that is impressive neb!:eek:thanks alot for the recipy:thumbsup:
2D Tutorials (post tutorials only)
Xillion
#63
Hi guys,
This is my attempt at following a tutorial by ron Lemen (aka Fred Flickstone).
that you can find here:
http://forums.sijun.com/viewtopic.php?t=31438&highlight=tutorial+fres
you can also search for his other writings on that site which i find very useful.
I decided to turn my attempt into a tutorial as I think multiple references or different points of view can always be helpful.
Unfortunately this is incomplete as the original text and the final image got lost but i thought it would be nice to share and discuss. Maybe someone will finish it, who knows ? 
So, let's get started.
First of all you need to find a reference image. This tutorial covers a way of producing an image copying by a photo. Nothing too fancy, and not too creative…but fun indeed.
My choiche would be a picture of the gorgeous supermodel Tyra Banks.
Just pick the image you like. I think this image is good because it’s not too cluttered with unnecessary elements. You ave a foreground, the grey beach, the model and, as a backround, sea and waves.
STEP 0 - Setup
before beginning the process you need do some things
1)load up the image in photoshop
( File->Open->direve:\path\filename\imagepath.extension->ok)
2) double the canvas width or height to provide room for your painting and select a position for the original image to lay.
I decided to paint below the reference so i doubled it's height and told photoshop to keep the original pixels on top.
(Image->Canvas size->New size->Height 200%->Anchor click on the top arrow->canvas estension colour: white->Ok)
3) while you paint it will be easy to mess with the reference image if you paint on the same layer, so next step is to create a new layer and mask out the original image.
(press F7 to bring up the layers panel if it’s hidden->click the create new layer icon->press W (to select magic wand tool) and select pixels from the extended part of the image - luckily enough you will only select the new part of the image->then click the create new mask icon)
now, while you are on the new layer you can paint without messing on the original image and without losing any of your freedom, the strokes that will land on the original image are just hidden.
I usually work in fullscreen without any toolbar, to do this it's useful to learn some hotkeys. Those I use the most are:
F tool toggle fullscreen modes
B brush (while in brush mode you can press spacebar to move canvas, press alt to bring pick colours
F7 toggle layer panel
F6 toggle color panal
F9 toggle history panel
M Marquee tool
W magic wand
Ctrl+alt+ + zoom in
Ctrl+alt+ - zoom out
Ctrl+alt+ z undo ;)
- ok, this is an optional step. Sometimes it’s a good idea to help oneself with proportions so you can try visualizing the grid: ->view->show->grid
(hint: customize the grid to the desired size and divisions in preferences, and be sure that the image width or height - the one you choose to double - is a multiple of the base grid size. if it’s not, the grid would not be very helpful)
so, let’s recap…at this point you are working fullscreen, your reference image is doubled in size and the topmost part of a new layer is masked so you can only see the strokes you lay on it’s lower part. zoom out or in until you can see the entire image.what you got after the ‘setup’ is something like in the following image (without the painting obviously )
Step 1 - masses/main values, chroma(not explained…see Ron’s tutorial and the other link provided)
ok, here's an image that will hopefully show some insight in what we are trying to do.
This is an important part, if I write something wrong, please correct me!
The main purpose of this part is to lay a solid foundation to our picture.
The first thing we want to do is figure out the main balance in the image.
We want to focus on 'the big picture'.
In the following image I put toghether three images to compare.
You can see the original reference labeled as a red A. B is a desaturated version of reference image. C is an average-filtered version.
Under the green labels you can se photoshop’s info tool showing HSB (HSB stands for Hue, Saturation, Brightness/blackness) numerical percentages for three pixel samples ( circled in beije)
[[img]http://img274.echo.cx/img274/6990/values4jj.th.jpg[/img]](http://img274.echo.cx/my.php?image=values4jj.jpg)
If you do not consider the bikini, hair and wave crests and you look at the sample HSB numerical values you see that there is very little variation in the blackness/brightness value or, as they call it VALUE. So the image really is quite flat. There planes background, foreground and middleground are quite the same value.
