DOES YOUR BRUSHWORK SUCK?? Tips & strategies

[@noname-rj7dx]

*Sees title* *looks at own paintings* yeeeeah...we should really watch this.

[@sofialaya596]

he was on point lol, I'm having this problem but in traditional

[@daludna]

yyyyyeah

[@AhmedAldoori]

Great video!

[@TylerEdlin84]

Ahmed Aldoori thanks Ahmed I viewed your character course when you did it at cgma I loved it

[@soph663]

Fake ahmed aldoori?

[@derekmoore1387]

I know I’m commenting 3 years after you posted this, but I felt this was a great and concise tutorial. I love the structure of your video, showing us mature brushwork vs. novice brushwork, and then demonstrating, and a conclusion. You’ve been very helpful as I grow into digital from traditional paint. The thing I love most is how much from digital can be taken back to traditional as well. Thank you for the amazing educational videos!

[@MrGeek2112]

agreed I wish I had commented on the same. A very good structure. Maybe go back to a couple of the "master" examples at the end and point out the principles discussed in the main body to tie it all together.

[@guidolenzi2738]

TRADITIONAL >>> Richard Schmid, Mark Boedges, Jennifer McChristian, Henry Yan, Zin Lim, Sookyi Lee, Huihan Liu... DIGITAL >>> Wangjie Li, Yizheng Ke, Sung Choi, Swang, Alexander Mandradjiev, Houston Sharp, Wadim Kashin, Yun Ling...

[@TylerEdlin84]

Guido Lenzi awesome list !

[@Peter_H_Art]

I would add Ruo Li, John Singer Sargent for traditional and Eytan Zana, Greg Rutkowski and Jaime Jones for digital

[@TylerEdlin84]

Peter Henderson if people keep adding to this list it may be worth compiling a video to showcase them to let people not aware of them know

[@Peter_H_Art]

@@TylerEdlin84 Good idea. I've been learning digital painting for a few years now, but I've only recently started looking into traditional masters. I know Jaime Jones and Craig Mullins do a lot of old master studies of Bouguereau and Gerome among others. There's a lot to be learned, and 19th century academic art was scoffed at by the progressive modernists in the 20th Century. I think this is why we don't learn about them enough today. Those two for example were not mentioned once in my illustration classes at College. Very sad.

[@Peter_H_Art]

Also check out Aaron Limonick's ink sketches with the Pentel brush pen. Stunning

[@kc9122]

that was great, I've only recently set myself up with a decent computer, a wacom and photoshop. thanks for sharing

[@PillowHyena]

a while ago I was like "how in the hell does this guy uses selections to paint, wtf" now I can't live without a lasso tool

[@hunterterrell9930]

Let the brush do the work. You don't gotta stress and overwork it. The tree is in your brush, you just gotta coax it out. -Bob Ross

[@davidavila3846]

Instructions were unclear, tree was in my brush and i ended up with a watermelon

[@hafidx7358]

@@davidavila3846 that works as well.. i think

[@flooperjunk2871]

@@davidavila3846 a crunchy textured watermelon

[@mikepelosi9877]

So glad I found this. I’ve been struggling big time with brush work especially coming from a traditional background. No one talks about brush work or brush strokes and it’s a major component of painting. I find brush work is even more difficult when you’re trying a painterly or alla prima approach.

[@TylerEdlin84]

Mike Pelosi yeah and for some reason people get the wrong idea about it or are sensitive.

[@rubenviegas9021]

Noone talks about it because beginners tend to focus on it instead of fundamentals so it's avoided, that's where the "What brushes do you use?" meme comes from in the industry. Even I'm not that experienced and that's the first thing everyone asks which I always answer "It's just the standard brush everyone uses" Also the alla prima approach doesn't need brushwork, that's not the core of it, edge control is, which you might say it's a part of brushwork, but I'd honestly put it in different categories. Usually when your values, colors, edge control, etc. are good enough that also means the artist is experienced enough and can tackle brushwork on it's own, there's no need for tutorials or lessons about it.

