Family look style is gaining popularity every year and is winning the hearts of many families around the world. Every girl wants to be like her mother at any age. If you look at the mother and daughter outwardly, then most often the child is a miniature copy of an adult.

The same clothes are not only fashionable, beautiful and stylish. Psychologists say out loud that the Family Look Style forms the correct psyche of the child. If a mother understands her daughter and supports her in everything, then it will be possible to achieve good relationships between them and the child will be able to tell everyone that her mother is her best friend

How to look stylish mom and daughter

Today, stylish and fashionable clothes are popular, thanks to which you can stand out among the gray masses of people. The same outfits are popular not only in Russia, but also abroad. Flipping through the pages of a glossy magazine, you can see interesting and unique models. Today, almost any fashion house is trying to introduce paired clothes into their collections, as they are in demand among buyers. Dolce & Gabbana is a brand that everyone knows is no exception and annually presents new Family look collections.

You can complete your look with the same accessories. For this, shawls to match the dress, tied around the neck or arm, jewelry, hair clips or shoes made in the same style are suitable.

All girls become interested in adult life earlier than boys: they try on their mother's wardrobe, use cosmetics, start reading magazines, and therefore women's Family look clothes are more in demand than men's.

Star Family look

If you look at the social networks of stars, you will be able to find that celebrities use this style. Ksenia Borodina, Angelina Jolly, Natalia Ionova - these are the bright representatives of the Family look. Often they take part in shows and pose for filling catalogs with fashionable clothes.

A striking representative of this style can be called Victoria Bonya, who instills in her three-year-old daughter a taste from an early age. In the wardrobe of a socialite and her child, there are a lot of family look backgammon: identical dresses, swimsuits, sundresses. Another representative of the talk show House 2 - Ksenia Borodina looks on a par with her daughter Marusya.

Alsou also keeps up with fashion trends and dresses her daughters Mikella and Safina just like herself. By maintaining this style, the star remains young and can feel on the same wavelength with the girls. And they pretend to be adults. Often, Glukoza appears on the pages of fashion magazines, accompanied by her daughters Lida and Vera, who are dressed in identical sets of clothes.

Madonna first asked fashion designers to make an outfit for her daughter Lourdes, exactly the same as hers. The star could not even imagine that after a while it would become a separate trend in fashion, which would be followed by stylish parents.

Is it necessary to look the same

Of course, you can match such models of clothing, thanks to which you will look like two drops of water with your child. But designers believe that it’s not worth “joking” with your images like that, you need to pick up the elements that distinguish mother from daughter.

So, if you have chosen the same T-shirts, then the bottom of the outfit can be different for everyone. Usually it is chosen from the clothes that are in the closet. It will be enough if the color scheme is similar. However, you can use different styles when choosing clothes.

There are several options for how you can use the Family Bow:

1. Same looks 100%. This is not easy to achieve, as daughters and mothers have different accessories, hairstyles and makeup. Therefore, designers rarely use this style. It is difficult to observe it, since the mother will look like a small child, and the daughter, on the contrary, will look like an adult, which does not suit all children.
2. Single style. The most common direction is when mother and daughter have one identical item in their wardrobe. The rest of the clothes may be different, but you need to adhere to the general style of the image.

Photo shoot kits

Wearing matching dresses, mom and daughter can go anywhere. Someone buys such models for a photo shoot in the Family look style to get original pictures that the family will remember for a year. Models that are perfect for filling a family photo album:

• Set of dresses Family Look for mother and daughter "Vest" М-258

The first to notice such a fashion trend were photographers who sewed custom-made clothes for families and arranged fashion photo shoots that were not so popular a few years ago.

Holiday outfits for mom and daughter

If you want everyone to notice your family idyll, you can come in this outfit to your child’s kindergarten or elementary school graduation. Believe me, by choosing our catalog of dresses, not a single guest will leave you without attention. And the child will be proud of his strong and friendly family, which even dresses the same. Most often, graduation time is held in the summer, which means that the most trendy models of dresses can be noted:

• Set of dresses Family Look for mother and daughter "Mermaid" М-232

Initially, this style originated in the United States at the beginning of the last century. In Russia, the same outfits turned out quite by accident: mothers sewed clothes for themselves, and dresses for daughters were also made from scraps of fabric.

If you go on a holiday with the whole family, then everyone can dress the same way, for example, mom and daughter can choose the same dresses for themselves, and dad and son can wear trousers, a shirt and a tie in the same style. The family bow catalog contains models that are suitable for the whole family. The most relevant are: Quartet or TRIOobserving a strict style, Flight, made in blue and yellow colors, Tartansuitable for the whole family.

Sets for everyday wear

And even casual clothes are easily transformed into this style. The TM Mosa catalog contains the same sets for adults and children for everyday wear or walking. Going out into the street in such outfits, you will not leave indifferent a single passer-by, everyone will smile after you. And the attention of others is very important for the child and has a positive effect on his self-esteem. The following are recognized as the most convenient and practical models of the family bow catalog.

What do you think, if you divide half a hundred by half, then how much will you end up with?