(this does not happen in every image…in Ron’s tutorial the image has a wider range of base value for example)
keep this in mind this when chosing colours, you will play with hue and saturation mostly.
Eyeball the right (easier to say than to do ) combination of HSB (but keep in mind that there is little variation in the main masses’ value/brightness slider) and lay down the masses: sea, sand and body. Use a big flat brush. With no opacity variations and no size variations(press F5 and make sure the only option checked is smoothing). use the biggest brush possible! (Brush size depends on the image size, I used a 100px brush here. Hint: If you don’t know how to evaluate brush size, try to create an A4 document (file->new->preset->A4->Ok) and give some strokes on that document…it will be easier to understand how big or small the brush really is)
(optional: If you want you can do the whole painting without colours. just decrease the saturation slider to zero and keep it that way. you will end up with a black and white image)
It’s a good idea to put the base colours you chose on the canvas to build your palette. Every time you introduce a new HSV (or HSB in the photoshop lingo) combination put it down on your palette.
It’s best to keep basic values/colours to a minimum. Three to five initial values (not counting the shades you will later introduce) are fine.
When you’ve finished you will have five value areas (values should be close to each in this particular painting), the main differences are in hue and little saturation: one for the sea, one for sand, one for body, two (quite white) for bikini and one for hair. (sorry, no image for this step, I just forgot …you can still see the main areas in the next picture)
Xillion
#64
Step 2 - line work.
Now, while in brush mode (hotkey B), you can Alt-click (to invoke eyedropper) and pick your main colours from the palette and begin adding depth to your figure. Darken or brighten the value you picked. (use the B slider to alter tre value). ‘round’ the part you are painting with a few strokes. If you introduce a new HSB colour put it down on the palette. Don’t add too many values, try to ‘ramp’ between values using different spacings between lines. Keep in mind that you are using fixed size and opacity strokes so you must carefully evaluate spacing between your lines and try to concentrate on form to make it emerge.It’s really some kind of drawing phase you do with values and lines.
In this step you will not render shadows, reflected light or else, just keep defining the objects. At the end of this step you have something like this:
[[img]http://img74.echo.cx/img74/3117/tyra05np.th.jpg[/img]](http://img74.echo.cx/my.php?image=tyra05np.jpg)
(don't forget to look at Ron's tutorial to double check the steps)
Note: I was experimenting with technique so I did try some non flat brushes and used them on waves and sand: DON'T DO THIS!
I also did lay the strokes down without paying much attention to what I was doing, or the direction I was giving them, keep in mind that every error you do in the this phase, where you are defining the ‘big picture’ will probably emerge, in a subtle and probably cathastrophic way, later thus altering the final perception of the image.
Step 3 - more line work... (repeat this step over and over until you are satisfied)
Keep on doing the same thing all over the image, I worked from left to right. In images 2-3-4 you can see the progress.
At this point it's just a matter of doing loads of passes... of this linear work...
You can spend hours doing just linear work concentrating on the correct value variations.
look carefully at this image (that I found on the internet) and try to understand it's meaning:
[[img]http://img10.echo.cx/img10/4153/values28ai.jpg[/img]](http://www.imageshack.us/)
Always try to look at the whole image and refine the drawing at each step (you can zoom in and out to see if you got something wrong, or flip the image if you want).
Keep the brush as big as you can and lower it's size only when you are redoing this step.
[[img]http://img74.echo.cx/img74/1789/tyra15fp.th.jpg[/img]](http://img74.echo.cx/my.php?image=tyra15fp.jpg)
[[img]http://img74.echo.cx/img74/1707/tyra22sq.th.jpg[/img]](http://img74.echo.cx/my.php?image=tyra22sq.jpg)
[[img]http://img74.echo.cx/img74/5351/tyra34dn.th.jpg[/img]](http://img74.echo.cx/my.php?image=tyra34dn.jpg)
When the image you are producing is big, it can be a little help to copy the detail you are working on a separate layer and move the layer near your work area. This way you can paint without having to move canvas around to see the reference.