[@raiBK]

Wow Tyler! It's amazing how good you've become and I love listening to you. I appreciate the time you took at the beginning of the video to try to teach the "eye" for brushwork. You definitely made something click in me, especially when you warped the grass on the picture with the house in a forest. I was like whuuuuaaaa fuuuuuuucc and understood so much suddenly. I am stuck in character design for so many years and try to break out, but everytime I paint a scene I run against a wall. I understand now that I don't apply my knowledge of brush work at my landscapes and scenes. I will take your videos now, starting from this one, and make regular exercises. Thanks so much for providing me a way for development!

[@cestarianinhabitant5898]

That tip to just practice on painting nature stuff from reference really resonated with me as a good idea to practice my godawful brushwork. I think I'm gonna do that. I still struggle enough with just sketching though so I'm not sure how far it'll take me. Learning to draw is really freakin hard man.

[@benkai343434]

Literally never thought about using the selection tool as a way of constraining texture so it doesn't go where you don't want it to until you brought it up. Added to the facts that it comes with the double feature of letting you use whatever you want AND the triple feature of letting you highlight or call out focal points. Extremely helpful stuff.

[@TylerEdlin84]

Kriplovski awesome best of luck trying that out

[@lemmypalooza6589]

Thanks! This solved my problem! At first, I thought all perspective was the key. But I felt like I hit a wall that I can't pass through. Being a self thought digi-artist, and just by watching materials here on youtube is kinda hard.. Whilst there's so many materials out there, you can't always find the right answer to your questions hence the right questions to your problem.. Your channel is underrated like some of the great gurus out there, but I really, REALLY LOVE YOUR CONTENT. Thanks for helping us.

[@tylerruss3819]

@Tyler Edlin, you're great man, thank you for these videos. Much and deserved respect to you.

[@poneyfeathersart1442]

Ive never seen anyone use the selection tool to add color. Noted!!! Thanks for the tips. I love traditional ink and color pencil. Forcing myself to learn digital... So exciting to see all the possibilities in digital work, but the learning curve is pretty wild. Its learning a new language. Trying to practice daily. Glad I found your channel.

[@elijahtender8548]

Good video but I feel like the lighting for the tree at about 12:20 was great advice. Even to introduce air perspective in that piece wouldve been a nice topic, the colors on the front should be more saturated than the objects in the back. The values of colour didnt work since the values were too similar. Not enough contrasting values . If the Darker colours were darker and lighter colours lighter, it wouldnt look so flat. Anyways just my thoughts :D

[@josenevesneto]

Thanks for the lessons Tyler, this is a great video,with very usefull tips and clear examples of what to do and not to do with our brushwork.

[@staybalancedn]

I learned from this video one aspect of brush work how to put the detail in some areas and other areas leave less detailed.. is that all brush work is.... These free videos do me well until I can take your course!! Thank you for that and the fast response

[@harusameiro]

Thank you Tyler! This was enormously helpful to me as a traditional artist starting to get into digital art. I never thought of using the selection tool for better control of hard edges and feathering out texture. It's amazing to see how quickly brushwork and textures can be adjusted with digital techniques.

[@MarcCardwell]

while i'm not in any of these artist's league, i was happ AF to see szymon's method of making selections on the flat art. i do a similar thing, but i'm happy to see a real pro doing it, because i would have thought they painted all that stuff in. makes me feel less of a chump.

[@kierandaysh8210]

Such a great tutorial and topic, The tips overview at the end really helped push the information home a little more. Thank you for taking the time to create these videos.

[@TylerEdlin84]

Kieran Daysh no problem wish I had time to do more

[@kierandaysh8210]

Hey, I'm curious about setting myself up as a ltd company for freelancing instead of a sole trader or under an umbrella for working with agencies etc. I'm wondering if you have ever thought about making a video on these sorts of issues, and if you could maybe explain the situation you are in and reasons why you chose them, if it is applicable to your position that is. It's definitely something that can be confusing and I'm sure people would benefit from this kind of topic. I'm not sure if this is the best place for it but it's something I'm currently dealing with so was curious. Thanks. :)

[@TylerEdlin84]

