Tutorial: Getting Started

The focus of this demonstration is twofold-creating and using a completely different palette than you are used to and, as it was in Chapter 15-painting skin. However, this time, you will learn about other techniques that will allow you to add blemishes and imperfections. While flawless skin is beautiful, it is not that common in the real world. If you can add small imperfections to flawless skin, the believability of your painting, as well as its visual appeal , will be enhanced. For some reason, things that are not pretty and perfect seem to be much more interesting to look at. We hope these techniques will make your images all the more intriguing.

First let's create some new palettes that you can use with your images. One of the more distracting things about digital painting is the sheer number of colors you can choose from. For most artists these days you have the option of choosing any of 16 million colors. That is truly an awesome amount and, quite frankly, way too many. Often as in traditional painting, the premise of using a limited palette will serve you well in digital painting. The question then becomes, how do you limit your palette? Fortunately, this is very simple in Photoshop and depends on the Swatches palette. Figure 18.1 shows Photoshop's Swatches palette with the default 122 colors loaded. This is really quite a drop in the available colors from 16 million, yet this is really too many as well. A good number would be anywhere from 16 to 24 colors.

Figure 18.1: Photoshop's Swatches palette.

One of the best ways to get a completely new palette to work with right in Photoshop is to use an image in which you already admire the color scheme. Figure 18.2 shows an image that we will use to generate new swatches of color to paint with.

Figure 18.2: The original image used to create a new Swatches palette.

In the Image menu, select Mode/Indexed Color. This will bring up the options box shown in Figure 18.3. Within this options box, reduce the number of colors to anywhere from 16 to 24. Click the Preview box if you are curious what your image will look like with various reductions in color. It really does not matter what happens to the original image. Play with the different settings, but do not let the number of colors grow to more than 24.

Figure 18.3: The Indexed Color options box.

We now have an image that has been reduced to no more than 24 colors, but how do you get those colors into a Swatches palette you can use? It is very simple. In the Image menu once again, select Mode/Color Table. Photoshop will display a box that shows the 24 colors that now make up the image (see Figure 18.4). Click the Save button and you will be presented with a box asking you for a name and a folder where you will be saving. Leave the default format as a Color Table, name the Color Table something you can remember, and save it to a location that you will also remember.

Figure 18.4: The reduced palette of your image.

From the Swatches menu, select Replace Swatches and select the Color Table you just created. You will now see the colors from your indexed image loaded as your Swatches palette (see Figure 18.5).

Figure 18.5: The new Color Table loaded as the Swatches palette.

Now remember, we will ultimately have more than 24 colors in our final painting as we blend and push the color around. This is fine and what we expected. Starting with only up to 24 colors is our goal. To be able to create a pleasing painting with so few colors is entirely possible, as our original painting shows when reduced to 24 colors. You should create a number of different Color Tables that you will be able to load and use, but if you do not want to, a sampling has been provided on the CD-ROM in this chapter's folder.

A number of small shareware programs are available on the Web that will also generate pleasing color palettes for you using different color harmonies.

Now that you have learned how to reduce an image to a minimum number of colors and have created new Swatches palettes from those colors, you are ready to start painting.

The following image is painted in two ways with two different color palettes, one with 16 and the other with 12 colors. The palettes in the top-right corner of the image are for illustration purposes only and represent the colors in the Swatches palette.

When you're ready to start, follow these steps:

1. Start Photoshop as usual. Arrange your palettes to suit your particular working methods .

2. Open the scanned sketch or create a new image that is approximately 1200 (1200 pixels in dimension, and with a resolution between 200 and 300 dpi.) Figure 18.6 shows a scanned drawing. This rather strange -looking fellow is scanned at 300 dpi.

   
   Figure 18.6: A scanned image.

3. Save your result with the name of your choice, followed by '01.' Make it a habit to save numerically named versions of your work. One of the best things about digital painting is this ability to save multiple versions that you can revert to if you make a major mistake.

We are first going to paint the sketch using a cool, analogous color scheme. Analogous colors are those that are located next to each other on the color wheel.

Painting a Face Using a Cool, Analogous Color Scheme

Select Load Swatches in the Swatches palette and open a cool palette that you have created from another image or by hand. If you would rather use the swatches that were used in the creation of the tutorial image, you can load the swatches from this chapter's folder on the CD-ROM.

