In pt. 1 I showed you the basics of creating clean straight and curved lines in photoshop. This video shows a sample workflow: creating a mechanical prop using the techniques introduced in the previous lesson.
Reader Anders was nice enough to expand on the topic in his own video here. Check it out.
Clean linework can be a challenge to create with a stylus. This video offers a solution. If you were an industrial designer it would not be considered "cheating" to use a ruler or an ellipse template. Likewise, you're not breaking any rules by utilizing some of Photoshop's mechanical aids for drawing technical linework.
Whenever a new medium emerges, artists are quick to dismiss it as inferior -- and digital painting has been received negatively by many artists. This video is my attempt to argue in favor of digital painting. Of course, there's no correct medium to work in. Working digitally, though, brings some wonderful new opportunities to the table. Besides, when was the last time you hand-wrote a letter? With my commercial work I find the best solution is almost always a combination of tools: some 3D, a little photo-texture, lots of reference imagery, and digital painting to pull it all together.
Painting is all about controlling your mindset. You can easily become your own worst enemy by tensing up, being overly critical, and worrying about your mistakes. Learning to control these feelings is a huge part of learning to paint. In this video I'll show you a drill that helps you come to terms with 'professional detachment'. This practice of 'letting go' will give you a thicker skin, and make critique easier to hear. Being able to throw away your work is essential for all artists, but it is especially useful for professionals.
Thumbnail sketches are small drawings which help plan your larger, finished, works. There's noting 'finished' about them, and they are generally thrown away once you begin the final piece. So why not use 3D software to help generate some ideas? As far as 3D software goes, Sketchup is very basic and straightforward. Even if you aren't interested in making complex models in 3D, doing a quick block-in of your scene and then moving around it in 3D space can help you select dramatic camera angles.
Have you ever tried 3D modeling before? Many digital painters answer "no" to this question, though even a small amount of 3D experience can make a huge impact on your paintings. This video introduces Google Sketchup as tool for drawing. As it states in the video, the word 'drawing' can mean many things - so if you're going to paint over it anyway, why not use some 3D modeling as a foundation for your work?
If you've got a traditional pen or pencil drawing that you want to color digitally, scanning the image is only step 1. Before you can start painting you need to make a few adjustments. This video shows some simple tweaks that will make your sketch prepared for painting.
A common question for beginners is "What size should I make my canvas?" Wanting to know exactly how many white pixels to lay out before you start working is a comforting feeling, but there's no 'right' answer to this question. In this video we'll explore the idea of dynamic resolution. Counter to the rules for digital photography, there are benefits to beginning with a small canvas and gradually enlarging it as you work.
Hopefully the first two videos have sufficiently impressed you with the power of masks. If not, this video about editing masks with the brush tool absolutely will. By this point you've seen the power of masks, but haven't seen how they relate to a painting process. Once you begin adding nuance and painterly edges to your mask with the brush tool, you'll see what you've been missing all this time. It can be hard to explain in words, but all experienced digital painters will agree that masks bring unique power to the painting process.
The difference between a "good painting day" and a "bad painting day" often comes down to mindset. This video shows a simple but effective warm up exercise to start painting with the right mindset. If athletes and musicians begin each session with stretching and warm up exercises, why aren't you? Painting is a physical and mental exercise, and you benefit from a bit of limbering up before you work.
People are good at being creative, and computers are great at repetitive tasks. Why not let your computer do what it's good at and focus your energy on the more creative work? As a digital painter, you should be on the lookout for repeated elements in a painting: large or small. This video shows how to efficiently paint a threaded screw through the use of duplication and the transform tool.
The introduction to masking continues in this video with layer sets. Did you know you could apply a single mask to multiple layers? Get ready to have your mind blown. This is where masking severs ties with the traditional art world, and can only be called "strictly digital". Even though it might seem abstract at first, this concept will completely change the way you paint.
Masking is quite possibly the most feared Photoshop topic. I'd argue that it's also the most necessary function for efficient digital painting. The masking 101 series is here to ease you into the basics. In this first episode we'll compare Photoshop masks to their real-world counterpart: masking tape.
The brush tool is the heart of digital painting. It can be a bit confusing, and this video will help familiarize you with the basic components like Opacity and Diameter. Interestingly, the way to make the brush tool more useful is to limit the functionality. In this video I explore the difference between my two favorite types of brushes: Opacity Brushes use the pen pressure on your stylus to control the amount of pigment, and have a fixed diameter. Keyboard shortcuts are used to change the diameter.
Diameter brushes use the pen pressure to control the diameter, and have a fixed amount of pigment. This creates the effect of applying ink with a bristle brush -- you get a varied line weight, but a consistent intensity of ink.
Standing back from your painting to get the 'big picture' is extremely important. Getting up close and personal with your details is important too. What if you could do both simultaneously? You can. There's a feature that many artists don't know about in Photoshop which allows you to open the same document in multiple windows simultaneously. In this video I'll show the practical implications of this command in a detailed illustration. Especially if you have two monitors, the "New Window" command is a priceless addition to the digital painter's workflow.
Painting is often best done from simple to complex. This methodology certainly applies to situations where you are painting surfaces with 2D decals like an emblem on armor. A traditional painter might first paint the base surface, and then once the paint dries would be able to paint the 2D decal over top. In this video I'll explore a digital approach to this task. Unlike the traditional process, Photoshop allows us to prepare the 2D image as a flat decal and then distort it into place to match the illustration. You can use this same technique to apply existing images such as logos, or 2D images of your own.
Have you ever gotten lost in a tall stack of unnamed Photoshop layers? Naming your layers may be the proper way to stay organized, but it is extremely time consuming. This video offers a time-saving compromise. Even though I don't name my layers, there are certain ones that I don't want to lose track of - and a bit of color-coding does the trick. There are multiple ways to change the color coding of a layer in the stack, but this video shows how to use a Photoshop Action to accomplish it. I especially like Photoshop actions because they allow me to keep my stylus in the center of my painting, and to trigger commands with my left hand.
Continuing where part 1 left off, this concludes your introduction to the pen tool. This video focuses on a real-world example, creating a technical outline around a character's silhouette. If you were to attempt this job with the lasso or marquee tools you'd quickly run into trouble. The true beauty of the pen tool becomes apparent when working on a series of technical curves.
Want to make controlled, dependable, selections in Photoshop? The Marquee and Lasso tools each have their strengths, but the Pen Tool combines the best of both worlds. This is the first half of a two-part introduction to the amazingly useful Pen Tool. For whatever reason, this is often overlooked by digital painters - avoiding it for the more accessible selection tools. I encourage you to give it a chance, because you might not want to go back to the lasso tool.
Painting is generally done with basic, versatile, brushes. Sometimes however, you're better off using a custom brush to accomplish a specific end. In this video I showcase a brush pack designed to make the task of painting machine guns and muzzle flares easier. The brush pack is free, so feel free to download it!
And if you're intrigued by this concept of custom brushes, there's an entire Premium Series dedicated to it in the Ctrl+Paint store!