[[img]http://img74.echo.cx/img74/7136/tyra4work5gx.th.jpg[/img]](http://img74.echo.cx/my.php?image=tyra4work5gx.jpg)
In the following image you can see that I did not follow so carefully Ron’s tutorial, I was just too happy to paint that I forgot what I was doing…
every red circle points out something that would belong to a later step and I just did too soon…In particular I added shadows and reflected light…don’t do this now!
[[img]http://img72.echo.cx/img72/1285/tyra5work1mn.th.jpg[/img]](http://img72.echo.cx/my.php?image=tyra5work1mn.jpg)
Optional Step: shadow layer
ok, this is my personal deviation from the theme…sometimes when I get bored with my artwork and I want to have instant gratification all I do is add shadows. I think shadows bring even more life to a painting, so I added a new layer (as this is not part of the real process Ron laid) and painted some pure black (cast) shadows.
[[img]http://img284.echo.cx/img284/5134/tyra7ombrelaye2r5lk.th%20.jpg[/img]](http://img284.echo.cx/my.php?image=tyra7ombrelaye2r5lk.jpg)
Later I adjusted the opacity of the layer and then added a lighter value to the lightest shadows.
For example under the flower at hip… in this step I really did not pay much attention to what I was doing with my palette (in terms of HSV variations) so you can just experiment or skip…or follow Ron’s guidelines.
[[img]http://img9.echo.cx/img9/1234/tyra84tq.th.jpg[/img]](http://img9.echo.cx/my.php?image=tyra84tq.jpg)
The line work moved to face…I’m still not going for true likeness so the facial feature here are a bit off…While doing this I just saw that eyeballed the wrong combination of hue and saturation for some orange colours on the body/and face (I was really trying to get the grasp on some things about values that I did not play at all with saturation) so as I was not getting it right, I just Alt-clicked the colour from the reference…DON’T DO THIS! it’s cheating…!
I’m gonna include some readings for you to complement things I’m not saying about colour, chroma and saturation as I’m just concentrating on values…
for realism you will need to understand (As I will one day do myself) things about the way materials react to light and their mutual interactions
[http://itchstudios.com/psg/art_tut.htm](http://itchstudios.com/psg/art_tut.htm) (really nice sum of knowledge you will need...READ THIS CAREFULLY!)
[http://forums.sijun.com/viewtopic.php?t=31503&highlight=tutorial](http://forums.sijun.com/viewtopic.php?t=31503&highlight=tutorial)
[http://forums.sijun.com/viewtopic.php?t=36148&highlight=tutorial](http://forums.sijun.com/viewtopic.php?t=36148&highlight=tutorial)
[http://forums.sijun.com/viewtopic.php?t=31692&highlight=tutorial](http://forums.sijun.com/viewtopic.php?t=31692&highlight=tutorial)
[http://forums.sijun.com/viewtopic.php?t=35050&highlight=tutorial](http://forums.sijun.com/viewtopic.php?t=35050&highlight=tutorial)
Optional step: median filter…
ok this is what I did, just an experiment to blend colours. I applied a median filter (Filter->Noise->Median) to the image. Adjust the amount to a few pixels and click ok. Instant blending!..Anyway, I bet that you loose some of the freshness of the image this way…it may even look faked so do this at your will it really is not needed.
what is needed to give unity to the image is:
Xillion
#65
Step 4 Blending
Pick your big brush and turn on opacity and size sensitivity setting (B->F5->thick on ‘Shape dynamics’->thick on ‘Size’ controlled by pen pressure->thick ‘other dynamics’-> thick on ‘Opacity’ controlled by pen pressure).