Kieran Daysh do you mean as representing yourself as a company rather than in individual

[@kierandaysh8210]

Yes, I'm going through an agency which explained to me that companies they hire for only use talent which is part of an umbrella or a LTD company. I'm currently classed as a sole trader, which I guess doesn't hit their mark because maybe I don't have accountability. Have you heard of this kind of thing before / how do you normally receive work? and whats a more common practice. Usually I just get a contract, sign it off and do the required work, but this is definitely new for me. I guess the video would cover the differences between working as each thing and the common practices for how the work is handled in terms of contracts etc. Sounds like a difficult task if I'm honest haha :D

[@TylerEdlin84]

Kieran Daysh I am terrible with business practices that’s for sure, I feel very unqualified to speak on the subject which is why I have zero videos on it. I just have a personal site with my name and a separate site called brush sauce studio with a more professional pre sense

[@williamruss1603]

Fantastic video! easy to understand. I take so long to paint digitally but i dont use the marquee tool. I will be using that often from now on

[@Mongiloyd]

I think you're points are good but a little bit all over the place. Might be good to link share the fundamentals at the beginning of the video and explain per subject. Contrast seems to be the major point, subjects being; A)...B)... jadajadajada This will reduce the subjective aspect a lot and give a better overview in general instead of the last 3 minutes being the point of the video.

[@benedict3965]

Thank you so muchh, even ig im still a beginner i feel like this is gonna be helpful to keep in mind in the long run

[@Kichoooz-j5y]

thanks god I found this video! the brushwork-sucks is such a unobservable question that may limit the process, let alone there are few tutorials mention it. thx dude.

[@44Christina44]

This was incredibly helpful, Tyler! Amazing video and demonstrations!

[@TylerEdlin84]

Christina Myrvold thank you for watching!

[@MarcelTrindade]

It actually was very helpful, thanks for your time preparing this material.

[@digi3363]

great advice with great examples and demos. thanks

[@MrMr-is2vv]

Really appreciate your content Tyler, another great video. you have pointed me in the right direction. Thank you :)

[@gurujot951]

This is a super helpful tutorial. Thank you.

[@MrGeek2112]

Thanks for a solid video. I like that you showcased a variety of artist styles, staying true to the principle of variety in that way. Each style has its own strengths. Looking back at my own work, I tend to gravitate toward a very precise style very early, and I want to be more loose and impressionistic, at least until later in the process. I want to bring a more Nick Gindraux style to my work, which feels too static and "posed". My backgrounds and foregrounds are also too disconnected, I think because my gradient of brushwork doesn't integrate them well, they feel like actors on a stage in front of a painted backdrop instead of objects in a 3D world they are all part of.

[@harharchris]

Thank you! I love painterly looks at digital painting. This would help me tremendously.

[@Marshjackson773]

Very good video, the examples from your work are very helpful ! Thanks a lot

[@LordOfTheSevenDarks]

Thanks for the advice. It was really helpful! Can't wait to try them out!

[@aarondraws7699]

Thank you! some one finally addressed this problem I know the light but all of my drawing look muddy and I could never figure out why.

[@AspLode]

11:00 Wow that's frustrating to look at, that piece is clearly very much on its way to being fantastic, with solid composition (save for the bottom-left corner tangent and shadow tangents on the left tree) and pretty great and bold use of perspective (only weak part is the peak of the background arch) and great use of red-green harmony, but the brushwork on the foliage and roots gives a very jarring sense of incompleteness, like they ran out of time. What it really is, imo, is the fact that each "dab" of color on the ground foliage has a clear bottom edge, which kills its read a bit. The underside of the overhanging foliage is also a good place where the artist could have used darker values to distinguish ambient and cast shadows in order to deepen the read on those forms, too, and the roots are a great place to have very tight occlusion to again deepen the read on those forms. Those hanging roots are center-canvas and high detail density so it automatically draws you in but then just loses you in those flat raw circle brush strokes. Give this artist some more hours and they would have been able to finish that to really great quality.