Answer

What sign do you think should be placed between 0 and 1 to get a number greater than 0 but less than 1?

Answer

How many edges do you think a hexagonal pencil has that has never been sharpened?

Answer

A three-liter vessel is completely filled with three liters of water. For 2 transfusions, you need to fill two empty vessels of 1 and 2 liters, so that each of them contains 1 liter of water. In this case, you can no longer use anything other than these three vessels.

Answer

Do you think there are lines other than a circle on which all points will be equidistant from any one point?

Answer

Which subject do you think will have the same image when drawn from any point of view?

Answer

Try to figure out which of the following conclusions is correct:

A) There are three false conclusions.
B) There is one false conclusion here.
C) There are two false conclusions.
D) There are five false conclusions.
E) There are four false conclusions.

Answer

Try to guess how much the book costs if the book costs a dollar plus half the book.

Answer

Answer, what time is it now, if the rest of the day is twice the past?

Answer

5 fishermen ate 5 carp in 5 days. How many days do you think it will take 15 fishermen to eat 15 carps?

Answer

There are 9 kg of sugar in the bag. There are also two weights of 50g and 200g. Think about how to weigh 2 kg of sugar in three weighings on a pan balance?

Answer

Two collective farmers decided to find out who has more sheep. The first of them said: "If you give me your goat, then I will have twice as many of them as you." The second one says to him: “Come on, you better give me your one sheep, then I will have as many sheep as you have.” How many sheep does each of the collective farmers have? (There has not yet been a transfer of sheep).

Answer

There are only 36 students in one class. There are 3 more girls than boys. How many boys and girls are in this class?

Answer

Can you write the number 1000 with only eight 8s and arithmetic sums?

December 24, 2016 at 00:32

Which figure of identical flat objects will peek the farthest over the edge of the table?

• Popular Science,
• Logical games

• Translation

In November, Quanta magazine puzzled its readers with questions about making figures out of identical flat objects (such as coins or dominoes). This article provides both questions and detailed answers to them.

Question 1

In the classical problem of constructing an overhanging figure, all blocks must be homogeneous, identical in size and shape, and their length is taken as one. There can only be one block per shape level. Blocks cannot be connected or glued together. If you have five such blocks, what is the maximum length that the end of the top block can protrude beyond the edge of the table they are on? Can you deduce the formula for maximum overhang when using n blocks?

Physically, the task requires balancing the torque of the figure on both sides of the edge of the table. The torque of each side is the product of the mass of that side and the distance from the center of mass to the edge. When the center of mass of the whole figure is above the edge, the same moment acts on both sides of it, and the total torque of the system is zero. For a composite object, the total torque for any face can be found by adding the torques of all the component parts. Therefore, we can divide and conquer the original problem by considering only the changes that occur when a new block is added to an existing stack, a kind of mathematical induction (let's call it physical induction).

Consider a stack of n-1 blocks, each of which weighs one unit of weight and has a length of one unit of length. The stack is balanced on the edge of the table. Imagine that the line of sight is directed along the edge of the table, and the table is on the left - that is, the hanging ends of the blocks protrude to the right. Since the stack is balanced at the edge, the center of mass is directly above the edge and its torque is zero. Now imagine that we lifted the entire stack vertically, and positioned another block below it so that its right edge was flush with the edge of the table. In practice this can be difficult, but in a thought experiment it is simple.

We added some stability to the stack by adding the nth block from the bottom as the center of mass of the whole stack shifted to the left a bit. Let's call this offset x. The n blocks weigh n units and have a total torque x*n around the edge of the table to the left. Recall that a stack of n-1 blocks has a total momentum of zero. We have added only the moment of the new block - with a mass of one unit of mass and with a distance to the center of mass from the edge of the table of half a unit of length.

It turns out that x*n = 1/2, which means x = 1/2n, where x is the distance to the new center of mass from the edge of the table.

This means that if you move the entire stack of n blocks to the right by 1/2n of the length, it will be perfectly balanced on the edge - and this is the maximum possible shift. To complete the construction of the induction, we note that the maximum overhang of the first block from the edge of the table is 1/2 unit of length.

Therefore, for five blocks, we substitute n into the formula for each level from 1 to 5 to get the maximum overhang:

X=1/2+1/4+1/6+1/8+1/10=137/120=1.141(6)
It can be seen that if you start at the top and then add blocks down, each shift will be half the reciprocal of the number of blocks available. Such sequences of reciprocals are known as harmonic series. Such a series slowly diverges, and as n tends to infinity, it also tends to infinity.

The general sum formula for n blocks is obtained by summing all the terms of the series. It turns out half of the nth harmonic term, which can be written as:

Question 2

Imagine that you have the same five blocks, and you want to put some kind of decoration on the topmost of them, at a point a quarter of the length of the block away from the hanging end. All blocks weigh one unit of weight, and the decoration weighs one-fifth of the block. What is the length of the maximum overhang now? How does this change the basic formula?

