Stroker

Borg Eye with Stroker

I am definitely not known for my painting skills. I am one of the sloppiest painters you will ever meet. Even with my sloppy, meager skills, I do manage to surprise myself on occassion.

There was a time when I was afraid of painting. I always thought that no matter what I did, it would come out like crap. Now that's self-destructive behavior - and mistake number one. I also used to think that I could get it perfect with just a few short strokes - mistake number two.

I learned to shrug it off and paint anyways. I got rid of those silly things in my mind, and I'm a much better person for it. Let's take a peek at a recent example.

Upper-Left
This is the original unwittingly provided by Kirradog. It has been a long past few weeks and I needed something to play with. This just seemed to scream, "Play with me!" ... so I did.

Upper-Right
New layer over the original. Paintbrush size 3px and opacity 50%. Used alt to grab some values and painted away most of the eyelid. This is just to lay down a rough foundation.

Center-Left
Add another layer. Brush down to 1px and opacity 30%. Add some detailed shading. You know, slightly harden the edges and add a little extra shading here and there. There are two little lines in there that look like eyelashes, but that was actually the start of the shading of pulled skin. I figured the hook would mostly cover this, so I just left it half-baked.

Center-Right
Add another layer. Same brush and add some more detail, mainly some eyelashes. Actually used the Eraser tool to help. That is, make a stroke for the eyelash, then use the Eraser to trim the tip into a sharper point.

Lower-Left
Add another layer. Paint in a crappy hook. I never was really good at painting little things like this, so I just kind of flopped it. I thought about going the 3d route, but I was under a time constraint. I just didn't have the time to model, render a few, and tweak all night long.

Lower-Right
For the iris, I did break out the 3d program. I rendered a procedural tech eye from Simbiont. Then I dropped it on and did some fixing. I should have spent some more time fixing it, but the time was running out.

The hook is crappy.
The iris is decent.
The eyelid is cool beans. For my meager painting skills, I am very pleased. My "screw it" attitude when it comes to painting has really shown through. Just a few layers and some slapping some colour around.

What's the real lesson here?
I'm not entirely sure.
Probably something like: you can do it even if you suck.
Or: don't be afraid to suck.
Or maybe: suckitude will eventually go away with the proper attitude.
How about: get rid of the silly things in your head and just do it.

I'm not really sure, but I do know this: I suck at painting and yet I managed a very decent eyelid paint-over. As a matter of fact, the eyelid paint-over is the best thing about this piece. Talk about irony for a tech head like me.