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

Understanding basic color theory

Coming into this section, we are going to enter more of the "general artistry" part of the chapter. That means that while we may see a few Krita options and screens, the overall tone of the remainder of this chapter can be used in any form of visual communication, not just Krita (or digital painting).

I was trained as an observational artist in an atelier setting, meaning I've done enough still-life paintings and figure drawings to last 20 lifetimes! What it also means, though, is that my understanding of color and its different aspects is heavily influenced by in-person, professional classroom training under a mentor. Much of it comes from painting from life, and the overall idea of color for me is very contextual.

Breaking down a color

Before we get too deep into the theory behind color and the observational approach, however, we will define each of the three aspects of color. We will be going into a deep discussion about...