First, let's consider the first block with a decoration on top of it, and lying so that its right edge is flush with the edge of the table. The center of mass of the block without decoration is half a length unit from the edge of the table. The decoration will move it to the right, say x. The mass of the decoration is 1/5, and its distance from the new center of mass will be 1/4th. Equate the moments and get x \u003d 1/5 * (1/4-x), therefore, x \u003d 1/24. Because of the decoration, it is necessary to move the first block to the left by 1/24 of the length, so the maximum overhang is now 11/24 instead of 1/2.

For subsequent blocks, you can apply the same induction as in the first question. We get the equation x(n+1/5) = 1/2, which for n blocks is simplified to 1/2(n+1/5). This gives us the sequence 1/24 + 5/12 + 5/22 + 5/32 + 5/42… resulting in a maximum overhang of 1.057 for a five-level piece. Note that the overhang of the first block does not fit into the general scheme due to the additional weight of the decoration. However, a simple harmonic sequence appears through which the final sum can be easily calculated.

Question 3

Imagine that you are competing with a friend in a game that requires you to create overhanging structures. First you have one block at a time. You place your blocks with any overhang from the edge of the table. Then you are given a random but equal number of additional blocks from one to four. Each turn begins with the original block as the base, the position of which cannot be changed later, and with an additional set of from one to four blocks. How far do you need to move the initial block off the edge of the table so that you have the maximum possible overhang after a large number of moves?

Since the probability of having two to five blocks is the same, you need to maximize the sum indicating the maximum overhang for these four cases. For a stack of 2-5 blocks, there is an optimal position for the first block, giving the maximum overhang of the entire stack. If you plot the largest overhang on the graph for each of the four possible next stack sizes, you get two line graphs and two inverted V graphs. Their vertices indicate the optimal starting position of the initial block for stacks of 3-4 blocks. Summing up the graphs, we get a general overhang graph that sharply changes direction in each of the four optimal positions. It turns out that the best overall overhang is achieved at the optimal position for the three blocks, after which the graph goes down. Therefore, you need to position the original block on the assumption that you will be given three additional blocks, and the overhang will be 1/6 unit length.

Readers have pointed out several limitations that prevent this hypothetical mathematical bridge from going to infinity: wind, unevenness, lack of infinite precision, elasticity or insufficient rigidity of blocks and table, etc. This, of course, is correct. Add to this the curvature of the Earth and the absence of infinite space. Which of these constraints will collapse our stack the fastest? To answer this question, it is useful to study the adjacent one: if you forget about overhangs from the edge and just stack Jenga blocks one on top of the other, there is no mathematical limit on the height of the tower. But small imperfections in the blocks and inaccuracies in their construction will ruin it, and vibration or wind will play the role of the last straw. The same is true for our hanging figure. If all these factors are corrected, at some point the stiffness of the blocks will play, when the lower blocks will slightly bend and move away from the horizontal due to the total torque of all the blocks above, which will lead to the upper blocks slipping.

I mentioned that the greatest overhang can be achieved by allowing multiple blocks to be used at the same level. As noted by several readers, the optimal solution to this problem is described in the 2009 paper "Maximum overhang" [

If you multiply three tens by four tens, how much will you get?

Answer: It will turn out not 12 tens, but 120 tens. That is: 30 * 40 = 1200.

Can you justify why in almost all countries of the world sewer manhole covers are only round? (Square manhole covers are only available when they are additionally hinged).

Answer: If the manhole covers are square, then they can easily fall into the hatch, because. the diagonal of the square is greater than the side of the square.
Therefore, if they are made, then only by attaching them to the hatch with hinges.
Round manhole covers do not have a diagonal and a side, but only a diameter, which is always larger than the manhole opening for the cover.

What sign do you think should be placed between 0 and 1 to get a number greater than 0 but less than 1?

Answer: This character is a comma. That is 0.1. This number is greater than 0 but less than 1.

How many edges do you think a hexagonal pencil has that has never been sharpened?

Answer: A hexagonal pencil, if not sharpened, will have 8 edges. 6 large faces and 2 end faces.

A three-liter vessel is completely filled with three liters of water.
For 2 transfusions, you need to fill two empty vessels of 1 and 2 liters, so that each of them contains 1 liter of water.
In this case, you can no longer use anything other than these three vessels.

Answer: From a full vessel, pour exactly two liters into an empty two-liter vessel, i.e. to the brim.
Further, from this vessel we pour exactly a liter of water into a one-liter vessel (i.e. to the brim).

Do you think there are lines other than a circle on which all points will be equidistant from any one point?

Answer: Any line lying on the surface of the ball has the equidistance of all points.

Which subject do you think will have the same image when drawn from any point of view?

Answer: Only a ball has this property.

Try to figure out which of the following conclusions is correct:
A) There are three false conclusions.
B) There is one false conclusion here.
C) There are two false conclusions.
D) There are five false conclusions.
E) There are four false conclusions.

Answer: The correct option is D - there are four false conclusions. Due to the fact that one is true, and the rest are not true.

Try to guess how much the book costs if the book costs a dollar plus half the book.

Answer: The book costs $2. Solution: Half a book costs a dollar, so the whole book costs $2.

Answer, what time is it now, if the rest of the day is twice the past?

Answer: It's eight o'clock.