Picking up the values (pure values if you are still in B&W or HSB combinations) from the palette you built and do some soft strokes to bring the picture toghether. For example: pick up the higlight colour/value you used for the arms and pass over the highlighted part very gently.Still look at the big picture (you can zoom in and out to see i you got something wrong, or flip the image if you want)
[[img]http://img272.echo.cx/img272/1174/tyra8bismedianhistoryart7wu.th.jpg[/img]](http://img272.echo.cx/my.php?image=tyra8bismedianhistoryart7wu.jpg)
[[img]http://img99.echo.cx/img99/3987/tyra9flussobis0rq.th.jpg[/img]](http://img99.echo.cx/my.php?image=tyra9flussobis0rq.jpg)
[b] Step 5 Details[/b]
It's possible you loose some detail in step 4, just pick a little brush and adjust where needed.
Notice that material rendering is achieved by carefully doing step 3 without particular effort.
As Ron’s says material rendering is achieved by careful lay down of accents and higlights (study that part…it’s cool )
Unfortunately there is no image for this final step...but I think you got it...I hope one day I'll finish It ^_^
If you want to add something, correct my english or just finish the image...I'm here...
Hope this is helpful to someone as writing it was for me :)
Norante
#66
That was a great article! 
However, as for following articles and tutorials, let’s try to keep using links instead of posting the contents directly on this topic. That way we keep it focused and easy to search and navigate.
realfantasy
#67
This is my way of painting animal fur. (software: Painter)
http://www.spymac.com/upload/gallery/f_94/user_944777/upload_426229.jpg
Hope you like it.
waikit
#68
A step-by-step tutorial in which a preliminary sketch of a product design is transformed into an Illustrator linedrawing and finally rendered in Photoshop >
keko
#69
I did a painting screencapture.i hope this’s useful.
divx 4 M
http://all-final.com/download/keko_paint.rar
Samanthie
#70
I hope you find this tutorial helpful. I used Paint Shop Pro because the wax coating effect within the program is needed to complete it. Not sure if it can be done in PS. It’s based on real life ingredients…sort of a recipe so I call it Recipe for a Rock Texture. Feedback is welcome. http://westwood.fortunecity.com/sander/604/Rock_Texture_Tut.html
duddlebug
#71
A friend suggested i post this link here:
Romanes Eunt Domus (Painting a Gladiator!)
It’s a step-by-step i did a couple of months ago, and posted in the ‘Art Techniques’ forum. There’s nothing particularly specific, but it’s a general overview of how i went about a piece of concept art, from sketch to finished colour piece. The style’s a little different from my more ‘cartoony’ stuff, but i tried to gte some humour into the image.
Right… now i’m gonna browse through this thread and check out some tutorials…
waikit
#72
Alias Sketching Tutorial (Industrial Design)
A step by step tutorial: Draw and render a shaver
http://www.productdesignforums.com/index.php?showtopic=1812
Credits to our member ScottieB who made this tutorial
digijoe
#73
I’ve used this site a few times to quickly browse through lots of short Photoshop tutorials http://www.good-tutorials.com/tutorials/photoshop/drawing
They are generally pretty concise and to the point, which can be useful if you are in a rush.
keko
#74
I did three more painting screencaptures.i hope they would be useful.
[http://www.3dfever.com/keko/newpaintforweb3.rar](http://www.3dfever.com/keko/newpaintforweb3.rar) divx 3m
http://www.3dfever.com/keko/drawingforweb.rar divx 9 m
http://www.3dfever.com/keko/NewPaint.rar divx 7m
:)
jeroentje
#76
Here is an awsome tutorial about portraits. Written for photography, but with some very valuable tips on lighting, composition and poses that work for painting aswell ofcourse.
Dstudio
#77
Free - come and get them!
http://www.thedrawingstudio.co.nz
Just a collection of tutorials I whipped up for emerging artists…
Cheers
tizianoadmirer
#78
Sorry if this is a repost… these Craig Mullins tutorials rock the house…
http://www.gfxartist.com/features/tutorials
tizianoadmirer
#79
walkthrough of “the predator” by blackeri: http://www.blackeri.com/walk.jpg
and the final image: http://images.gfxartist.com/images/MemberGalleryItem/full/109459.jpg
