to each frame. The one on the right has rim lighting. You can see the full video below. In viewing the video, it might be dizzying as the light moves fast. I would recommend you pause it and scrub through the frames to find the lighting angle that you want.

Head Reference 5 Head Reference 6

Head Reference Video

 

Eye Painting Video – Soft Airbrushing

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On my previous post, I had a couple of face paintings using a soft airbrush technique in Photoshop with the Cintiq 22HD. Here I made an eye painting video to better illustrate the technique. Starting with as large of a brush size as you can get away with, softly build up the values. I suppose it’s similar to dry-brushing. It’s easier if you start with a middle grey background and go from there.

Eye Painting Video

Soft Airbrushing on the Cintiq 22HD

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Sexy Face Soft Airbrushing Painting on the Cintiq 22HDI did couple of soft airbrushing paintings on the Cintiq 22HD. Part of the reason was to test the sensitivity on the Cintiq. It feels the same as the Wacom Intous tablets but the results I get on the Cintiq is softer because of greater hand control.

For these paintings, I used the aribrush in Photoshop with an airbrush opacity at about 25% with a flow of about 30%. With that low opacity flow, you can slowly build up the form with multiple strokes. Just think of it as if you’re using a real airbrush, where going too dark is a big no no since you can’t go lighter.

Pretty Girl’s Face and the Mummy

On the girl’s face, it took me about an hour to do. Starting with pure black on the airbrush, I slowly painted in the darks. Then using pure white to bring out the highlights. My goal was to create all the different shades of grey by varying the pressure of the stylus. I was successful at that, but I did end up doing some corrections by apply the backgroud grey to fix certain areas that I went too dark on.


Mummy Monster Soft Airbrushing Painting on the Cintiq 22HDFor the Mummy’s face, it was a lot messier and I went back and forth more. The details made it difficult to get it correct on the first try. This was referenced from one of Basil Gogos’ monster sketches.

In conclusion, I think this soft airbrushing technique works great with the Cintiq. The stylus is sensitive enough where you can build up smooth areas with multiple strokes and still keep your stroke lines blended. I like the result and I’ll be doing more of these types of paintings. The process goes fast enough that I’ll be able to do a video on this technique soon.

 

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Wonder Woman and Witchblade Paintings on the Cintiq 22HD

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Following my Black Widow painting for my wife’s friend, I had a couple of request to paint them as superheroes as well. Since the subject matter was what I wanted to paint, I ended up doing a couple of commissions on it. I painted them on the Wacom Cintiq 22HD.

Wonder Woman and Witchblade Paintings

Sexy Drawing Wonder Woman CosplayFor this Wonder Woman and Witchblade paintings, the process was similar. I started with their portrait and then I would find a suitable pose for them my reference library. Rarely does the reference matches exactly what I want it to be. But that’s okay because what I’m after are lighting references. I’ll try to figure out the lighting based on any pose changes from the reference. I use to be horrible at this but with practice, I can see that I’m getting better at making things up. Still feels awkward but it’s getting there.

Sexy Drawing Witchblade Cosplay With the Witchblade painting, the portrait was from a flash photo, resulting in flat lighting. I had to change it to what you see here, with the lighting from the side. That was the trickiest part. I’m calling this Witchblade because it was referenced from that character. I played around with it and did my own costume. It’s closer to the Japanese version of Witchblade, Takeru.

If you’re interested in such a painting for yourself, I am open to commissions. It’s not something I’ve done a lot in the past, but now that I’m getting back to painting, I’m more open to the idea. Sexy ladies only. Just contact me.