A certain businessman wanted to bring 10,000 pairs of first-class expensive sneakers to Japan for sale.
But in Japan, very large duties are imposed on such sneakers.
Think and tell me how a smart businessman could bring all these sneakers into Japan,
while paying only very little money? There is no corruption and criminal component here.

Answer: The businessman acted very cunningly. He divided each pair of sneakers and sent the entire volume in two batches.
That is, in one batch there were only sneakers for the left foot, in the second only for the right foot. He sent one batch to Tokyo, the other to Osaka.
In each of the cities, the businessman did not pay the duty and the goods were confiscated and put up for auction.
Due to the fact that no one needed a batch of sneakers for only one foot, the businessman bought both batches himself for meager money.

5 fishermen ate 5 carp in 5 days. How many days do you think it will take 15 fishermen to eat 15 carps?

Answer: 15 fishermen will eat 15 carps in 5 days too. If 5 fishermen eat 5 carps in a certain amount of time,
then 15 fishermen have a 3 times higher rate of eating carps, therefore, in 5 days they will eat 15 carps.

There are 9 kg of sugar in the bag. There are also two weights of 50g and 200g.
Think about how to weigh 2 kg of sugar in three weighings on a pan balance?

Answer: First, you need to divide the contents of the bag in half on a pan balance for 4.5 kg in each cup.
Next, we empty one bowl, and again divide 4.5 kg in half and get 2.25 kg in each scale bowl.
At the third weighing, both bowls should already be emptied, but 2.25 kg of sugar from one bowl should be put into a separate bag.
And then, using weights of 200g and 50g (total 250g), weigh exactly 250g from the package with 2.25kg. Then exactly 2 kg will remain in the package.

Two collective farmers decided to find out who has more sheep.
The first of them said: "If you give me your goat, then I will have twice as many of them as you."
The second one says to him: “Come on, you better give me your one sheep, then I will have as many sheep as you have.”
How many sheep does each of the collective farmers have? (There has not yet been a transfer of sheep).

Answer: The first collective farmer has 7 sheep, the second has only 5.
If the first collective farmer gives one sheep to the second and they become equal, it means that initially the first one has 2 more of them.
If the second collective farmer gives the sheep to the first, then the first one has 2 times more of them, this is possible,
only if the first one initially had 7 sheep, and the second one had 5.

There are only 36 students in one class. There are 3 more girls than boys. How many boys and girls are in this class?

Answer: If we divide 36 in half, we get 18, i.e. two halves of the class of 18 people.
If you add a student from the first half to the other half, you get a difference of 2 people.
If we subtract one more and add it again to the larger part, we will get an excess of 4 people. Therefore, the problem has no solution.

Can you write the number 1000 with only eight 8s and arithmetic sums?

Answer: You will get equality: 888 + 88 + 8 + 8 + 8 = 1000.

There are 4 coins on the table, one of which is made of a different metal and differs in weight, although outwardly they are all the same.
How to determine this coin for 2 weighings on a pan balance?

Answer: Weighting options: 1) put 1 and 2 coins on the scales, if they are equal in weight, then we replace one coin with a third.
Further, if they are equal, then the 4th coin is excellent, if they are not equal, then the 3rd coin is different from the rest. 2) put 1 and 2 coins on the scales if they are not equal in weight,
then instead of one coin we lay down the 3rd. If they balance, then the excellent coin removed, if they do not balance,
then different from other coins, the old coin remaining on the scales.

How could it be that half of the number 12 became equal to 7

Answer: You need to write the number 12 in Roman numerals: IIX, then draw a line in the middle. The upper half will be in the form of VII, which corresponds to the number 7.

7 candles are burning on the festive table. 3 of them were extinguished. How many candles are left?

Answer: There will be 3 extinguished candles, because the other 4 will burn out completely.

Digital drawing can be very tricky. It would seem that you have loaded the correct program and you can start drawing. Any tool in your hands. All colors are ready to use, nothing needs to be mixed. If you started using Photoshop already having drawing skills, everything is not so difficult: you just need to find a good replacement for your favorite tools. But, if you have just started to get acquainted with each of these arts, then everything becomes a nightmare.

Photoshop is deceptively simple: here's a set of brushes, here's all the colors, an eraser, a Cancel button. You start drawing, everything looks very bad, you start looking for workarounds that can help you draw something better. And just look how many tools! You start trying everything, one after the other, and that's it - the magic happens!

But all the "magic" is that Photoshop draws for you. You have no control over the process, but the result looks better than what you - a simple beginner - could ever do (at least you think so). You keep working, hoping that all these images will one day turn into works of art.

The professional digital artists you admire use Photoshop to bring their vision of the world to life, but they only use it as a tool, not as an art-making machine.

Professionals imagine the result and make the program realize it. Beginners force the program to do something and, if they are satisfied, they appropriate the result.

1. Wrong canvas size

Even a child can handle creating a new file. you are going to File > New or, if you are advanced enough, then use Control-N. This process seems very simple, so it often goes unnoticed.

There are three problems with this paragraph.

