Tutorial: Painting the Image | Digital Character Design and Painting: The Photoshop CS Edition (Graphics Series) (Charles River Media Graphics)

The original sketch we will be working from is shown in Figure 21.1.

Figure 21.1: The basic sketched drawing.

When you're ready to start painting the man with the sword, follow these steps:

Scan the original sketch at 300 dpi so that a good image can be printed directly from the image if you want. The scan was large, almost 3000 pixels in the largest dimension. For the majority of your digital painting, this will be just too cumbersome to start with, so let's resize it to 1500 pixels in the largest dimension. This size is much easier to handle in the initial painting stages. This sketch is located on the CD-ROM if you want to follow along using it or use a sketch of your own.

Remember that every image that displayed in these demonstrations represents a saved version of the image. You cannot save enough, so don't hesitate to save constantly. You will be happy in the end that you have gotten into this habit.
Open the image in Photoshop and copy and paste the entire image back into itself. Hide the pasted layer; it will only be used if you need to reestablish your original drawing. As shown in Figure 21.2, render a lighting effect using a slightly blue light. This starts to give the painting the moody feel we want to achieve. Save the image.

Figure 21.2: The original sketch with the rendered lighting effect.
In this image, we want to create something that is dark and creepy, and our goal is to let the viewer's eye fill in many of the details. We need to make the whole thing even darker before we begin painting in earnest. So, we create a new layer, change the blend mode to Multiply, and begin painting in broadly with a dark color using the Airbrush Pen Opacity Flow brush in larger sizes, as shown in Figure 21.3. By using Multiply as the layer's blend mode, we accomplish two things: the image gets darker quickly and we can see the underlying drawing. If we wanted to go darker even quicker, we could change the mode of the brush itself to Multiply. Experiment with these different settings and others to get a look that you like. Save the image.

Figure 21.3: Painting on the Multiply layer to darken the image.
Continue painting all the way down the figure. Notice in Figure 21.4 that we are not worried about staying in the lines of the original drawing. In fact, we are obliterating some of the sketch's original details. This is not important at this stage of the painting. The most important thing is to develop the areas that will be light and those that will be dark. Save the image again.

Figure 21.4: Painting down the figure with little concern for the original sketch's details.
The image is still not dark enough for what we are hoping to accomplish. Merge all the layers except the hidden sketch layer onto the background, copy the entire image, and paste it back into itself. Then, change the composite method of the layer to Multiply and apply a slight motion blur to make everything look even more mysterious and ambiguous, as shown in Figure 21.5. Save the image.

Figure 21.5: The image is two layers at this point, with the top layer having a motion blur applied and the composite method set to Multiply.
Apply another lighting effect to the base image, as shown in Figure 21.6. We finally get the image dark enough. Save the image.

Figure 21.6: Applying another lighting effect to the base layer.
Well, maybe it is actually too dark at this point. Let's somewhat decrease the opacity of the Multiply layer to get it just slightly lighter. Flatten the image down into one layer, and save the image.
Just to minimize mistakes, create a new layer and start painting the face using Airbrush Pen Opacity Flow brush in smaller sizes and with greater opacity. We want the face to contrast greatly in both value and color with the rest of the painting. The predominant color theme for the image is in the gold and brown range, so we will make the face very pale and in the blue/purple color range, as shown in Figure 21.7. Save the image

Figure 21.7: Painting the face in blue and purple tones using the Airbrush Pen Opacity Flow brush.
Using the same brush, begin to also work into the background areas to help reestablish some of the figure's contours against the background, as shown in Figure 21.8. We are trying very hard to keep our values in their proper place and not visually break apart the flow of the image.

Figure 21.8: Redefining the edges of the figure.
Start painting back into the body of the figure using the same Photoshop brush but checking both scatter and texture in the brush options. Increase the Scatter setting and make the brush interact with a texture using the Hard Mix mode. Everything is looking so dark and messy in Figure 21.9 that we begin to wonder if we have ruined the image before we really have started. Flatten the layers and save the image.

Figure 21.9: The painting with a brush that has both Scatter and Texture checked going over the figure's body.
Using custom brushes that were created just for this project (and which you can find on the CD-ROM), start painting into the background and into the figure. We want a rather scratchy and nervous look yet we want to use the texture of the brushes to help give the illusion that we have painted many small details. When using custom brushes with a lot of texture, you will almost always need to increase the scatter of the brush or the textured strokes will run together. It is often also advisable to paint with these brushes as if they are stamps. To do this, simply touch the stylus to the image and lift it off. Do not touch and drag the stylus around. You can see this beginning work in the chest area and above the figure's left shoulder in Figure 21.10. Save the image.

Figure 21.10: The beginning of the texture work into the image.
Continue to paint the background with multiple different textured brushes. We are sampling color from within the image and are constantly scaling the brushes to get lots of variation. While trying to maintain the golden feeling of the background, start to subtly introduce some cooler color. You can see this best over the figure's right shoulder in Figure 21.11. Try to keep the edges of the image distinct but somewhat ambiguous, as perhaps a ghost would be.

