Tutorial: Creating the Heaven and Hell Image on the Computer

Tutorial: Creating the 'Heaven and Hell' Image on the Computer

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

1. Create a new document that is approximately 1500 pixels in the largest dimension and fill it with a neutral value gray color. Create a new layer, set the blend mode to Multiply, and sketch your first figure on it. We'll work on hell's angel first, as shown in Figure 22.1. Perhaps it's easier to approach an evil character than a good one. The image is drawn with the Hard Round 5 brush set to a light gray color. As we draw and refine the image, the color gets progressively darker. We want everything to remain very fluid and subject to change at this early stage; vary the size and opacity of the brush as you need. You will notice in the hair that we have used a larger brush size and darker color. We make the face more angular and sharp, especially the nose. We also make the fingers significantly longer with very long nails . We are trying to have the face's look imply something sinister. Although we have not yet determined the final size of the finished image, we are beginning to get a clear idea about what direction we want the picture to go.

   
   Figure 22.1: The sketch of hell's angel.

2. We are also beginning to work on the good angel at this point, but on a different layer. We do this mostly to facilitate working on the characters independently later in the painting process. You can see both of the angels in Figure 22.2. This image has two individual layers with an angel on each.

   
   Figure 22.2: The two angels back to back.

3. Once the general idea for both characters has been developed, hide one of the characters, in this case the good angel. With the bad angel's layer active, hold down the Ctrl button and left-click on the layer to create a selection, and save this selection as an alpha channel. Merge the layer down onto the background, load the selection from the alpha you just created, and cut and paste the angel back into a new layer. The reason we go through this long process is that the original layer the angels sketch was on had a blend mode set to Multiply and was not suitable for painting on as every stroke would just get darker and darker. Now, the angels sketch will be on a new layer with a blend mode of Normal, which is much more conducive to painting. Begin to paint the bad angel on her individual layer.

4. The background of the image is rather boring and plain at this point. Now is a good time to begin to remedy that problem. Select the background layer and render a lighting effect to this layer. Applying a lighting effect is the easiest way to get some color going in the image. Switch back to the bad angel's layer, and continue painting her. Try to work broadly and with little concern for any outlines that you have drawn. We are not filling in a coloring book; we want to keep the image fluid. Block in the figure and hair, trying to arrive at color and value relationships that will work in the final image. All of this painting is done on the bad angel layer, as seen in Figure 22.3, using the Airbrush Pen Opacity brush at various opacities and sizes.

   
   Figure 22.3: Blocking in the bad angel.

5. The bad angel is a very bad girl, so for her skin, hair, and eyes use a color scheme that accentuates her rather nasty nature. In this case blacks, grays, and red are perfect for the feeling we are after.

6. Continue your work on the bad angel. Add some cracks into the skin using custom brushes that are available on the CD-ROM. She should have desirable aspects and yet be repulsive at the same time. Cracked skin will be one of her undesirable features, as seen in Figure 22.4.

   
   Figure 22.4: Texture is added into the skin.

7. Now we'll reveal the good angel and work on both of the figures concurrently. Depending on how you handled the sketch of the good angel, you may have to go through the same procedure of creating an alpha channel for her layer and then copying and pasting her into a new layer with a Normal blend mode, as described earlier in the chapter. Begin to paint the good angel using the Airbrush Pen Opacity brush. The good angel will be virtually an albino. White is generally characterized as a 'good' color, so it is appropriate to our vision of the character to have her very pale; however, we also want the good angel to be creepy in her own right. Since white can also have a ghostlike connotation, she will appear as both good and somewhat creepy at the same time. We'll darken the background around the good angel to help bring out the very pale complexion. Notice in Figure 22.5 that we are not just painting her in grays but that there are many very subtle colors in her skin, including pinks, purples, and blues.

   
   Figure 22.5: Blocking in the good angel.

8. We have settled on where the figures will be located in the final image, so we merge their layers together so that both figures are on one layer. We then switch to the background layer and begin developing the colors and feel that we want it to help convey . Notice in Figure 22.6 that we are keeping the background around the bad angel rather warm and that around the good angel rather cool. We have turned off the visibility of the layer where the figures are so that you can see the background work we have done. The background is painted using a variety of brushes and then blended here and there.

   
   Figure 22.6: The background layer.

9. We have added some rather bright oranges to the left side of the background with the Airbrush Soft Round brush in various sizes. Using the procedure described earlier in Chapter 11, smooth out the rough areas in the entire background. We are also continuing to work on the two figures. Notice in Figure 22.7 that we have significantly lightened the good angel so that the contrast between the good and bad is extreme.

   
   Figure 22.7: The figure layer revealed against the background layer.

10. Working on the figure layer, further develop both figures. We work on smoothing out the skin and begin adding some of the details into the hands and elsewhere. Make sure to get more color into the good angel. In Figure 22.8, you can see this most clearly in the elbows, ears, and other areas of the face.

    
    Figure 22.8: Notice the strong colors that are added to the figure, which is to appear essentially white.