1. Too small canvas

Just as all objects are made up of atoms, every digital image is made up of pixels. You probably already know this. But exactly how many pixels do you need to create a detailed picture? 200×200? 400×1000? 9999×9999?

Beginners often mistakenly use a canvas size close to their screen resolution. But the problem is that you can't know for sure from which screen other people are looking at your image.

Let's imagine that your image looks on the screen like in example 1. The height of this image is perfect for your screen. Everything is set to your maximum screen resolution, 1024x600. Users with resolutions of 1280x720 (2) and 1366x768 (3) have nothing to complain about either. But look what happens if the screen resolution is even higher - 1920x1080 (4) and 1920x1200 (5). Consistently, the image takes up less and less space on the screen.

And it's not just about the "white space" around the image. “High resolution” does not necessarily have the same meaning as “big screen”. A smartphone screen can have more pixels on its compact screen than some personal computers! Just take a look:

1. Same size, different resolution

2. Different size, same resolution

What does it mean? As for others, your image, which was supposed to fit perfectly into the screen, would look something like this:

But canvas size has more to do with it. The higher the resolution, the more pixels in the image. At low resolution, the eye can take up 20 pixels. when at higher - it can have over 20,000 pixels! Imagine what exquisite details can be added!

Here's a little trick for you: when you draw something small, but in high resolution, even if a little carelessly, then this image looks very interesting from a distance. Try it!

High resolution makes it possible to see the finest details

2. Canvas too big

Does this mean that you should always use a high resolution to be sure of the quality? Theoretically, yes. In practice, this is not always necessary, and sometimes even impossible.

The higher the resolution, the more pixels the simplest stroke has. The more pixels in a stroke, the more difficult it is for the program to process it. So here's an argument against a large canvas - you need a very powerful computer to comfortably work with a very high resolution.

The second argument is that high resolution is, for the most part, only needed for very detailed images. Although this misconception is very common among beginners, not all paintings need to be detailed. Even if you want to draw something realistic, you can safely ignore the huge amount of detail that is in the photographs. What we see does not always look like a photograph.

When the resolution is more than necessary, the prospect of adding something here and there seems very attractive. And once you start doing it, there is no going back. There are different levels of detail, but each image should only use one. If you want to create a fast, fluid image, then don't spend hours drawing an eye or a nose - it will make the whole picture look unfinished and sloppy.

3. The size of the finished image is too large

Let's pretend you've found the perfect resolution for your image. It's not too big and not too small - the perfect size for the level of detail you wanted. But here you can also make a mistake. The previous resolution was working. You used a lot of pixels to achieve the eye detail, but if the size is wrong, your efforts will be visible even from a distance.

Why allow others to see these details... If you can make them see only what should be noticeable?

Before saving the image, resize it. There is no optimal resolution that suits every drawing. There is a small rule: the more detailed the work, the less it is lost in high resolution. If the image is a little sketchy, then it looks better in a small resolution. If you want to better understand this principle, then look at what resolution your favorite artist uses when he uploads his work.

One more thing: when resizing an image, check which default size works best. Some may make the image very precise, which you may or may not like.

2. Working with a white background

This may seem like something insignificant - what's wrong with the white background? It's something neutral, isn't it? Looks just like a piece of paper.

The problem is that there is no "neutral" color. Transparency is very close, but impossible to draw. Color is what color is. When two colors are used between them, certain relationships. For white+color A - relationship: “color A is darker”. It doesn't matter what your intentions were, you'll start with a dark color because the lightest color is already in your background! All colors are darker than white.

The brightness of any shade depends on the background.

Usually in drawing we use a white background, because it is technically easier to use a dark color on a light background than vice versa. But in a digital drawing, there is no need for this. Actually, you can start with a black background, but it's just as bad an idea as starting with pure white. In practice, the most neutral color is gray at 50% brightness.

Why? Because the background color affects the perception of other colors. Against a white background, dark shades will appear darker, so you will try to avoid them. On a black background, the rule is the same, only for light colors. The result is poor contrast, which becomes apparent as soon as the background is replaced. Here's proof for you:

Experienced artists can start with any color and get the results they want, but unless you're too familiar with color theory, always start with something neutral—not too dark and not too light.

3. Lack of contrast

Of course, sometimes the perception of color can be impaired due to the quality of the screen. If you use a laptop, then you probably know how the image contrast changes from different angles. Then how can you achieve the necessary contrast, which will look the same on all screens?

Even if everything is fine with your screen, after you stare at the screen for a long time, your perception of the image is biased. If you changed shades gradually, step by step, the contrast may seem quite good. But this is only due to the fact that this way the picture looks better than five steps ago. For example, the work below looks good...

… but only until you compare it to a higher contrast image. And who knows, suddenly, when you compare the new image with another one, it will again not have enough contrast?

Photoshop has a tool that will help you a lot in this situation. It's called Levels, and it's a histogram, by the way. It shows how much of each shade has been used in the image. You can open this screen with Image > Adjustments > Levels or using Control L.

How it works? Take a look at these four examples:

• Almost equal amount of white, black and midtones.
• Only black and dark undertones
• Only white and light tones
• Only white and black, almost no halftones

Can you read it from the histogram?

