Heya, been an avid reader of your magazine now for the last half year or so. Was a huuuuge discovery. The workshops are fantastic, and i have learnt so much. Not to mention it is really rather fun to read.

I was wondering however, whether there was any chance of getting a workshop/interview/ anything really. With the concept artist Jason Chan.  I Absoloubtly adore his work and im confident he has a huge following in the digital art arena.

Figured id ask on a random whim. Ya never know :)

thanks

shaggy breeks

x

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Actually Shaggy he's already done a workshop in the magazine and been featured. I think both were in Issue 4.

Here's a link to his workshop that was published in IFX:

http://www.imaginefx.com/02287754333284419776/gothic-beauty.html

Here's a link to the article that was featured:

http://www.imaginefx.com/02287754329931569268/jason-chan.html

And here's the cover.

 

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"Live life like a fantasy. Reality is only in your mind!" - Fabledgoat

ahhhhh sweeeet!! im so gonna have to find out now how to get back copies xD thanks very much for the link :D, cant wait to have a gander

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Hmmm. I'm looking at the Art Workshops listed on that front cover - Bryce, Painter, PD Pro - a nice diversity. Has that diversity disappeared recently, do you think?

Interesting thought joe,

I think the diversity in software coverage (2D wise) has become more streamlined, so to speak, Painter and Photoshop obviously still the two powerhouses, while Art Rage is making ground quickly.  I rarely, if ever hear or see workshops or tutorials based around or involving other software packages like PD Pro, SAI etc. 

 While with 3D all you hear about is Autodesk. 

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www.shap00pi.deviantart.com

Absolutely.

If you look at the profiles of pro artists, many state that they use Painter, and yet even Painter barely gets a look-in. The last few months in particular, the workshops have been almost all Photoshop, with one overview of Painter 11 from Andrew Jones.

I think perhaps the most galling thing recently was the introduction of a new Painting 101 series to teach us the "fundamentals of digital painting". I actually went straight to that article when it was mentioned at the front of the mag... only to find a more apt title would have been "Photoshop 101".

I'm not denying Photoshop's dominance in the 2D market, nor ImagineFX having the majority of their workshops featuring Photoshop, but it'd be nice to see more diversity.

a loooooong time ago, it was decided to streamline the magazine to focus predominantly on 2D products and illustration. part of this decision was based on the fact that IFX has a sister magazine called 3D world which focuses on the 3D elements but there were a few other reasons. I can't remember the rest of them. It was a big discussion on the forums here a couple years ago in which the editor of the time Rob Carney was involved in the duscussion and explained why that stuff had been minimized in the magazine.

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"Live life like a fantasy. Reality is only in your mind!" - Fabledgoat

fabledgoat:

a loooooong time ago, it was decided to streamline the magazine to focus predominantly on 2D products and illustration. part of this decision was based on the fact that IFX has a sister magazine called 3D world which focuses on the 3D elements

Yes, I can appreciate that. But even with 3D excluded, my perception recently is that Photoshop is the main focus for 2D illustration. I agree with others that PS dominates the market, is great and therefore deserves to be the main focus but my impression is that there are a few extremely good programs, not just Painter, that are going unnoticed.

How many posts have there been in the forum from people who can't afford Photoshop? Some of them might be surprised that there are cheaper alternatives and they might even consider using them if they are made aware that quality artwork can be produced with something other than Photoshop. I don't really want to criticise the mag, I think it's great as it is, but seeing that old issue made me think.

I should add that Nick Harris, through the mag and forum, does a great deal to promote alternatives.

Dave Gibbons feature using Manga Studio has been the most interesting article for me recently.

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The artist formerly known as Harlequin - This is the grand unification.

Uriel Hex on Deviant Art

Nick Harris' tutorial that featured ArtRage 2 (about a year ago) is what encouraged me to try the free version of ArtRage and subsequently buy it ($30)

Michael Kutsche is another artist who uses a variety of apps and he has done a couple of tutorials using Painter which have been excellent. And Ron Lemen's superb anatomy course is useful for everyone and not app specific at all. And I enjoyed the Dave Gibbons one mentioned above, and tried the Manga Studio demo as a result.

But these are few and far between, especially recently.

Ah, believe me I wouldn't disagree on the 2D programs point. I made a comment in the issue 44 thread that I'd like to see more Painter in the mag as I'm a Painter X person. Then I had to put my foot in my mouth because issue 44 showed up and had a Painter workshop in it.

Since the initial question was answered I'm just going to switch the topic of this thread to relate to the current conversation. :)

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"Live life like a fantasy. Reality is only in your mind!" - Fabledgoat

fabledgoat:

Since the initial question was answered I'm just going to switch the topic of this thread to relate to the current conversation. :)

Thanks, fabledgoat. I was a little worried that I might have hijacked the thread. Well, let's be honest, "might" doesn't enter into it, the thread was hijacked.

I'm also a little worried that someone is going to come along and point to a whole series of ImagineFX tuts and articles that are not Photoshop!

To be honest, I don't really pay that much attention to what programs it says that any particular artist is using. 99% of what's done in any tutorial can be applied to most 2D programs.

What I find interesting are other people's processes, not the specifics of the tools they use.

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i have to agree with em.. (as usual!) i like the tuts for the techniques and to be honest, i've never read a tutorial on either photoshop or painter that has actually taught me how to use it, that has come from trial & error & asking questions here, so for me it's irrelevant what program it is, unless it's a 3D program, then i don't wanna know anything

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Even with 3D software, most of the techniques are exactly the same across different packages (and the same basic principles of art apply in 3D the same as 2D). You just read what the person is doing (and why), then adapt it to whatever you are doing.

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