The first thing that we need to do is to get rid of all the white in the image and set the base color we want to build the image around. Select, copy, and paste the whole image back into itself. You now have two layers with identical images on each.

Select one of the blue colors from the Swatches palette. It is generally a good idea to start with a color that is located between the ends of the palette instead of one of the colors at the extreme end. This will make achieving a color harmony easier as you paint. When you have selected the color, click on that color in the toolbar. This brings up the color picker. Do not move the small circle to change the color. All you are going to do here is note the RGB, HSV, or LAB values for this particular color. There is no reason to worry about the CMYK values now. Figure 18.7 shows the color picker and where you can find the RGB values for the selected color. Either remember these values or, better yet, write them down on a piece of scrap paper as we will need them in just a moment.

Figure 18.7: The color picker with the RGB values highlighted.

With the background layer active, select Lighting Effects from the Filter/Render menu. In the Lighting Effects options box, click on the Light Type color box. This will take you back to the color picker. Enter the RGB values that you wrote down previously in the RGB boxes here and click OK. Set the Light type to Omni and place this light as shown in Figure 18.8. Adjust the intensity to your liking and click OK.

Figure 18.8: The Lighting Effects options box.

Your painting should now look something like Figure 18.9. You should have two layers. The top layer's blend mode should be set to Multiply, and this layer will only be visible should you need a guide to reestablish your drawing. For now, hide the top layer.

Figure 18.9: The two-layer image now looking very blue.

Create a new layer on top of the background layer. This will be where we do the actual painting of the face. It is generally a good idea to separate the painting of the major pieces of a digital painting onto separate layers. This approach will make changes much easier. Selecting colors from your loaded swatches, begin to block in the colors of the face. Figure 18.10 shows the beginning stages of painting in the character. Do not worry about details at this point, but try to cover a lot of the image as quickly as possible. Work from your darkest darks to the lightest lights. You may have already noticed that all of the colors in this particular palette are generally the same value. Because this is the case, you will need to take some of the colors into a darker range and some into a lighter range as you paint. This is easy to do without changing the Hue you are using. Simply click on the color to bring up the color picker. We will be using the HSV buttons to change the brightness of the color. When the color picker is opened, H will probably be selected. Click B, two dots below the H. Now you will notice the small vertical bar that had displayed the full spectrum now instead displays the current color in a gradient from very dark to as light as possible for this specific color. Simply move the sliders up or down this gradient to change the brightness of your color. This is shown in Figure 18.11.

Figure 18.10: Beginning to paint the skin and hair using the swatches from the color palette.

Figure 18.11: The B button selected in the color picker.

This is really a somewhat mechanical way to select color, and you should feel free to try other methods. The goal is to try to stay as true to your palette as possible, and a little variation will not matter.

You will notice that on a new layer, in the upper-right corner of the image, I have dropped in a small image made from the swatches of the palette. This is so I can simply use the eyedropper tool to select the colors and not constantly move to the Swatches palette to change my working color. This is strictly a personal choice, and you will ultimately find a method that works best for you.

Continue to paint in the skin using colors selected from your swatches. Notice that we are keeping the brightest colors in the areas where the brightest color would naturally be found in a face. These areas are the cheeks, lips, nose, and ears. Figure 18.12 shows our continued efforts.

Figure 18.12: More work in the face.

Now, let's darken the hair more (see Figure 18.13). Using the blending technique described in Chapter 11 at a low opacity, smooth and blend some of the color that you have applied to the face. At this point in our efforts, most of the underlying sketch is covered. If you think you are losing your drawing, unhide the top layer and check things out. Make any adjustments that you feel are necessary and turn the layer off again.

Figure 18.13: Additional work on the face.

Using a greenish color to contrast with the brighter purplish colors, paint in a rim light on the shadow side of the character's face, as shown in Figure 18.14.

Figure 18.14: Rim light added to the shadow side of the face.

Create a new layer for the next step. This layer should be above the face layer, and you can name it 'sweater' or any other descriptive name. It is always a good idea to name your layers to avoid confusion when you are searching for the correct layer to paint on. This particular image has so few layers that naming it is not critical other than it is a good habit to get into. On this new layer, rough in some sort of clothing or sweater. Once again, detail is not important. Back on the face layer, using a combination of brushes and erasers , clean up the contour of the hair. You don't want to have sharp edges everywhere but a nice mix of sharp and soft. (See Figure 18.15.)