You can change the levels by moving the sliders. You will not only reduce the number of shades, but also help the program distribute them correctly in the histogram.

The histogram shows that there are a lot of midtones in this image, and at the same time there are very few bright and dark areas. It doesn't matter how we see the drawing, it's what the computer tells us. Of course, there is no perfect recipe for working with levels (it all depends on the brightness of the picture itself), but the absolute absence of dark and light areas is a bad sign.

Just look what happens if we move the slider to the middle!

Is there a way to use the correct shades from the start? Yes, and it will take less time! You need to start using fewer shades - dark, light, midtone, and some white and black.

To put this knowledge into practice, before you start drawing, outline the lighting on the sphere:

• Draw a circle and fill it with the darkest shade (black is not recommended)
• Add a semitone
• Add the lightest shade (white is not recommended)
• Add one or two semitones
• Add some black and white

See how these colors are arranged on the histogram? When we combine them, this is what happens. Use this sphere as a gamma to create your drawing, drawing shadows in the same sequence: darkest shade, midtone, lightest, more midtone, dark and light shades. Now you can smooth it out.

Another tip - if you compare these two heads again (drawn with the correct contrast and corrected), you will notice the difference. Increasing the contrast won't fix all the mistakes if you haven't given it enough time from the start - every element has its own set of shades. For example, the darkest area on a white surface will be much brighter than the darkest area on a black surface. This means that you need to prepare as many spheres as you have different elements.

Remember: painting the shadows of light objects with dark shades is just as wrong as painting dark objects with light shades.

4.Too many complex brushes and big strokes

When comparing traditional brushes to Photoshop brushes, the difference is so obvious that it's not always clear why they have the same name. In the end, classic brushes only allow you to paint more or less chaotic strokes, while digital ones create a work of art on their own.

This is where the fun begins. If something is created by itself, you lose all control over the work. Professional artists use mostly simple strokes, only occasionally turning to more complex ones for help. Using complex brushes not only makes you lazy, it also stops you from learning how to achieve some effect on your own.

When you're just getting started with digital drawing, it's normal to look for ways to see progress as quickly as possible. You want to see the result here and now. And brushes become the obvious solution. I want fur - here's a fur brush for you; I want a brush - here's a brush brush. If you can't draw something, just download a brush that can do it for you.

Additional brushes for Photoshop are not always bad - on the contrary, they are very useful. The problem only arises when you use it as a base for your "skills". If you took the time to learn how to quickly draw fur, you would realize that you don't actually need to draw every single hair for this effect. It would become clear to you that the way we perceive some things does not always correspond to reality. You would learn to look and then recreate what you see, not what you think you see.

Instead, you prefer to give up after spending half an hour working on one hair and looking for a brush that can do the job for you. You found it, you are happy and ready to move on. This process is so simple that it easily becomes a habit and you stop learning - why, if there is an easier way?

But how do traditional artists deal with this problem? They don't have that variety of brushes. How do they draw fur? The answer is simple - in the same way that you would use if you did not have a brush. If you're itching to improve your skills, you'll have to break that curse of all budding artists and give up extra brushes for a while. Start with a simple set like this one and learn how to use these brushes. Do not look for easy ways, work on it and you will gain invaluable experience, instead of cheap tricks.

5.Too big stroke

Another common mistake associated with brushes is using strokes that are too large. And, again, impatience is to blame. The rule of thumb is that 80% of the work takes 20% of the effort, which means you should spend 80% of your time working on finishing your image. If you've done a sketch, a base, chosen colors, and worked on simple shadows in two hours, know that you have eight hours of work ahead of you. Moreover, during these eight hours, progress will be less noticeable than in the first two hours.

This becomes especially obvious when looking at the pictures of the intermediate work process that artists post, such as this one. The first steps are simply huge - something is being created from nothing. Then the process slows down. You can barely tell the difference between the last steps although they took a lot of time.

This is where the whole problem lies. When your image is almost finished, you want to complete it quickly and enjoy the end result. But in fact, this is exactly the moment when all the work is just beginning! I remember a comment under one of the photos of the intermediate process: “I would stop at step 4” (out of 10). This is where the difference between a professional and a beginner lies! Because, the end of the rule says: these last 20% of the work is 80% of the total result.

The solution to this problem is very simple. Your work doesn't have to end with big strokes. They should be used at the beginning, at 20% of the total work. Use them to create shape, set light, add color. And then gradually reduce the size, increase the image, erase, add details. You will know that the job is done when you start working with a very small brush on a very large area. In general, the more space the brush touches, the more finished the work looks.

And now the best part of this rule. Since 80% of the work does not greatly affect the final result, there is no need to spend a lot of time on them. Get started quickly and save energy for later. Remember, not every image needs to be finished just because you started it. By weeding out projects you've lost interest in, you'll save four times as much time as you've already spent!

6. Too much color

Traditional artists don't have a lot of color that they can use right away. They must learn to create, to mix them to achieve the desired effect. They have no choice - they must learn color theory. You, even as a beginner, already have all the colors on hand. And this is a real punishment!

