drawing advice please

[bshand1]

beer glass

Hi

I've been struggling with this image (it's a .xar file) above over the last couple of days. The image on the left is a photograph and on the right is my effort to copy it. But as you see mt beer glass lacks the life and light of the original. It all looks flat.

Any suggestions on how I might fix this problem?

Brett

[Scotty]

Hi,
Looks like your off to good start! go to XaraOne and there is a tutorial for Wine glass I believe (Gary could give the exact one) and that I believe will give you the finishing touches. You have deone excellent so far tho'.
Jim

[Albacore]

Hi Wolfie,
Egg also did a great workbook about 31/2 years ago with a empty tumbler. I thought it was one of the best guest tutorials produced for the Xone, so maybe if you combine the two other wine glass tutorials done by Gary you because he updated the first you will have the drawing you want.

[Availor]

http://www.xaraxone.com/html/guest_tutorials_2002.html
There is a Glass Tutorial By Egg

[gwpriester]

This is a champagne glass tutorial but there are some techniques in the tutorial that could help with your beer glass January 2002 Xara Xone Tutorial.

Gary

[LogoVend]

@ The Talkgraphics Regulars

God damn - that's the answer to everything on these forums - see the tutorial - you don't all have to draw the way Gary draws. Man this frustrates me. It's such an easy answer to everything. Obviously from what's been posted so far the guy knows what he's doing. Let the man take his own path.

@ Wolfie

My advise to you is to continue with what you're doing because it's looking really good so far - a really good base to work from - all you really need to add a bit of depth is to put some transparencies down for the highlights and shadow on the glass and put some bubbles in there and it'll be fine.

I find with drawing - especially with the portraits that I have been doing lately - they look very crap to start off with when I lay down the basic shapes - but as you pile the detail and highlights and shadows on top of a picture - which you generally do last of all because they'll be the shapes at the front - everything starts to take shape eventually.

You just need a little faith and the patience to follow it through to the end - there's always this magical point for me where it changes from something flat and lifeless into something living and breathing. So just don't get disheartened and see it through to the end.

I would say avoid the tutorials and do it your own way - you obviously have a good eye.

One little tip - if you're using the photo as a trace guide then I would have the drawing a perfect nudge space from the original so you can draw over the top of the original and then use 'Shift + Right Arrow' to move the shape you've just drawn to the actual drawing without having to line it up perfectly.

[bshand1]

Thanks very much. Great advice from all of you and I really appreciate the encouragement.

Apart from this I just returned to doing pencil, pen, ink and wash drawings after not doing anything for thirty years. It's great to get my artistic hands dirty again.

I'll let you know how I get on.

Kia kaha

[bshand1]

Okay, here's what I finished up with:
Beer glass version2

It's still a way from how I imagined it but I quite like it. I'll get closer next time http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/smile.gif

Thanks for all the help and encouragement.

[jclements]

Not bad at all.

The edges of the foam seem to be a bit too hard.
Perhaps some feathering or a brush stroke for the foam's outline?

Try a gradient for the foam that goes from light to gray and back to light again to smulate the reflected light along its sides.

Also, make a duplicate of the foam object and experiment with giving it a bitmap or fractal fill then feather the edges or apply an ellipitcal transparency with the outer portions more transparent the center.

Just some ideas. Do stop now, keep experimenting. You are doing a very good job.

[gwpriester]

God damn - that's the answer to everything on these forums - see the tutorial - you don't all have to draw the way Gary draws. Man this frustrates me. It's such an easy answer to everything. Obviously from what's been posted so far the guy knows what he's doing. Let the man take his own path.

Sheesh, and I thought I needed anger management!

You can always learn from someone else. And in my 10 year's worth of tutorials I have created a wide range of effects. In addition the Guest Tutorials fill in a lot of the gaps with techniques I am not that good with.

If someone can benefit from a techique and then apply it to her or his project, then what is the problem? Obviously some people will take the steps ver batum and others will take the techniques off in their own direction as Wolfie has done.

Wolfie - Good beginning. John is right, the foam looks too stiff. The foam is made up of tiny bubbles, as you know. I would look the Fill Gallery for something that has the texture of foam and try adding it to the top of the foam and applying some transparency.

Gary