tutorial (1).pdf

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Workshops
n this workshop I’ll describe
how I go about painting a
heroic male – a counterpart
to the female on the cover. I’ll
go through my entire process from initial
sketch and concept to the final painting –
and everything in between. The basic
premise is fairly simple. Start with an idea
and do your best to bring it to life. The
tricky part is all that ‘in between’ stuff.
Trying to capture the correct mood is
important, as is making sure the concept
comes through in the final piece. Having
things get muddy and confusing lessens
the impact, especially with a concept as
simple as this one, ‘Hero fights dragon’.
Here are some things to keep in mind
while we go through this workshop. I use
Photoshop CS2 with a customised set-up.
I use shortcuts that I made for myself to
ensure that my workflow is faster for me,
but it may or may not work for you. It’s
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In depth
Painting a heroic male
something to keep in mind, though, as
making your own set-up as comfortable
as possible seems like a good idea to me.
I don’t use many layers – I do most of my
work on one layer. Also, I don’t use many
brushes – I tend to use one that I tweak,
depending on what I need from it. The
other tools I use most often are the
Smudge brush and Eraser. I try to keep
things as simple as possible… it makes
my life much easier.
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Workshops
All that I’ve done so far is block
in the characters. It’s still very black and
white and I would like to have some sort
of atmosphere in here. To kill the stark
white background I use a neat trick I’ve
picked up – I use an old painting of mine.
The paintings I use for this method are
ones that I haven’t finished, but that I save
as texture sources. Using them as different
Layer Blending Options like Soft Light
and Multiply, I can get quick atmosphere
and also some basic colour.
As you can see in my initial set-up, I only have open the windows that
I absolutely need. I then start by sketching out a rough scenario. I already know that I
want a hero fighting some sort of monster. I would like it to be a dragon, but at first I
prefer to leave things open to different possibilities. I don’t start with colour, I like to
keep thing monochromatic for as long as possible.
Here I block out the basic positions
for my main points of interest. I have the
hero in the foreground while the monster
will be looming in the background.
I haven’t yet decided on the pose for the
hero, although I did use the Lasso tool
to make a rough selection around him.
I copy and paste him into a new layer,
where I get to work with one of my
favourite tools, Transform Warp. I use it
to adjust the shape of the character to fit
with the loose composition I have. Note
that I’ve flipped my canvas – I do this
often throughout my process.
After putting in some basic atmosphere
I desaturate the entire piece. I do this to
keep things simple. I still have to figure
out what the hero looks like, so having
fewer things to worry about – like
colour – makes it easier for me to
concentrate on the character. At this stage
I’m not really worried about what the
design of the armour is, I’m preoccupied
with getting the pose right. I try to capture
a moment right before the action. The
hero is not yet swinging at something,
but he will be in a few seconds.
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In depth
Painting a heroic male
After I sketch out the hero a little bit more
I decide to bring some colour back, using
the method as seen in step 3. Using an old
half-finished painting for different layers
also helps me bring in textures to the
piece. Now I can kind of see where the
main character is I can also begin putting
some lighting on him. One trick I like is
to use the Dodge tool with its Texture box
checked on. This is great for getting metal
surfaces quickly, like our hero’s armour.
Remember, we’re fairly early in the
process and things can still change.
I don’t like how the hero is holding
his sword, so I decide to give him a shield
and move the sword into one hand. To
do this I use the Lasso tool to select the
sword, and then copy and paste into a
new layer where I Free Transform it into
the new position. While I’m doing this
I also add more details to the main
character. But I don’t work on the monster
in the background yet, I let him fade
away. We’ll concentrate on him later.
I use Colour Balance here to quickly put the entire piece into the cool blue range.
Up until now the piece was sitting very heavily in the warm range. Doing this change
now helps me see the colour changes I will make in the future. I’m also getting a better
idea of what the armour is going to look like on the hero. Also note that the monster
I drew in the beginning is being lost as I add details to the other areas.
Using Overlay and Soft Light
Layers I paint in very saturated reds. I do
this to better match the colour
scheme that I have for the
female warrior who this
character is related to. You
can still see some leftover
blues from the previous steps
though. I also want to fix the
helmet on the hero, as
something was bugging me
about it. I detail out more
of the armour, but I have also lost some
details in other places. I’m detached
enough to not really love anything too
much – if it needs to go, it needs to go.
Like the monster in the background, he’s
almost completely invisible now.
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Workshops
I spend some time rendering out
the armour to the point where I’m done
with him – just a few more tweaks. I’ve
also warmed the entire piece up again,
using the Colour Balance, but this time
by moving the colour sliders
toward the red and yellow
sides. I also adjust my Levels. I
usually only move the outside
ticks inwards a tiny amount.
Now let’s make a dragon!
I paint in most of the dragon. I’ve
also tried to hint at the raging inferno that
it has caused in the background, and I’ve
painted in some more smoke and dust in
the foreground. This is where I also add
textures, which I do in a few ways. The
first one is to use a Brush, with the
Texture box checked – from here I can
add any texture I want. I also use the
Eraser tool. I do this with care, and try
to achieve a painterly look.
Looking at my composition I used most of the space on the
hero. I would like to have more room to work on the dragon, so I
duplicate the entire layer, and using the Free Transform tool I shrink it
down in size. Now remember, I usually only work in one layer. After
I erase and paint the areas I don’t need in the second layer I will Flatten
Image so that I’m back working on one layer again.
Another way to add texture is by employing the same principle I used to add
atmosphere in the beginning, utilising an old image. The big difference is that when
adding atmosphere I use an image with larger gradations whereas for heavy texture
I tend to use an image with smaller gradations. A good example is this old creature
drawing of mine. I set it to Soft Light on the layer and erase the parts I don’t want.
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