11. Create a new layer and, as shown in Figure 22.9, add the smoking fire to the dark angel's palm. Paint in the smoke using the Airbrush Soft Round brush in smaller sizes and give it that swirling look by using the Smudge tool. As you start to paint the smoke, keep it brighter and denser close to the hand and gradually make the colors darker as you get farther out. Initially use larger sizes of the smudge tool at higher Strength settings to really move the pixels around. As you get a smoke-like shape, gradually decrease the size and strength of the tool to get finer details.

    
    Figure 22.9: A closeup of the hell angel's smoking palm.

12. We have added an additional light source, so make sure it shows on the figure. In Figure 22.10, this is most noticeable as bright rim lights on the arms and fingers and even on the face of the dark angel. Use the Airbrush Pen Opacity brush for this work.

    
    Figure 22.10: Adding a light source because of the smoking palm.

13. Continue to refine both figures. Create a new layer and add some clouds into the background behind the white angel. I paint the butterfly on another new layer using mainly airbrushes . The image of a butterfly is used because it symbolically represents both rebirth and resurrection, but personal preferences dictated which specific butterfly was painted. We need to paint only half the butterfly .

14. Copy, paste, and flip horizontally half the butterfly we painted so that a complete butterfly is formed . Then hide all layers except the two with the halves of the butterfly, merge both the butterfly layers using the Merge Visible command into one, and then position the butterfly as desired. We have also removed some of the canvas on the right side of the painting.

15. We have decided to add some 'hell' by the bad angel, so start painting some of the light that is spilling out of hell onto the edges of both figures. The edge of yellow light that is on the good angel represents how hard it is to keep ourselves separate and aloof from the evils of the world. Figure 22.11 shows the image after we made all these additions.

    
    Figure 22.11: The butterfly, sky layers, and the flames of hell are painted.

16. Now the fun really begins. As you can see in Figure 22.12, we have painted in the flames of hell on the background layer behind the bad angel. We have used a variation of the Airbrush Soft Round brush that has had the Scattering in both axes set very high, along with the size jitter set very high. We also use the Custom brush in a stamping manner to get some of the fiery effects. Most of the flowing flames are painted using the Airbrush Soft Round brush.

    
    Figure 22.12: A closeup of the flames.

17. Here is where the use of layers becomes advantageous. We are painting on the background layer and the figures are on the top layer, so we can ignore them completely and concentrate on the flames. We do not have to worry about painting around the figures at all. Figure 22.13 shows the multilayered image where we have painted the flames into the background with complete disregard for the figures on the upper layers.

    
    Figure 22.13: Painting in the flames.

18. We now need to do a significant amount of work to refine and finish the figures. Figure 22.14 is a closeup of the bad angel's face. Figure 22.15 shows the good angel's face.

    
    Figure 22.14: A closeup of the bad angel that shows the detail.

    
    Figure 22.15: A closeup of the good angel's face that shows the use of color and finished detail.

19. A lot of work goes into the hair of both characters to make sure that it looks soft and blends correctly into the background. We try to get some brighter colors into both figures. We also work on blending the figures' hair together to visually merge and tie the two figures together. Let's extend the flames farther into the good angel's side of the image, as shown in Figure 22.16.

    
    Figure 22.16: Extending the flames farther into the good angel's background.

20. It is only fair if we encroach on heaven's space with fire that we do the same into hell's space with the blue sky. Working in the background layer, paint the sky over into the left side of the image, as shown in Figure 22.17.

    
    Figure 22.17: Painting the sky into the hell angel's side of the image.

21. The painting is almost finished. On a new layer, add the glow and sparkles around the butterfly, as shown in Figure 22.18, using the same variation of the Airbrush Soft Round brush we used on the flames of hell a few steps earlier.

    
    Figure 22.18: A closeup of the butterfly with its accompanying glows and sparkles.

22. We also toy with adding some tattoos and jewelry to the hell figure, as shown in Figure 22.19. Both the jewelry and tattoos are added on a new layer just in case we decide later that we don't like them. At this point, we do not want to have to repaint into the figures at all if we don't have to.

    
    Figure 22.19: Adding jewelry and tattoos to the hell figure.

23. It indeed turns out that we've decided we don't like the jewelry or tattoos. Therefore, we delete the layer that they were painted on. The upper-right corner of the picture is rather boring and seems to need something. On a new layer, paint in some darker clouds with the Airbrush Soft Round brush and swirl them using the Smudge tool. On a new layer, we also try the idea of making some light streaking through the clouds. Figure 22.20 shows the results.

    
    Figure 22.20: Adding darker clouds, getting rid of the jewelry and tattoos, and making light streak through the clouds.

24. Again, we change our minds and decide to delete the layer on which the streaks of light in the clouds are painted. After we add an earring on the hell figure, the image is finished, as shown in Figure 22.21. Sometimes knowing when to stop is the hardest thing about painting. Some artists have a tendency to want to continue working until things look overworked. We've stopped at just the right time.

    
    Figure 22.21: The final painting.