Charles River Media Book/CD: Digital Character Painting Using Photoshop CS3, 2nd Edition by Don Seegmiller

Digital Character Design and Painting Using Photoshop CS3 is a completely updated edition of this brilliantly illustrated book that blends two unique subjects: character design and digital painting.

It details how to put thoughts and ideas together to create characters that elicit specific emotions (joy, fear, anger, sadness, etc.), and it teaches how to beautifully render these characters by applying traditional painting skills with digital tools. This edition has been completely updated to use Photoshop CS3 as the primary tool, and includes many new characters and tutorials.

Written for artists interested in learning how to use Photoshop CS3 as a real painting tool, the book is divided into three primary sections. The first section deals with character design and provides strategies for developing worthwhile ideas.

In the next section, you'll find fundamentals artistic principles that are often overlooked in the digital world, and learn how to incorporate them into your efforts. And in the final section, you'll work through practical tutorials that teach insightful techniques and tips for solving common visual problems that emerge when painting.

The tutorials start off simple covering the basics of value, edges, color, and light. From there they evolve into in-depth techniques for blending, eyes, faces, cloth, hair, Photoshop brushes, and portraits. Whether you are a seasoned professional or aspiring artist, you'll find a plethora of useful ideas and techniques that will improve your skills and help you create and paint masterful digital art.

About the Author: Don Seegmiller is the author of the Painter edition of Digital Character Design and Painting (2003). He has a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree and teaches senior-level illustration, traditional head painting, figure drawing, and digital painting courses at a variety of schools.

He worked for six years as art director for Saffire Corporation, is a regular speaker at the game Developers Conference, and was the keynote speaker at the American Association of Medical Illustrators convention in 2003.

His work is featured in The Painter 6 Wow Book, The Painter 7 Wow Book, Electronic Step by Step Design, Spectrum 7, Spectrum 8, and it has also been on display at Wadle Galleries of Santa Fe since 1981.