We do not understand colors because there is no need for them in our ordinary life. But as an artist, you have to completely change your attitude towards color. You should stop thinking about color in the usual way and start understanding concepts such as hue, saturation and brightness.

Colors do not exist on their own. They depend on each other. Let's say, when you want to make a color brighter, you can either take a brighter color, or reduce the brightness of the background. Red becomes warmer or colder depending on the environment. Even the color saturation can change!

Beginners not familiar with these principles start painting by randomly choosing colors that may not go together at all: they take blue, add green, and all this without the slightest idea of ​​​​what they have chosen.

Here's how a beginner sees colors:

1. Blue
2. hazy blue
3. Grey
4. black

But why do we need such a variety of shades if they are so useless? The problem is that it isn't. You just need to start understanding where they come from and what they mean. Let's look at these same colors through the eyes of a professional:

1. desaturated blue
2. Intense blue
3. Bright blue
4. Dark blue

Looks confusing, doesn't it? But that doesn't mean you can't ignore it all! If you think that this is too exhausting work, then work with gray for a while. Colors (or tones) are like icing on a cake. She can make the cake sweeter, but she cannot be its foundation. No amount of frosting will fix a bad cake.

7. Copying color from source

It is very difficult to fight this temptation. I understand this very well. But then again, if you really want to learn how to digitally draw, you shouldn't use Eyedropper.

Beginners most often use low saturated orange/pink as skin color, but this effect is very far from reality. But, if you use the source... it's a completely different story! Almost every pixel has a different hue, not just pink - you can easily find red, orange, purple, green, blue. Saturation and brightness change each time, but the end result is not chaos.

When you take a color from the source, the drawing takes on a new life. The only problem is that such work is no different from copying. The result may look great, but you can't claim credit for the work to yourself.

And one more thing: this process stops you from making progress. It can be said that you "buy" a set of colors instead of learning how to match them yourself. You have your own color wheel with everything you need: every color you choose from the source can be recreated by you yourself. But you still prefer to use the colors that are already on the original - quickly and very efficiently.

In order to stop constantly relying on the source, you will need to learn to see colors. Look at any object - what is the tone, saturation, brightness of this object? It's very hard to say, isn't it? But if you keep choosing the right color with the Eyedropper, you will never learn it.

All these works were drawn by me without the help of a pipette. You can start with something very simple. The less color the better.

8. Overlay color over gray

I drew this picture in 2011. This is a very touching work and even now I really like it. I remember painting it in gray and then adding color using several blending modes (Color, Overlay, Multiply). Then I had one problem - how to achieve yellow by painting over a gray scale?

I don't have the original anymore, unfortunately, but here's what this greyscale image most likely looked like. Notice that the yellow and green areas are equally dark. Actually, it is not.

When I was a beginner like you, I believed that light makes all colors equally light. At first I concentrated on the shadows, and only then I thought about what to do with the color. But this trick did not work, and it took a long time before I realized what was the matter.

The fact is that different colors have a brightness that does not depend on light. When you ignore this, the colors are very muddy. They lose their very important properties when you apply them directly to gray.

9. Toning using the Dodge and Burn tools

The Dodge and Burn tools are all beginners' favorites. They perfectly fit the description of Photoshop as a drawing program. You just need to choose the main color, and then highlight the shadow areas. Everything else is done with complex algorithms. And that's great, because you didn't know anyway. how to do it yourself.

But not everything is so simple. These tools aren't completely useless, of course, but when you're just starting out, it's best to stay away from them. They are not meant to be tinted. The Dodge tool is not the same as “add lights”, but Burn is “add shadows”. It's just that these tools are perfect for beginners' understanding of these processes, which is why it's so hard to avoid the temptation.

The problem is not in the tool itself, but in a misunderstanding of the principles of toning. Beginners often think that a subject has a certain color and becomes darker in the shadows and lighter in the light. But everything is not so simple. This principle can work in animation, but even there it's just a workaround.

But if these techniques seem to work, then why not use them?

• This is another technique that slows down your progress. When you use these methods, you don't even know what's wrong. Toning is a complex process, and you limit it to one simple principle. Photoshop should work for you, not for you. Don't let that stop you from learning.
• This makes objects appear flat. And it doesn't matter how much texture you add to the image afterwards. The principle of working with these tools is the same as with brushes - you can start with them, but you don't have to end with them.
• You distort colors; The color of an object is very dependent on the environment, but neither Dodge nor Burn know anything about your drawing. They tint everything according to the same principle.

Toning with white and black

The essence of this technique is that toning is done due to white in the light areas, and black in the shadows. This technique is the result of the delusion that every color starts as black (in the shadows) and ends up as white (in the light). While this principle may work in photography, it is useless in painting.

We all try to find simple rules that are easy to remember. But that doesn't mean we have to make up rules that don't exist, like adding white to make it brighter and black to make it darker. This only works for grayscale!

Monotonous toning

When the previous problem is done away with, a new one may arise. Let's imagine that you have chosen orange as the main color for your work. You have decided that the light source will be displayed as yellow and the diffuse light as blue. So you just changed the tone of your base color to yellow in the highlights and blue in the shadows. This makes the tinting process more interesting than if you just used black and white, but this is again a workaround that will not achieve the desired result.

