I think I've got it working again, just reset all of my brush settings from the default F5 menu, as suggested by Issac (thanks!)
If you want that, wouldn't it be easier to just use the lasso tool with your tablet? Select all the areas you want to shade and fill it in with black on a clipping mask layer and lower the opacity. It's what I've been doing for a while now. I've always had problems with brush settings in PS, thank goodness for Manga Studio
I do something very similar to that now, essentially the same thing except with the brush tool instead of the lasso tool and quick mask combo. Near the end, I make new layers after all of the flat colors are laid out. I take the brush tool and use quick strokes of straight black in a layer on top of the colors, then, I tweak the opacity on those black layers down to simulate a shadow. In terms of blur, I hardly ever use blurring tools or filters, but I was just trying to smooth over the jitter in this case. It really hurt to have to use blur.
You have any tips for getting the helmet down? :/ I've been trying to do some fan art as well but I keep getting stuck with his gear.
Yeah, the gear turned out to be a lot more complex than I thought it was. I mainly used
THESE TWO images for heavy reference. The face space takes up about 60% while the visor up top takes up 40%. I just thought of the headgear in terms of layers:
TOP
--> Visor. Shaped wide and curvy, like a cucumber, with a noticeable, deep U-shaped dip at the top, longer drawn out curve along the bottom rim
(Head shape goes next, underneath)
---> Dark V-shape that dips right below Beck's browline (I assume this is some sort of form fitting headwear, like the astronauts wear)
---> Facial features
---> Headphones along edge of headspace, cupped earphones should popout/stand out
BOTTOM
In my case, I just started first with the shape of the head, without worrying about the gear. Then I moved onto the next biggest feature, the visor and began drawing it on top of the headframe, allocating space for the face, v-shape, headphones, etc. Wasn't much left of the headframe after all the gear was thrown on top!
Hope this helps!
![[M]artin](/data/avatars/l/53/53229.jpg?1568173037){kind=avatar}