[@TylerEdlin84]

AspLode very nice observations couldn’t agree more. It’s far easier when I’m working with students to fix lighting on and composition but I notice the most it’s pure brushwork that is difficult to explain and even demonstrate

[@AspLode]

Was there a deadline on this assignment? It really makes a case for it being a matter of time-management as much as it is brushwork, because in the rest of the piece the artist demonstrates good competence when it comes to rendering, which makes a case for the weird brushwork on the vegetation not really a stylistic choice so much as crashing into the deadline haha, because if it's deliberate it's certainly a weird impressionistic style-clash with the rest of the mostly clean-rendered architecture :P

[@TylerEdlin84]

AspLode there was not a hard deadline I typically have them work on a few images at a time and say get as far as you can. Most I have noticed get paintings to that level and don’t have the eye trained enough that pick up what you noticed. They simply do not know how to take it further, but once I point things out they typically can go back at it. So it’s alaways a matter of not only having the painting skill but the experience and “eye” for what is not working or looks unfinished

[@zachreddy]

This is genuinely helpful. Great advice.

[@kinjura]

Great video. You introduced me to so many great artists whose work I hadn’t seen previously. Thank you!

[@2daviddjpcome]

Very informative, thank you!

[@theartysquid]

Hey Tyler, great content thanks for sharing. I took CGMA's architecture design earlier this year but only found this video by chance, it was fun hearing you again.

[@jordanjardine2458]

Great episode on a very nuanced topic.

[@StornCook]

Thread resurrection! Awesome critiques on the student work. I am working on a complex forest scene right this moment (albeit in gouache) and I will keep your advice in mind. I ended up doing a lot of the tone work with watercolor brushes as an experiment, trying to get a lot of textures. Its working, although, I wish the brush pens were not so chromatic. But as I'm going to cover over some of it with varying opaque gouache application, the colors can be muted in places where I want them to be. I hope it works.

[@yeseulshin920]

Thank you so much, such a nice tutorial! Something I wish I'd learned at the art school...

[@maxximumb]

A lot to think about. Thanks.

[@Thomasputmanify]

Love seeing your analysis on brush work as I'm also obsessed and mesmerized by it. I look at the work of Even Amundsen and Nick Gindraux way too much! Looking forward to more videos :)

[@cpmilans]

Incredible video, thank you!! Brushwork tips is something I`m always looking foward to get, your insights are hugely apreciated!

[@TylerEdlin84]

Thanks for checking it out

[@leelanhua5015]

The way you read Maciej Sidorowicz. Hah I love it.

[@justinbuus7695]

Thank you so much for this!!!

[@CelticWind88]

Great stuff. I'm just starting up a daunting piece, so this video was super timely. Definitely gonna keep these tips in mind as I work. Thanks!

[@HalfWarrior]

Thank you Tyler!

[@roodleypoodleydoodley]

awesome tips! definitely need to take these into consideration especially now that im juggling phototexturing in as well!

[@drescorpio1114]

Good stuff! can't wait for the water techniques keep it coming .

[@TylerEdlin84]

DeAndre Taylor I have to finish the sunset one I started like 4 months ago

[@leonardodelpuertoburk2439]

I'm watching this with nostalgia, since just 4 years ago you could watch an illustration without having to wonder if someone had poured their soul in it or if it was made by a robot.

[@javsama1]

I’d love to achieve an style with broad and very simple brushstrokes just defining with hard brush strokes lights and colors, but I do better painting with mainly soft brushes so my pieces look very vanilla digital, and when I try to use hard or textured brushes I feel like I destroy the piece, I also tend to draw every single detail zooming in a lot because my objective was League splash art but I also want to have different brushstrokes like traditional art.

[@colinredwood]

Glad I stumbled upon this

[@AndrewHarmsArtwork]

This was extremely helpful, thank you!

[@wasath1]

your tips are so worthy Thanks a million!!

[@gingerbeedraws8969]

Wonderful advice, I've been messing around with a more painterly style, and textures always scare me to use! Good advice

[@Pika72328]

Love this. It's definitely going to make a difference in my work!

[@TylerEdlin84]

Pika72328 awesome happy to hear it.

