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Feeling Discouraged... Beginner


DominoDot

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I just started Paint and have been searching the forums for about a week now. (Maybe less?)

Anyways, I've been seeing all the awesome graphics and such that people have made. Lets just say its not helping my self esteem.

So I was just wondering how you would think a beginner should start out. What did you start out doing. I'm very lost.

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I think the first thing I did that was halfway decent was this:

sig_v2.png

I am in no way as talented as almost anyone in here (and it would be awesome to have 1/10 the talent of Ash or Oma or, well, almost anyone else). I also wrote a tutorial on making something that might look like bamboo if you squint tightly.

I think the amazing things people do here should be taken as things you can do once you learn how. Not as unattainable heights. I mean, the ones who do these amazing things are also writing tutorials on how to do them.

sig_v3.png
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Press F1 whilst in PDN, and take a look at this tut to give you the basic foundations in PDN: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=21605

Also, try doing some tutorials in the tutorial section (stickied ones are the "best") and the best thing to do in PDN to get better is to experiment with effects, tools, adjustments, etc.

Merry Christmas

 

.::.My Gallery.::.Make Gold Text!.::.

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oh wow! same mind set I had when I first started out. add that to learning how to use a computor at an advanced age well overwhelmed doesn't even begin to cover it.

so you need some advise

1) I fully agree with LFC4ever watch that flash tut, it will walk you thru all the basics. I truly wish this was avail when I first started out. Its 100% pure gold to beginners.

2) try the tuts...even if you don't really want to make a ..... what ever they show in the tut, try it. You will learn maybe a new method or version of doing something. You might pick up a little tip. After you finish a tut, don't rush to do another right away, its not a race. Stop think about that tut you just completed, what did you learn? and what else could you make using the same principals, and ideas. Then try to make that, don't be discouraged if its not perfect, you did what the tut wanted you to do. You learned to apply.

3) Think about what interests you outside of computors, those will be the things you are familiar with already, try to draw something from there.

4) you are allowed a single section within the pictorium for your own gallery. post your work even if its not perfect.

5) if someone gives a suggestion to you about something you might try in your picture. At least give it a shot. Its not that they are knocking your work but rather that they care to take atime to look and try to help you along.

most of all have fun, this is not a place where you should be competing with others over who has the best picture, but a place where you try to better your skills.

welcome to the forum

ciao

OMA

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Do the tutorials. That's how I learned. Go down the list, and do as many as you can, or the ones that interest you most. This, while it may seem kind of boring because you don't do anything original, helps you with certain things such as knowing where all the effects and adjustments are or how each tool or effect can be used. After you've done a fair amount of them, you should begin to apply things that you learned from those tuts to your own original pieces.

In addition to the above and other's comments, here are a couple more resources that you may find useful:

  • [*:o75zeb1i]the
Tips and Tricks page has a whole potload of miscellaneous tricks and turns that you may find valuable.
[*:o75zeb1i]The Ten (Now 11!) Healthy Habits of a Paint.NET Artist is a great guide for things that will greatly help you when creating artwork.

I hope this has been helpful for you. Don't be discouraged if you don't achieve exactly what you want the first time, keep trying! :wink:

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I have only started using PDN recently and some of the pics are amazing. I just tried as many tutorials as possible to start with and I also found that going on You Tube and watching some of the tuts on there was a great help, especially the ZeroDayPhoto series which takes you through the basics and more. Once you`ve watched a few vids and done a few tuts from the forums you will surprise yourself with what you can do.Enjoy. :wink:

 

 

Please feel free to visit my Gallery on PDNFans

And my Alternatives to PDN

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Start with abstracts. In PDN, there isn't much skill required, only the knowledge of a myriad of small techniques for this and that. Combined together, they make a great artists. Because abstracts have no boundaries, they're a great way to start learning.

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I am still fairly new to PDN. I, too, did every tutorial that looked interesting. I started making fire and lightning and the just started doing random things. I see how some peoples amazing work can be disheartening but, like all things, your skills will get better with practice. Be cool, I remain....

-Boom

"Most men lead lives of quiet desperation" - Henry David Thoreau

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