Figure 18.15: Painting in the clothing on a separate layer, cleaning up the contour of the hair, and putting color into the eye.

Paint in the iris of the eye using one of your brightest colors, in this case the brightest red you have (Figure 18.16). If you see an area that you feel is getting too rough, go back and blend the colors lightly.

Figure 18.16: Painting the iris of the eye with a bright color.

Since this is a rather unusual-looking character, we emphasize that fact by adding some facial decoration (see Figure 18.17). Make it whatever you like: a tattoo, paint, or in this case, a carving. Remember the most important rule: create a new layer before you do anything like this. If you do not like the decoration, you can always clear the layer and start again without ruining any other part of your painting.

Figure 18.17: There is nothing like a little face decoration.

At this point the image is looking pretty good but, quite frankly, somewhat boring. This is probably because the handling of the painting has been straightforward, using only one or two brushes combined with blending. The background would also be better if it were not quite so light, so we will darken the background and add some interesting visual texture. Select, copy, and paste the entire background layer back into the image. Change the blend mode of this new layer to Multiply. This is much better as the background has now gotten quite a bit darker and our pale friend's face stands out much better. Adjust the Opacity sliders if you think the background is too light to something that you find pleasing. Remember, there is no one correct look. Figure 18.18 shows the painting with the background layer darkened. I also deleted the layer with the color palette layer as it is really not useful anymore. All color selecting that I need to do is done within the image itself.

Figure 18.18: The background layer darkened significantly.

Create a new layer right above the duplicated background layer. Using custom brushes that you have made or ones that are on the CD-ROM, paint in a number of interesting textures, selecting your colors from both the background and the face. Of course, we do not have to worry about any of these textures painting into the face because we are painting on a layer that is underneath the face layer. Figure 18.19 shows the textures painted using colors from within the face. This is particularly evident just to the right of the face, where you can see some of the purples from the cheek area in the background.

Figure 18.19: Textures painted on their own layer in the background.

The skin is also too flat and lifeless. To add realism to your work and help get away from that look (which screams digital airbrush), add subtle textures into the skin. Load the face texture brushes from this chapter's folder on the CD-ROM into Photoshop. These brushes were created specifically to add subtle textures into skin in digital paintings. When the brushes are loaded, create a new layer on top of the face layer and paint in subtle textures using colors selected for various areas in the face. Don't worry about some of the paint spilling over onto the hair or darker areas of the skin. This is very easy to correct since we are painting on a new layer. Figure 18.20 shows the textures painted into the skin.

Figure 18.20: Skin textures painted on their own layer.

If you want to experiment and get more depth, paint multiple textures using differing blend modes one on top of the other.

When you have a number of different and interesting textures painted on the skin, select the Eraser tool and go in and clean up wherever the textures were painted over areas they should not have been. Figure 18.21 shows the face with textures cleaned up.

Figure 18.21: The facial textures cleaned up.

There are only one or two small steps left before we finish. First, hide the face layer, merge down the background layers into one layer, and define the background as a pattern. Select the whole background, copy, and paste it back into the image. You should now have a layer that is a duplicate of the background. Double-click on this newly created layer to open the Layer Style options. Check the Bevel and Emboss box. Duplicate the settings you see in Figure 18.22, 18.23, and 18.24. In Figure 18.23 note the Contour setting in particular. If you do not have this option set this way, you will have a bevel around your whole image. In Figure 18.24, the pattern to use is the one you defined from the background.

Figure 18.22: The Bevel and Emboss options in the Layer Style menu.

Figure 18.23: The Contour options in the Layer Style/Bevel and Emboss options.

Figure 18.24: The Texture options in the Layer Style/Bevel and Emboss options.

And the last thing to do is this: the carving on the face is just too big. Select the layer where this decoration is located and under the Edit menu, choose Transform and Scale. Size the decoration to whatever size suits you. The image is finally finished. Figure 18.25 shows the final image painted with a cool color scheme and one that we would not have chosen in the regular course of our painting.

