final pic
post some steps of a sketch, share shading techniques
rezado
#42
can any one please tell me how can i attach my image into this forum PLZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ :(((((((((((((((((((((((((((((
Kyena
#44
Since Sacha asked me a bit ago to contribute here I am using a current wip to post some steps. This is one of several illustration for the X-Box version of an Arcade Card Game. This going to be the red queen:
Rough sketch for the approval part. I don’t really like sketching (since I am a lazy bum) but if you work with AD they need to have something to look at >_<
I normally start blocking in colors very messy. Honestly, I still have a hard time finding the right colors and adjust them on the go. Here is an early step with defining the light/shadow environment and some rough colors. I already incorporate the background since it is important to make the characters colors work and pop:
As always, I start working out the facial features first. I just really need them to make me want to go on painting. There are certain things I always use as pointers in any painting (highlight on the nose and inside the inside corner of the eye, darker parts undernath the eyes to shape the underlaying form, for example)
Now, since I know it’s better, I don’t tend to finish the face completely before going to work on other parts. It’s still quite rough and I only used the hard edged round brush with flow set to pen pressure until now. I vary the size a lot though. For blocking in it’s good to use the brush tip quite bigger then you think you would need it. It also helps with creating a base for the blending. I picked a rather dramatig red for the start of her clothing. This is going to be more painterly and stronger colors since it is for a card illustration.
More rough tryouts - I just paint until I see something evolve. I always have an idea but let the brush do most of the work until I see something I can work with for more details.
I also decided to have her hair up in some kind of side buns to create a more “royal” look.
Now that I have the general colors and idea for the whole painting I go back to the face and work in more details. I added freckles (I LOOOOOOOOOOOOVE freckles :D) with my special sprinkle brush, used the hard edged brush with both size and flow set to pen pressure to give special areas more weight and clearness. I also started to “model” the darker part in her hair a bit more. It’s quite important to also have all different kind of values in the darker part to give it more depth.
I know start to color pick from the face and adjust them with the HSB slider. Make the shadows a bit more saturated where they need to be (like the darker part of her nose, lips and so on). I know try to remember all the theory. Add a bit more blue to the inside of her eyes and on parts where the skin is thinner. It’s probably quite hard to see, though. I also colorpick colors from the face and use them on her collar for example. This is a good way to “bring” the painting together.
Here you see the changes on her face. The colors are a bit stronger now due to the changes I mentioned earlier. I also started to add some more additions to her hair and clothing.
This is where I am at the moment - after about a day of work. Some more dramatic darker shades on the face give her a slightly evil touch. I started to work some more on the hair and started to rough in some of the clothing’s shading.
To create a bit of depth specially for the hair: I rough in the overall shape, use the eraser tool with the hard edged brush or sometimes the airbrush to create the edges and curls and then use the blur tool (not the filter) to blur special parts out. I use that tool quite a lot to create depth.
ACantarel
#45
Here´s a timewarp quicktime which shows the progress of my “lumbercrabs” painting.
www.cantarel.de/lbtimewarp-cgtalk.mov - 1.2 MB
Cheers
André
twisteums
#46
as advised me pap87, i post here some steps of a recent still-life-study
hope you’ll like it…
Squibbit
#49
awesome stuff , peoples!
ACantarel, that was a great timewarp, end result rocks:thumbsup: ;
Kyena’s pic looks too cool to begin with, boo ;
twisteums… i habitually get somewhere around pic 4 with my stuff,
pic 7, i dunno where dat comes from :surprised
.
eilidh
#50
Thanks for the insight, everyone. 
I was asked by a couple of people about the brushes I used for my latest speedpainting; so I’m cross-posting this from my sketch & WIP thread.
The full piece:
A close-up, so that you can see what’s going on:
The leaves were rendered in roughly three stages.
For the basic folliage I used one of the custom photoshop leaf-shaped brushes. I decreased its roundness at about 20-something%; Slightly angled. Size jitter is optional; minimum size diameter at 30-40% angle jitter around 10%. Scattering, both axes, ca. 250-300%. Other Dynamics: Opacity and Flow at Pen Pressure. All these values can vary of course.
I went on erasing and blurring some of the edges here and there to remove the stamped like effect; I next switched to Painter, where I used the Pepper Spray from the Airbrush menu, with the feature slightly increased (so as to have larger specks). I kept my pen tilted so as to have a larger spread. This was used relatively sparingly and I erased a lot of it once I came back to Photoshop.
(50% original size)
Photoshop again, blending in; not just black or dark colours now, but also colours I picked from the sky and environment, or intermediate tones. The brush is a standard hard round brush, roundness decreased at about 50%, slightly angled. I changed the angle several times while painting – this was the same with the leaf-shaped one. Size jitter about 30% (Control: Pen Pressure), Angle jitter 14% (Control: Off), Scatter: both axes, ca. 500%; Other Dynamics: Opacity and Flow at Pen Pressure. Again, I’d periodically adjust these, especially scattering.
Hope this is clear enough.
Dile
#51
uhm, i was supposed to get something for this thread as well, but I can now see
that theres nooooo purpose with that… would only make
this thread look funny and unserious lol
Very nice work guys, thanks alot for shareing!
ACantarel
#52
Thanks for the nice words
twisteums: just great! I was really surprised when I saw how sketchy the first step is :eek: I would start with a very detailed line drawing which consumes too much time 
Cheers
André
Dekus
#54
twisteums: om my… that is photorealistic dude!! amazing…
heres my progress:
and heres the final painting: http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/37145243/
Hope you like it… 
Katea
#56
Beautifull WIPs guys
Sasha - that’s a really great idea to to start this thread
Tascha - I’ve got to say - I don’t paint as wonderfully as you :banghead: - but I have to say I have some pretty similar problems and habbits while painting. I do too focus on the face while painting, I have trouble adjusting colours so I do it with the help of HSB sliders, I love freckless and the depth-blurr effect Will you be posting Red Queen on DA as a separate, finished piece?
cuddlesmcsavage
#58
wow, i can’t believe i only just discovered this thread. i’ll be watching!
makes me realise just how erratic and disorganised my own process is, but hey i’m sure practice makes perfect!
notpill
#59
Hi guys. My little contribute to this fantastic thread.
This one it’s based on Daryl Mandryk’s ‘random’ tecnique. Some other Cgtalkers asked me to share the process and this is The Thread:scream: to share it.
–
- In Photoshop, open new canvas and set to 72 dpi (easy to control big brushstrokes)
- with a big brush start to blobbing and scribbling randomly…
- …searching for intersting shapes…
- Sculpting and carving shapes with eraser and brushes (big brushes)WITHOUT ZOOMING in and out.
- Blockin’ shapes with layer mask. Separate background, foreground, midground.
-
Defining the focus point (here the sky’s highlights its my focal point).
Here I upsized the canvas to 300 dpi -
Tweaking colors and shaping the midground with speedy brushstrokes and the same sketchy approach…
8,9,10 detailing.
