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Where did you go, Karma? Your last drawing was on 30 January 09. Did all this good advice scare you off? I hope not ... perhaps you're practising and you're going to surprise us one day, very soon.

awsomeness

i think ur pic of a prom dress #2 is good even i would wear it to prom!

grahame

Hi Karma,
TD is, first and foremost, all about having fun and your pictures are already great.
If you want to make more complex pictures then you have to use layers and sizing to achieve the result you want. Sometimes this means spotting that you need to start with something tiny (such as a white piece for the twinkle in someones eye) and build up the other colours and shades in the reverse order to achieve the final result. Unfortunately this can sometimes cover up other elements that you have already done so you really need to plan your drawings and anticipate what needs doing in what order.
Also, have a play with placing all the different elements over each other with a slight offset so that only small parts of the bottom element are revealed. You'll often find that subtle shading, noses, eye sockets etc. will magically appear. This is just like real painting, where artists make the most of 'happy accidents' and incorporate them into their work.
Initially I would suggest you pick a image you like on the internet and size the window to about the same as the TD pane, then open TD and size its window next to the first one so you can see all of the elements and sizing controls and then try to copy some or all of the photograph.
Start with something simple like a cartoon that has only a few colours and no shading. You'll be amazed how quickly you can produce a good copy, especially if you keep the proportions accurate.
Copying a photograph of a real person or scene is only a more complicated version of this and you'll soon start seeing subtle shading and colours. It might help if you think of the TD elements as a stroke of paint from a brush, one on top of another.

puzzler

Hi Karma. Part of the skill is choosing the right scheme to match your subject and it looks as though you are doing that well with your sunrise and promdress. Not all of our pics are works of art, so it's important to have fun and put real effort into one or two. Google a pic you like, print it and then choose the scheme which will enable you to interpret it in the easiest way. This might be governed by colour or certain shapes you need, or even a background. Then away you go! Remember we all have failures - hurray for the delete button!

anotherronism

One more thing.

If you play around with the different shapes you'll find they work differently in different directions (tiling left or up or diagnol vs. down or right).

Some edges have an anti-aliased edge and some end in a hard color. The anti-aliased (technical term - sorry) images will show the edge in tiling while the others blend much better.

Also - the cow forehead has a nice round right side and bottom but has an abrupt corner on the lower-left. Using it to tile up and left leaves a jagged line due to that sharp corner.

So play around. Many of my images have been the result of just tiling around and noticing something interesting then pursuing it.

Good luck.

Ron