[@goldroger9990]

Great stuff man

[@christophbenson]

Just got yourself a subscriber sir. Great video!

[@markcooperartcomofficial]

The brush dynamics in photoshop themselves can make for cool textures. I really like the saturation and brightness jitter. I notice all of the artists you showed don't use impasto textures. I think that makes it look too clean and digital. I need to drop photoshop and go with some natural painting software because i want more variation without having to muscle everything as much.

[@TylerEdlin84]

mindrapeart yeah impasto is a cool look.

[@afirmacje1]

You could also use mixer brush. I use that as my main painting tool all the time. It gives really nice variety of edges and different kind of smudges. It's hard to configure properly, but when you figure out how it works it makes your day so much easier in terms of brush work. (This I think is a failure on the side of Adobe, these days a lot of other programs made it stupidly simple) If you want I could share my tool presets to give you something to start with. (not a lot of them, I use only 3 mixer brushes xD ) I use photoshop CS5, but I don't know if it changes anything.

[@bluemingsounds2837]

Corel Painter 2019 offers Thick Paint and 2.5D Texture brushes which gives gives a dimensional look to the layering of paint. I'm just using Corel Essentials right now because I could neither afford a monthly Adobe subscription nor can I afford the $360 price tag on CP 2019.

[@silverblue73]

At 10:50 I didn't see the figure in the piece until I really started looking around, there's nothing to make him stand out

[@RobbieAllenArtist]

Very good! I enjoyed this.

[@vp3841]

Thank you very much. Great points in the video!

[@bluekalamari3632]

Liked subscribed thank you for the great insight.

[@ineedmorenaruto]

i'm looking forward to the water video, these are really helpful =)

[@mcastaneda]

So important! Thanks

[@advertech]

so much to learn

[@chuckandmax7313]

My problem is that I have great brushstrokes that I add to my digital art from looking at the whole piece but then when I zoom in they are awful and sloppy. Like real art the piece looks great from a distance but looking close up which every viewer does the piece is very juvenile. This has made me have to zoom in on every inch of my art to lay down my digital paint and when you are working at a microscopic level you lose focus as to how you are affecting the whole piece. This makes me do the thing that every artist is told to stay away from and that is painting every little detail. So say if I was painting a tree I end up having to paint each and every leaf when I would rather create the illusion of leaves that are only viewed at from a distance. I’m still new to digital art and am great at painting on a canvas, but the two mediums though able to create the same end look have completely different approaches to their application. Another thing is I only have an iPad Pro 12.9” tablet to work on I don’t have the money to buy one of those fancy Wacom digital screens and I only have what Procreate can do. I would love to just paint vague shapes and forms that create an illusion of what I want to show and not have the fact that people dissect my work by going in and looking at every square inch through a microscope which is not how art should be viewed.

[@kimo7855]

Thanks for the vid~

[@evakosmosart]

Awesome! Thank you very much!

[@manavbhatia7120]

This is amazing !!

[@khangduong5256]

Great video, thank you! Can you do more of these videos. I love critique!

Wonderful video! Thanks for sharing your knowledge! =)

[@adolina91]

hahah, as a native Pole, I can say that Biernacki should sound more like "beer-nuts-key". I know the consonants mashups in polish language can be confusing for people who don't know the pronounciation of them. Anyways I've recently discovered your channel and I love all the information I get from every of your vids

[@RG_77]

Out of everything (your analysis) your word use is spot on, you describe even in your most basic form as an action to the T..

[@LudovitSzijem07]

That's it!!! Thank you very much

[@ObsessedwithZelda2]

Man, I use MyPaint so there's pretty much nothing for hard textures and no real selection tool, but dang it works well with what I do... gonna have to figure out my work around to get more variation in my brushwork, because I think it must be a big problem in my stuff. Many thanks for a video like this that can draw attention to it!

[@iblis2844]

I can send you PaintTool SAI if you want; it's not perfect by any means but you can create your own brushes and it's a good starting point until you can get Photoshop or Corel.