Why is this a workaround? Because by leaving only three colors to work with, you automatically move all your objects into an unnatural environment where any reflective color is 100% predictable.

In reality, light reflects off everything. Therefore, toning can rarely be reduced to two or three colors.

If you take this into account and use indirect light sources to diversify the shadows, you will begin to draw more consciously - and that's great!

10. Blur with a soft brush

Basically, beginners blur shades in two ways, designed to make the job easier:

1. Blurring with a soft brush
2. Blurring with the Smudge/Blur Tool

As we have already understood, fast ways of working indicate that you are not in control of the process. Blurring with a soft brush makes your object look flat and unnaturally smooth. Even if you add a photo texture, you can't get rid of the "plasticity" of the image. Again, this method can only be used in the beginning.

If you want a more subtle effect, use a coarser brush, controlling the Flow with Pen Pressure (the harder you press, the harder the stroke will be).

Such a brush will allow you to use the amount of color that you need.

Thanks to this tool, you will no longer need to blur the boundaries between two colors. you just start with a base color and cover it with a lighter one. Then you can add more and more layers, making them more and more dense.

If you need to make the blur smoother, choose a color between shades and paint on the edges.

In order to achieve texture, use a texture brush (with rough edges).

According to the 80-20 rule, don't think about blurring in the early stages. Use a large brush, make the edges obvious, the shadows unnatural.

After that, you can use a smaller brush and a texture brush to blur the edges. Don't use Smudge, a soft brush. Only Eyedropper and coarse brush with variable flow. But it is worth remembering that the same anti-aliasing method will not work in all cases.

11. Using 2D textures on 3D shapes.

A texture photo is the beginner's last hope when the object is theoretically finished, painted over and shadowed, but still looks like a plastic toy. But, unfortunately, the texture itself will only make things worse.

Let's imagine that you want to add texture to this big cat image.

You have to work on the shadows before adding the texture. The tricky part is that there is no need to paint over it completely. How you smooth the colors depends on which texture you choose - if you do it without a clear idea of ​​what kind of texture will be applied, then the desired effect will not be achieved.

You can download a texture from the internet or use the one already in Photoshop - there are a lot of them. This is my favorite texture - the inverted Screen Door.

If you change Blend Mode textures on overlay, you will see how the texture is overlaid on top of the shadows. But notice how some segments have become lighter. You might like this if the tinting hasn't been done properly, but it's just another way to make your job easier. In most cases, we don't want the texture to dictate its own shadows. Although Overlay is not the best solution, it gives you a glimpse of how the texture will look on the object.

Now the most important part, which is often overlooked. If an object is supposed to be 3D, it cannot be nicely covered with a 2D texture. We need to adjust the texture to the shape it will cover. There are three main ways to do this - experiment and choose the one you like best:

• Free Transform Tool(Control-T) in the mode Warp
• Filter > Liquify
• Edit > Puppet Warp

For a sphere it is best to use Filter > Distort > Spherize

Before using Puppet Warp

After using Puppet Warp

Mode Overlay makes it lighter areas of the layer covered by the white part of the texture. We can use Multiply , (this mode makes the white areas transparent), but then the gradient colors (greys) will become darker than they should be. There is therefore another mode ideal for adjusting transparency.

Select the layer and set the Blend If . You can easily adjust the transparency of white and black with this feature.

Hold alt, to separate slides and achieve a smoother effect.

Now we need to understand what this texture really is. It's not an uneven image superimposed on top of an object. This is the real surface roughness. When the light reaches a smooth surface, it is distributed evenly, but if the surface is uneven, the light will create a huge amount of shadows. This is the texture we see.

Here another conclusion arises. It is the light that creates the visible texture - texture cannot be created without light. Otherwise, what is a shadow, if not the absence of light? That is why we need to reduce the texture in the dark areas or remove it altogether (no light - no texture). You can use a Layer Mask for this purpose or work with Blend If slides. Remember that texture gaps are shadows, so they should not be darker than other shadow areas.

Applying a texture is quick and easy once you understand how to handle it properly. But again, all textures are very different. And while some look great when applied directly, most require a lot of work.

The 80-20 rule in action. Adding texture is easy, but making it look appropriate is a job that will take a lot of time. Such things take a lot of time, but these details are the whole point!

The first texture is a flat texture in Overlay mode, the second is the same mode, but with changes. The latter is already the final proposed option.

Conclusion

As we have noticed, most of the problems that beginner artists have come from their desire to quickly start painting great without putting in much effort. So it's not so much a lack of skills, but rather an attitude towards Photoshop as an art-producing machine. This leads to the fact that most of the time is spent not on learning, but on looking for tools and tricks.

You cannot become a digital artist overnight just because you have an advanced program. Photoshop is a tool, more convenient than pigments and brushes, but, again, just a tool. He cannot do more than what you dictate to him. If you want to start enjoying all the benefits of the program, then treat it like a digital canvas with digital paint. Forget fancy tools, filters, brushes. Just paint the way you would paint on a canvas.