Digital Character Design and Painting: The Photoshop CS Edition [With CDROM]

by Don Seegmiller

Digital Character Design and Painting: The Photoshop CS Edition, is a completely updated version of this beautifully illustrated, full color book. In the first edition, users learned digital skills... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1584503408
• ISBN13: 9781584503408
• Release Date: August 2004
• Publisher: Cengage Learning
• Length: 377 Pages
• Weight: 1.84 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 7.3" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

Good images, good exercises

Print in full color, it gives you a lot of ideas, it makes me wanna do more things!!

Take a Class in Digital Character Painting and Design

This is one of the best books on digital painting and character design that I have found. Most computer painting books deal with digital filters and special effects but this book is truly like taking a class in digital character painting with Adobe Photoshop CS. In the first part of the book the author, Don Seegmiller, discusses his approach to creating an original character design. He begins the process by answering a list of questions about the budding character he is creating. Then he builds on this by creating a fictional history for his character to give it a physical appearance and personality. In the second part of the book Seegmiller discusses how traditional artistic principles apply to digital character design and painting. After covering the basics of color, value and light, he concentrates on the individual aspects of digital character painting. Then he discusses some of the tools in Photoshop CS that you will need to be familiar with. The third part of the book is where the fun really begins. Seegmiller devotes an entire chapter to digital painting eyes, face, hair and fabric. In the rest of the chapters he helps you to apply what you have learned to designing and painting many diverse characters from a human to a wizard creature. Don Seegmiller specializes in graphic design and illustration. He has taught figure drawing at Brigham Young University and has worked for the video game developer Saffire Corporation. He offers workshops demonstrating his approach to digital character design and painting and has written articles for Design Graphics magazine.

hardcore painting

Powerful Photoshop brushes on display here. Brushes may very well be the #1 feature of photoshop, and at the same time, the least known and used by many. I got this book because basically brushes were the final "unexplored frontier" for me in photoshop. I also got it because I thought it would tie in well with 3D art, which I guess in the end it really doesn't all that much. Everything in this book is geared toward mag cover art, game box art, ect.. Regardless, the techniques learned in this book can be applied to other artforms as well. The book alone is worth it for simply learning brushes and all their options. If you are a good painter, then it will make you a great painter, if you are not a painter, it will make one out of you in some form or another. First 1/2 of book discusses some theory and steps you through the brush engine and all of its vast options. Then you are exposed to numerous hardcore tutorials that if you do them all and take your time, will in turn boost your quality significantly. The tutorials are not step-by-step, but rather overviews of processes, which if you know photoshop well, you will have no problem. If you are a good painter, but know little of photoshop, then read a basic photoshop book first. Chances are, unless your a master painter, your versions of the tutorials will pail in comparison to Don S's, but like he says in the book, you will have learned a wealth of information along the way that you can use from there forward. All in all, a very worthwhile manual. Also of note is that working this book with only a mouse is tedious and uninspiring, but if you get a stylus after or during your reading of the book, you'll see the true nature of the painting power Don has given you.

Informative and Inspirational

This must be one of the best books available on the process of using Photoshop to create original paintings. For that matter, many of the techniques described can also apply to other photo-editing programs. The section of the book about designing characters was enlightening, but I was more impressed with the way the author demonstrated digital painting methods. If you have an interest in art and a desire to create convincing paintings with a computer that goes beyond just using special effects filters, you'll find this book informative and inspirational.

Must have!

A really good book. Same intro about Character Design as the Older Painter version, but new totally different tutorials. If you are looking for a totally 'hands held' walkthrough this isnt the book for you. He gives you a step by step image walkthrough and says verbally what he does. No real brush sizes, opacities, or color choices. Still, a lot of different walkthroughs. Eyes, Hair, Skin, Characters, A little Dragon, and then the Wizard on the cover. A lot of his brushes are also included. A definte best buy!