Drawing Thread

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Discussion place about drawing/detailing on fr. Place to ask for advice on works, drawing styles, tips, etc. If you feel like you can answer for someone's question, do it! Positively please
Note: When it comes to asking broad questions, ask the community not just me.
Additional Note: You need to spend time on detailing to get better at it. Observing others is not enough, you gotta be spending more time doing.

Regarding questions:
- When asking for help, be specific. Many times in order to garner the most attention and the most help from others put time and effort into detailing your question(haha pun).
- If no one is answering your question, considered your question itself. Sometimes poor questions result in no responses(perhaps too broad).
- Seriously try detailing/drawing so you have something to show before asking your question. This way people can get an idea of where you're at and can cater their advice for you. The learning process involves practice, merely reading and observing is not sufficient. Don't be a help vampire.

Things/Ideas to post:
- Advice
- WIP images
- Questions
- Drawing milestones
- Discussion topics

Honorable detailing topics to help contribute:
- When it comes to fire...
- When it comes to rock...
- When it comes to trees...
- When it comes to shading...
- When it comes to water...
- When it comes to clouds...
- When it comes to buildings...
- When it comes to sun and moon...
- When it comes to nature...

Guidelines to follow/keep in mind:
- Stay on topic
- This is not about making a track's ride
- Remember this is made to help each and every one of us improve; everyone's advice is treated equally
- Participation needed, your constructive thoughts and opinions are always appreciated

Spoiler: CLICK FOR GUIDANCE FROM COMMUNITY MEMBERS

Props to codrey for this>
Stage 1: Top of cloud

This (for me) is where the main shape of the cloud is created. You can make it random and bumpy, small and smooth etc. You have a lot of freedom with clouds bcoz there is no set shape to them, although there is almost a stereotypical cloud in this game I find. Use the snap tool and just make a bunch of small circles like so:

Keep up a random selection of circle sizes, so that it doesnt look repetitive and monotonous: You wont ever find that in a cloud.
Stage 2: Bottom of cloud
You can do all sorts of bottoms for your cloud; from just a flat line, to just kind of repeating what you have done on the top, to a mixture of straightness and some circles. Here are my examples of them if you dont understand:
Flat line:

Circles:

Mixture of both:

I personally use the 2nd method, as I feel it looks better.
Stage 3: Shading, adding more clouds
I personally rarely if ever shade, so I wont give any tips on that front. However, I have lately been adding in some more clouds to the center of the cloud, like so:

I hoped this helped!

Props to CityShep for this>
So you have this:

First off, recognize where you have any imperfections / dips / bumps in the hills and try to plan out 'ridges' as to where there would be layers. Try to keep it organic, and keep in mind that you're just mapping it out as to not go overkill. Don't just put them randomly, you want to try and figure out what would make sense for a legitimate geographic feature.

Alright, now that you've got the 'layers' in place, it's time to add some grass. Obviously you can draw it however you like, you can make the long or wide or ten feet tall, it really just depends on what you want. I just go with simple brush strokes using the smallest size brush. Add them along the lines, and try not to fall into any patterns or make it look to perfect, you want to space them out in subtle clumps or groupings that are random and sized differently. Don't put blades too close to one anther, you don't want a blob.

Notice how I kept it interesting by making that little ridge a little exposed / textured, almost as if there is some exposed sediment or grass growing on an angle. Also keep in mind that when you erase the guidelines that you can keep certain portions to make it look as though the grass isn't just floating. Tilt the blades of grass with the angle of the hill to make it look a little more wind blown. You don't want every blade of grass standing upright, as that's likely not the case with grass in real life.

Boom! There you have it, grass in areas that make sense, and without looking like you just chose random places to put clumps of it. Don't go overkill, simplicity can be great if you do it correctly! You can add little patches here and there, just remember to put thought into every line!



Props to Joelbmx for this>


Props to Crypt for this>
http://community.freeriderhd.com/threads/beginners-detail-tutorial.3276/

Props to armator for this>
http://community.freeriderhd.com/threads/an-informative-message-to-track-designers.1243/

Props to Forlorn333 for this>
http://community.freeriderhd.com/threads/realistic-detail-tutorials.1758/

Props to JacobCahoon for this> https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_bFXCmiDsXFOVhETGoxVmlyLUE/view
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_bFXCmiDsXFTHNZM01GN29sVEE/view

Props to nasrani for this>


Props to max007x for this> http://community.freeriderhd.com/threads/max007x’-ultimate-guide-to-track-design.618/

Props to eli for this>
http://www.freeriderhd.com/t/63348-grid-colour-pallet

Props to m1.c3 for this>
https://www.freeriderhd.com/t/272576-perfect-circle-tutorial

Great Contributors as of now:
this could be you <.<

 

Ty for starting of. Honestly my planning is terrible. I work on the ride first before the detail. I suggest you find something to base your track of off, find a theme, use reference tracks or pictures. Get a idea of what you want and do a sketch. This is different for everyone.

 

I kinda want to say it came somewhat naturally but I'd be kidding myself. However I've always been self-taught. Of course everyone starts of somewhere. I was terrible with the mouse when I first started and was convinced the only way to draw great tracks is through using a drawing pad. Later with time I grew more comfortable with the mouse. What you need is time, effort, and the want to detail. For me I've always been more engaged by the drawing aspect of track making.

 

Just a question Maple ... And it might not be about detailing... but how long does it take to finish your track? Also do you have a plan when you make your tracks? e.g. detail this section, skip the next one and detail the end. If so, could you let me know, thanks.

 

Depends on what track I'm making. So far current WIP is at 1MB and that was about a month, just to give you an idea. When it comes to big projects then yes I always go in with a plan. I'll give you an example of how I work. Detailing forest, but I'm not in the mood to do any more trees so I switch to rocks. When I get sick of doing rocks I do grass, sick of grass I do water, OK now back to trees.

EDIT: remember to ask the community not just me!

 

I'll answer questions

 

I will prob start mini discussions on this later or feel free to start your own.

 

How do you know how and where to put detail lines?

EDIT: You should post a picture of your WIP!

 

nah no sneak peaks, just wait a month or 2

 

Okay . Do you have an answer to my question?

 

It's that easy. (JK I don't think it is easy at all, must be one of those easier said than done things )

 

So I have a legit question. Do you know how to be consistent.

 

Ok, I get it now, thank you for helping bro

 

Consistent with what?

 

Yes if you are talking about consistency with quality of detail. I now just take a break or not detail at all if I feel like I'm beginning to get sloppy, some good days I can add 200k other days a mere 5.

 

Yeah that's a problem for me too. If I detail to much it just starts to become muscle memory in a way, and I stop thinking as I draw. If you know what I mean.

 

Detailing, having the skill to detail. A 2 month break basically killed any skill that I had

 

Whatever you'll prob get your skill back pretty soon if you could already draw well