Figure 21.11: Continued developments in the background textures.
Switch brushes to one that has a small round pattern. Sampling some of the darkest colors in the image, paint darks back out into the background over the relatively light color there, as has been done in Figure 21.12. Now and then, switch to the Airbrush Pen Opacity Flow brush and define in some detail the profile of the figure.

Figure 21.12: Changing to different textured brushes and working some dark color into the background.
Using one of the custom brushes that looks like a rocky wall, using a dark color, and scaling the brush up quite large, begin painting a rocky , brick wall behind the figure, as you can see in Figure 21.13. This is one of the areas where it is much easier to let a texture do the majority of the work. We could have drawn the brick wall behind the figure, but since some preliminary time was taken to create a usable brick-like textured brush, we can paint the entire wall in just a few strokes. Save the image.

Figure 21.13: Painting a brick wall behind the subject using a custom brush made of a brick-like texture.
Using Airbrush Pen Opacity Flow, continue to work into the background, adding some lighter and cooler colors. Notice the scratchy line work above the left shoulder in Figure 21.14. Save the image.

Figure 21.14: Continued work into the background with Airbrush Pen Opacity Flow to get some variation in color and value.
The hand of the character is going to be significant to the feel that we want to get in the image. Up to this point, we have pretty much ignored refining individual pieces of the image, but now it is appropriate to strengthen the drawing of the left hand. We do not need to draw every finger; just reinforce the silhouette to make sure the hand is recognizable, as shown in Figure 21.15. This work is done with Airbrush Pen Opacity Flow brush.

Figure 21.15: Strengthening the silhouette of the hand.
Continue to add more texture and color into the background using custom brushes, particularly around the hand and head areas, as shown in Figure 21.16.

Figure 21.16: Adding more texture and color into the background.
Using the same brushes as in the background, begin to paint into the figure itself. We're going for a loose armor look, and we want the impression to be old and almost relic-like. In Figure 21.17, you will notice the most work has been done in the figure's chest area.

Figure 21.17: Using textured brushes to start painting armor into the character.
Using the same custom brushes as before, lighten and paint more (and different) textures into the background surrounding the head and hand. You can see the results in Figure 21.18. Save the image.

Figure 21.18: More texture work, especially around the head and hand.
Still using a textured brush, but changing the size and opacity as you work, paint in the background and figure. You want to use a brush that is round and somewhat splotchy in texture as it is perfect for adding small, rock-like grains into the image. Figure 21.19 shows the results.

Figure 21.19: Changing to round and blotchy brush texture and continuing to work into the background and figure.
We can't wait any longer, so let's add a small bit of red color to the figure's extended figure, as shown in Figure 21.20. Now, as is so important with much character art, we have added a story to the image. What the specific story is about is not nearly as important as the fact that there is a story. We also begin to do some additional work into the wall behind the character, just under the arm.

Figure 21.20: Adding a story to the image by simply adding a bit of red to the extended finger.
Using the brick-like textured brush, start to add some dimension to the bricks in the wall on the left side of the figure, as shown in Figure 21.21.

Figure 21.21: Adding some dimension to the rock wall behind the figure.
Continue with the same brush and add more dimensional details into the wall on the right side of the figure, as shown in Figure 21.22. We also add some detail in the figure's right arm using the Airbrush Pen Opacity Flow brush in smaller sizes, trying to maintain a random feel. Now this is not real detail but is simply letting the textures already present suggest some detail in the arm.

Figure 21.22: Adding more detail into the background and implied detail into the left arm using the Airbrush Pen Opacity Flow brush.
Continue using the Airbrush Pen Opacity Flow brush and paint in some scribbles in both the figure and background. Paint the lines with a very freeform motion, but pay close attention to their direction. In Figure 21.23, we want the strokes to go perpendicular to the form. Once the dark scribbles have been painted in, go in with a lighter color and highlight the edge of them so that they appear to be three-dimensional.

Figure 21.23: Adding 'scribble' detail to the image.
Do some additional work on the sword and the background around the sword. For the work on the sword, use the Airbrush Pen Opacity Flow brush; when working in the background, use the custom textured brushes. Add a small highlight on the sword, as shown in Figure 21.24. The key here is to not make the sword too light. If we made it lighter, it would punch a visual hole into the image.

Figure 21.24: Painting on the sword and on the background around the sword.
Using Airbrush Soft Round brush, paint slight highlights on both the figure and the sword, as shown in Figure 21.25.

Figure 21.25: Painting a glow around some of the forehead and sword.
For some finishing touches, we'll add a few details on the character's sword handle using the Airbrush Pen Opacity Flow brush, as shown in Figure 21.26.

Figure 21.26: The finishing touches are placed on the sword's handle.