Digital Painting: Starting Loosely I've been playing around a lot more with Photoshop, trying to get a better "painted" look to some of my work. After struggling with it for quite some time, I'm finally making some headway. Here's a step-by-step look at a picture, with explanations of what I did at each stage. The initial sketch is extremely loose. It's a doodle, really. The important part is the gesture of the pose and the basic sense of construction. The gesture is hard to explain: think of it as a loose energy to your drawings. If you've ever had a rough sketch look better then your final line art, that's probably because of the gesture that was in your first rough. It's hard to maintain that energy when you nail down exacting final lines. The experiment here was to see if I could take that gesture, that loose initial sketch and build on the energy. It sounds all "zen-like" to put it that way, but that was what I wanted to do. I didn't want to work from stiff line art, I wanted it to be more organic. The drawing was scanned in at 300 dpi and changed to Greyscale mode. After using Adjust>Levels to darken the lines slightly, I used the Eraser tool to clean up specks and garbage around the bird. Then, I change the mode to RGB Color, relabel the Layer to "Line Art" and change the Layer Mode to "Multiply". Initial Bird Sketch Creating a couple of new Layers underneath the Line Art, I put a dark grey all over the bird. It's on a separate layer, so I can be sloppy with it and then Erase back to the edges of the lines. Where I needed a crisp line, like the feathers on the tips of the wings, I use the Polygonal Selection Tool and select the area to erase. Underneath that dark grey layer (which I've renamed to "Base Tone"), I grab one of the more painterly brushes in Photoshop (I used Hard Round 55 #1 in Photoshop 7). Selecting a bunch of related but slightly different colors, I sweep them back and forth, trying to create a pleasing mass of brushstrokes to be used for the backdrop of the painting. There's no trick to the backdrop, I just used lighter and darker color variations until I liked the way it looked. The Base Tone layer is pretty important. It sets a "middle ground" for the rest of my painting. Shadows darken the base and highlights build on top to create the final effect. Make sure your base tone is simple and clear. I tend to err on the side of darker tones, but other people enjoy building more shadows later on. There's no wrong way, as long as the final output looks good. Base Tones More layers underneath the line art, this time all of them set to Multiply mode. Selecting areas and using a variety of brushes, I sweep through the areas, keeping it loose. I try to place shadows where they would be appropriately found. Shadows aren't random, they are there for a reason. Make sure you know why you're putting shadows in particular spots. In this case, under the body, under the tail feathers, under and between the wings and in the mouth. If you're not sure of a shadow, put it on its own layer and try it out. If it doesn't work, you can always trash that layer without ruining your progress. It may be hard to notice, but the shadows aren't just black. They're actually blues and dull purples. When on Multiply mode, these layers blend with the grey Base Tone to create interesting shadows, instead of just flat black ones. Use the Opacity slider on your layers to find the right intensity for your shadow layers. The great thing about painting in Photoshop is that you can always go back and add more or take away parts you don't like. Shadow Layers Let's get closer to the bird's head. Notice that the darkness in the mouth is a hard line while the shadows on the wings and head are more blurry. Think about the materials you're trying to represent and how they show light and shadow. The inside of the mouth is a deep darkness with a distinct edge, the body is softer and more gradual. Use the Blur Tool, the Smudge Tool or Blur Filters on the Layers you feel would have a softer look. Get reference material where appropriate. Don't assume that you know how light works on something. Gather visual aids and you'll be better informed when you make your final choices. You don't have to follow your reference to a tee, just make sure you see tendencies and work from there. As always, Save your work often so that you don't lose your progress. Pre-Highlights Now, I'm adding highlights on Layers above the Line art. The highlights sit on top in Normal layer mode so that I can get as bright as I want without the line art muddying it. These highlight layers are created almost the same as the shadows. Selecting areas, I sweep a large soft brush past the selected areas. Then, I use Blur, Smudge or Filters and lower or raise the Opacity of the layer until I get it to where I want it. In this case, the bird is dark, so I don't want to go overboard with highlights. Too many and the bird would look plastic or that it wasn't a dark bird at all. You don't need many highlights to give an effective punch to your piece, especially in dark colored areas. Again, reference and careful planning are your friends here. First few highlights added Hot spots are the highlights that show extremely well lit spots or shines. Again, use them sparingly and please... please... don't use the pre-built lense flares in Photoshop. They always look jarring, out of place and are the easiest way to spot an amateur a mile away. Better to build your own using reference and a painted touch. Here, the punchy highlight spot in the eye shows the heavy reflective nature of the surface and also grabs the viewer. Even though it's bright, notice that it's not absolute white. You don't have to go all the way to white, especially if your surface is dark. Dark surfaces would only reflect white if they were extremely shiny like metal or plastic and only under the right conditions. Reference, reference, reference... "Hot Spot" highlight in the eye Here's a look at the bird once the highlights are done. I've added subtle highlights to the wings, body, neck and legs in addition to the ones I showed you on the head. This image was created to show a supernatural creature I created called a Nether Falcon, so I'm not quite done yet... according to my description, they're "Semi-solid ghosts of birds that are seemingly made of shadow and smoke". Okay, let's try some effects. Finished bird I added a bunch of new layers above and below the line art. Using the Airbrush tool (or an airbrush paint brush in PS7), I swirled out cloudlike shapes and use Smudge and the Blur Filters to make them look appropriately soft and billowing. As it trails away from the bird, I've erased some portions with a large soft brush to make it look like it's fading. The majority of the smoke is below the Base Layer so that I don't obscure the bird. Then, I've added a few layers above to create smoke trails on top, making it look like it's in the midst of the smoke (which it sort of is, "sandwiched" between the smoke layers). Add the sig with the ol' Text Tool and I Save the file. Whew, quite the long one I've typed out here. I hope you enjoy the process and techniques and that you find them useful in your own work. The Nether Falcon Questions or comments? Feel free to E-Mail me. Home / Archive / About / History / Tutorials / Praise