When I first started learning to use Adobe Photoshop, I got bogged down with the clicking. I would try to select things, and it was just very cumbersome. It hurt my head after just a short time, trying to realize some artistic vision in the medium. Over the years, I have developed a certain facility with the software, as well as an artistic style born out of that practice.
My go-to tool is the polyagonal lasso. I start with a completely black background, and then I “cut” my shapes out of it, kind of like a wood block. Then I cut, fill or adjust that selection.
I don’t know if this is a common way to work in photoshop or not! I only know that I’ve developed the habits that work for me. Sometimes I think I am fairly proficient at using the program, until I see someone else using it. Then I say “How did you do that? What did you do there?”
Some of these faces appear in my sci-fi autobiography, THE ADVENTURES OF FLASH MERIDIAN. http://flashmeridian.blogspot.com
Some others appear in my blog THE ADVENTURES OF MR. PUMPKINHEAD. http://misterpumpkinhead.blogspot.com
I drew this purple unicorn…
Then I decided to draw myself as a unicorn!