[@ObsessedwithZelda2]

Oh, that's very kind of you! Sadly, back when I did the 30 day trial for SAI, my art got significantly worse until I reverted to my old program. (And I believe at that time I was using Gimp?) Krita likewise had a learning curve that made inking difficult for me (and thus take much longer). I'm very eager to use Photoshop someday though, as from the times I had a chance to use it, it didn't give me any trouble

[@ez_is_bloo]

Basically. Contained chaos

[@Aeollon]

Everything you said about Matt's work I said to him too... I feel validated thank you lol. Awesome video though, maybe I'll get better applying it now.

[@rorschacharts]

Get off this platform

[@commercialartservicesartwo3133]

excellent content

[@HalkerVeil]

I would only buy the one you marked with a red X

[@TylerEdlin84]

Go for it

[@HalkerVeil]

@@TylerEdlin84 Yeah I just like the impressionist style. Lets the mind do more of the work.

[@wetojo]

Fantastic video, Tyler! Thanks for this.

[@TylerEdlin84]

Weston T. Jones thanks man hope your doing well

[@samsonraj6500]

What about Lee inhyuk and Wizyakuza?

[@bunchoffats330]

thank you

[@jennyarachovity5404]

that was very helpful thank you

[@yarugatyger1603]

I find many of the student works you commented on are generally missing defined edges are way too soft making them appear as if looked at through a haze.

[@TylerEdlin84]

Yaruga Nik yeah That’s huge thing. Very common

[@mudge843]

Thanks Tyler! On "Brushwork" and "Mark-Making" This a question I'd like to ask multiple digital illustrators and concept artists. I see this specific, evenly spaced, stuttered brush mark again and again in concept art. In your piece at 15:23 it's evident in the far background in the yellow and browns of the forest. John Park uses it a lot-see here in the distant trees and waterfall www.artstation.com/artwork/JlaEE0 I'm trying to understand the "why" of its use before adopting it "just because the pros do it". Is the answer simply: it's the quickest way to get marks down that imply texture and detail without actually having to articulate anything? Obviously it works at creating noise, but I also find it an interesting choice because the mark itself is a rather mechanical, inorganic one that when zoomed in almost looks like a computer glitch. It's often used for organic textures but it couldn't look more synthetic. This isn't a criticism of its use at all, I'd just like some insight into the thinking behind its use, because of how obviously digital it looks. Again, not a criticism but when isolated it's actually an "ugly" mark, but somehow it works in concept art...or is it so prevalent that we are conditioned to like that kind of brush/mark in digital concepts and production art? Your insight is much appreciated!

[@TylerEdlin84]

dittodestroyer I just think it’s a great mark to offset or go with my other strokes. Probably because it does in fact look a bit different. I don’t think twice about a lot of it, if I don’t like the stroke I just over paint or smudge it out

[@carlosfrostygreen6855]

Thanks

[@pedrooscar1890]

Boom Subscribed!

[@DeviIsAdvocate]

Need binoculars to see this man in his cam

[@mcbaltz]

Amazing video, Tyler. Thank you!

[@TylerEdlin84]

mcbaltz thanks for checking it out

[@bloodknightbob]

Heya Tyler, this was a great video! Also, I really liked the painting in the thumbnail, do you know what or who it's from? Thanks!

[@TylerEdlin84]

Adventurer_Judo it’s by Jamie Jones it’s for a book cover he did published by tor , That is all I know unfortunately

[@manashmishra8995]

Thanks a lot

[@conceptdude9819]

very usefull, thank you for the video

[@AspLode]

9:55 Another panel in the journey of a stick salesman!

[@user-oz1ny]

yeah it sure does

In the intro for this video you show parts of several books. Are there any that you would recommend?

[@bomnitoperro9422]

How do i choose a good brush to work. Thats one of my main problems

[@TylerEdlin84]

I get into that a little in the very newest video I put out

[@herddragon9215]

ok I have a big question. how can I bring a pice from being done to being truly finished. it was something I was never able to do in class, and still can't. also thank you for the informative video.

[@TylerEdlin84]

Herd Dragon just need to keep moving around the image and fix the biggest problem or part that bugs you the most until no part causes that reaction in you