Book Image

Draw and Paint Better with Krita

By : Wesley Gardner
Book Image

Draw and Paint Better with Krita

By: Wesley Gardner

Overview of this book

Krita is a free, open-source digital painting program with industry-leading functionality and a creative suite of tools able to bring any visual idea to life. It allows for a fast, clean approach to creating digital art, without the hassle of pay-to-play or subscription license fees, but just like all other art software, it takes time and effort to learn it. This book provides a comprehensive look into functional tools, visual problem-solving, and leading painting techniques using Krita to unleash your inner artist. You’ll learn the functionality and tools of Krita for creating digital and print-quality work as well as explore manipulation toolsets, custom brush creation, overviews of color spaces, and layer management. As you progress, you’ll get to grips with ‘key styles’ needed to make professional-grade digital art, through techniques such as photobashing, 3D paint-overs, and more traditional painting methods, along with covering how Krita handles these workflows. Next, you’ll work through a few step-by-step art pieces using the skills and tools learned throughout the book. By the end of this Krita book, you’ll have a solid understanding of the Krita work environment and be able to bring your artistic visions to life with a myriad of leading industry-standard techniques.
Table of Contents (18 chapters)
1
Part 1: Intro to Krita and Digital Art Terminology Review
6
Part 2: Methods of Visual Communication within Krita
11
Part 3: Projects Unleashing Your Inner Artist with Krita

Finding your niche – what Krita can do for you

Throughout this book, we went through three different project styles:

  • A basic landscape to learn about layers, blending modes, and color splashing
  • A still-life study, bringing a traditional artistic approach to a digital art project
  • A piece of imaginative concept art using all the skills we've learned throughout this book as a "capstone" project to go into a portfolio

The projects were set up in this way to give you a range of experiences and working styles within Krita.

Where's the Animation Stuff?

I also know that Krita has some incredible animation tools, but as I'm not an animator by profession or by hobby, I didn't feel comfortable giving advice for that art medium in this book. In this chapter, I'll provide a link to a fantastic Krita community that has a wide range of artists from multiple disciplines, including all of the animation tips and tricks you could...