Figure 18.25: The finished image.

Painting a Face Using a Warm Color Scheme

In this section, we are going to switch gears completely and head in a direction that is 180 degrees from the previous image. Again, we will be using swatches either culled from an existing image or handmade. The Swatches palette used is on the CD-ROM if you care to use it. This image, though of the same subject matter, will have a completely different feel from the previous one solely because of the colors we are using. Again, this is a marvelous way to spark creativity if you have hit a slump.

Because most of the techniques used are virtually identical to the previous image, only cursory instructions will be given with each image. Where something new is used, a more in-depth explanation will be given.

So let's start. Open the sketch you started with in the previous section and make sure that the colors you will limit yourself to are loaded into the Swatches palette. Copy and paste the entire image back into itself, change the new layers' blend mode to Multiply, and hide the layer.

Using the same technique described previously, render a lighting effect using one of the colors from the swatches to get rid of all the white in the image. (See Figure 18.26.)

Figure 18.26: The two-layer image with a warm lighting effect applied.

On a new layer, block in the major colors of the face (Figure 18.27). Remember this can be rough at this stage as you are only trying to establish the color scheme.

Figure 18.27: The block-in of the major colors of the face.

On the same layer, continue to refine, darken, and blend the colors where needed. Keep the brightest colors where appropriate (Figure 18.28).

Figure 18.28: Some blending, darkening, and refining of the painting.

Add a rim light to the shadow side of the face (Figure 18.29). Pick a color that is complementary to the brighter colors for interest.

Figure 18.29: Adding the rim light.

Create a new layer and on this layer, rough in some clothing. Back on the face layer, using a combination of brushes and erasers, clean up the contour of the hair. Paint in the iris of the eye using one of your brightest and most contrasting colors. (See Figure 18.30.)

Figure 18.30: Adding clothing on a new layer, cleaning up the hair, and painting the iris.

We are not going to carve anything into this character, but it would be nice to have some decoration, so let's add some jewelry. Create a new layer and paint the stud in the corner of the nose. To duplicate this for the additional three studs, you could select the stud using the lasso tool and copy and paste it. While this is a perfectly fine solution to the problem, you will end up with a lot of layers to deal with, so let's use a different approach since we are not painting a too complicated image. Select the stud with the lasso tool but instead of using copy and paste, hold down the Ctrl and Alt keys (PC) and drag a copy of your selection above the first stud. Continue this until you have the number you would like duplicated. Notice that one was also put up by the eyebrow. The nice thing about this technique is that all of your duplicates are on the same layer. Just make sure you know where you are placing them or you will have to go back in and individually select each one to move. Paint any remaining jewelry you may want on this layer or an additional one. (See Figure 18.31.)

Figure 18.31: Jewelry and studs added.

This background would also be better if it were not quite as light. Let's darken the background and add some interesting visual texture. Select, copy, and paste the background layer back into the image. Change the blend mode of this new layer to Multiply. This is much better as the background is again now quite a bit darker but, in this case, way too warm for the face. In the Image/Adjustments/Hue and Saturation options, take the saturation of the layer down until it is almost gray. As this layer interacts with the background, the color temperature is much more pleasing. Adjust the Opacity sliders if you think the background is too dark to something that you find pleasing. Create a new layer and on this layer add all the textural elements using custom brushes that you have built or the ones located on the CD-ROM. Figure 18.32 shows the image with a darker background and textures added. When you have finished adding the textures, merge all the background layers down.

Figure 18.32: The darker, textured background.

The face in this image also needs some texture added to make it more visually interesting. Using the technique described above, add texture to the skin. Figure 18.33 shows a closeup of the face with textures added.

Figure 18.33: Textures added to the skin of the figure.

Our final task is to add some depth to the textures in the background layer. Do this as described in detail earlier. To simplify, define a pattern from the entire background layer and, using layer styles, add some beveling and embossing using your newly defined pattern. Figure 18.34 shows the finished image.

Figure 18.34: The finished image.

Hopefully in this chapter you have learned several very important things. First, we showed you a way to spark your creativity when you feel that you have lost that edge by using different and unusual color schemes that you have created from scratch or works of art that inspire you. Second, you saw how to use texture to enliven a painting not only in the background but in something we normally would think of as smooth: skin.