Need advice about Digital Painting
Hello people of Polycount 
!
I was thinking about starting a path about 2D Digital painting.
But i've some questions regarding the right way to do it.
Starting from the fact that i don't have any experience regarding drawing skills but i'm enough proficent with Photoshop,in your opinion what's the best path to follow?
I mean, should i start studying some fundamental drawing concepts like prospective, anatomy etc... or go directly through Digital painting and learn how to draw with digital softwares?
Time is not an issue.
Thanks for the anwers and forgive me if my english is not the best
!I was thinking about starting a path about 2D Digital painting.
But i've some questions regarding the right way to do it.
Starting from the fact that i don't have any experience regarding drawing skills but i'm enough proficent with Photoshop,in your opinion what's the best path to follow?
I mean, should i start studying some fundamental drawing concepts like prospective, anatomy etc... or go directly through Digital painting and learn how to draw with digital softwares?
Time is not an issue.
Thanks for the anwers and forgive me if my english is not the best
Replies
http://drawabox.com/ <- Another alternative. I liked both of them.
If you do it the hard way you'll spend years self-teaching and wondering why nobody gives you money for your art talentS.
Focusing on the fundamentals (perspective, anatomy, color theory, etc.) is definitely the way to go.
Best of luck!
Can't recommend theses guys enough.
I would agree ... to an extent. There is no doubt that an image can be made from scratch in Photoshop, but tablets (and even Cintiqs) are still an order of magnitude less precise than pen and paper. (This is pretty obvious when watching any lineart-based digital painting video - artists starting them from scratch in PS tend to rely on something like 4 consecutive lineart passes just to get their lines right).
Put differently : let's say you had one year of free time ahead of you. I can almost guarantee that one year spent with just pen and paper would get you further skills-wise than one year sitting in front of Photoshop.
I hope this makes sense !
I agree with this, i can't sketch in photoshop or anything with my intuos. I've been trying for a while but now i've simply stopped and started drawing in a sketchbook again.
You just don't have the accuracy to make like lines you want first time.
Hoped a drawing display would help though. Maybe I'll get that eventually.
I also highly recommend ctrl+paint mainly because it starts with the basics I learned in highschool (i went to art highschool with college classes). I went there for review when I felt my work was lacking and it was great.
Since you mentioned that you don't have much drawing skills, I really think it would be in your best interest to just get a sketchbook and some pencils. Once you know the fundamentals and principles of drawing traditional you can always transfer those skills to digital.
What are the topics(fundamentals) that i should cover? i was looking for the Gnomon's course ones but i can't find them
Once you've got these things under control (and note that you can and should always go back and do some drills) you will be ready to start drawing things. You will almost always learn more by drawing from life, so grab your sketchbook and pen and leave the apartment and go to any of the following places that might be available:
Be brave! But not too brave, of course, and be aware of your surroundings. Find someplace to sit, and open your sketchbook and draw things that are in the place, including things that move. Erase minimally or not at all at this point. You want to capture the big shapes and work down to the little details. Spend at least five minutes on each thing you draw, and take as much time as you need, but draw your strokes quickly enough that they don't wobble. If anyone looks at your sketchbook and implies that you aren't very good at drawing, tell them that you'd very much like to get better and ask them if they have suggestions, or if they would like to pose to be drawn to help you practice. They will usually either leave you alone or help you out, but be sure to be nice about it always.
Back at home, you can lay out some fruit or sandwiches on the table and do some still life drawings. These will really increase your skill quickly, so don't do too many or you'll be better at drawing than I am in no time.
After you've drawn a thing several times, break down in your sketchbook the optimal way to draw it and write some notes about its shape. Then, later on, try to draw the object from your notes and see if you get something believable. It might take a few times for any particular object for you to really get it down, but you will be constantly improving.
After you've filled up one sketchbook with drawings, or if you feel that the time is right, you should sign up for a figure drawing session with nude models. Go to it and draw the nice people who are there. If the session is still going and you've already drawn all of the models, draw them again. Fill a second sketchbook with only nude drawings.
At this point, you'll be well on your journey and you should have plenty ideas of what you would like to draw in your third sketchbook. Keep them all as you fill them and don't stop drawing until you die.
Hope this is helpful
http://www.ctrlpaint.com/library/
Look at subjects 2 through 7