Traditional Art Techniques on Photoshop

Posted on 14. Apr, 2010 by DAS Team in Cartoon, Recent, Tutorials

I started off my career as a traditional artist and painted in real media for many years. Once I moved over to digital, I was absolutely in love. I could combine the two worlds into one. Using the techniques of the traditional painter together with the pinpoint control of the digital artist.
This step-by-step tutorial shows the process a traditional artist would use, but with a digital flare to it. It is intended for the intermediate artist, and you will need to know basic Photoshop.

1) First I start off with a blank canvas, where I add a neutral color. In this case, it’s a soft brown. On this surface, I will start blocking in the background with darker as well as lighter shades of brown, to build up a solid foundation for my painting. I like them rough, but not rough enough to be distracting. On a real painting, this would be the underpainting. This will shine through my main subject in some areas, so I pick it with great care.

2) Time to start sketching! Usually, I do a series of small thumbnail sketches first to try out a composition which works, but in this case I decided to freestyle directly on the canvas. As this is a portrait, flow and pose will be my main focus. I keep it loose and completely unpretentious. This is merely a mind map for yourself, no one will see it. So don’t ever sketch slowly, have your pen flow wildly across the canvas to try and find motion and flow in your subject. It should looke like crap. If it doesn’t, you’re trying too hard. Find the feeling, don’t bother with details at this time. Pose will communicate more than details can.

3) Once I am satisfied with the sketch, I put it on top of all layers and pull down the opacity to 50%. I will take a bland and fairly dark colour and block in the major shapes of the subject. This will also serve as a base, together with your underpainting. It will be the foundation of the rest of the painting, so don’t start detailing just yet. What you want for this stage is something loose, something which just starts to define what you’re painting. No shadows or light yet, they will be playing against each other on top of this.

4) Here I will start to slightly refine the shape, by adding softer shadows to enhance the shape of my subject. Nothing too harsh, just ever so slightly. I will be saving my darkest darks and lightest lights for the detailing process. The detailing process is where I start taking control of where I want the viewers eyes to look, so I will be saving that as my most powerful weapon. Don’t pull them out just yet. As this is more of a portrait, I want the viewers to rest their eyes on the face. I will also add shadow under the character, as well as a soft, ambient light behind it to act as support for the silhouette of the subject.

5) Aah, let there be light! I pull down the opacity of the top sketch so it’s just barely visible, and start lighting the subject. I will use a grayish tone to light my painting at this time, as I want to save the absolute white forlater. Be very careful with lighting your character too much! You want the effect to be tasteful, otherwise it will just look messy and out of control. Remember to use your details and lights wisely.

6) To further push the believability of the fur, I will put a slight blueish sheen on the more protruding shapes of the subject. Fur is slightly shiny, so they will be reflecting a slick light.

7) Time to lose the sketch! The art is now strong enough to support itself. As I have decided on a light source I want, I will sketch up some light lines to help myself to remember where the light source is situated. Be very consistent with where you put your light. Try to envisoin the subject in front of you. Where would the light hit? What parts are in the shadow?

I pull down the opacity of the light guides and start to refine the light. I add a low level bounce light to the belly and inside of the limbs to help define the form of the character. Light bounces off surfaces and loses intensity as it is partially absorbed, thus bounce light will not only reflect the color of the surface it has bounced from, but the color will also be projected on the next surface it hits.

9) Finally! Time to pull out the big guns! Now I will start using darker colors where I want the viewer to look. Always spend most of your details there. Be economic. The area which is most important to your art and the story, is where you will be having the most amount of details and contrast. For example, unless the feet are important to what you want to say don’t spend a lot of your time working on them. It will only encourage the viewer to look at all the little details and lose focus of what really matters in your image. I want the viewer to focus on the head and neck, so I will refine the mane using shades of dark brown and blue. Fur tends to clump together, and I make the spaces between the fur clumps irregular since fur rarely forms logically. I also push the darks of the nostrils, mouth and eyes.

10) My final painted layer is the very icing on the cake. Here, I go over the fur with lighter strands, paint details and go absolutely haywire. I already have the major areas set, so here I use the alt key and colour pick a lot and simply work on the very surface. This is the time to detail and finish off your painting. I go between darks and lights and change whatever I want to change. Since I will not be making any larger adjustments after this, I can jump between the areas of the artwork as I please. I tend to drop kick all rules out the window at this stage, since I will have paid much attention to a foundation I am comfortable with. If you do your planning and building up right, you can give yourself that freedom. I usually spend a lot of time on this final layer, tweaking and fiddling. Remember this rule; if it doesn’t work in its simplest of forms, it will not work when it is polished and full of details. Don’t build a house on mud.

11) To really set my painting, I will do a “color wash”. I usually pick two complementing colors, in this case a light orange red and greenish blue. I will set the layer to Soft Light and pull down the opacity to about 50%. I will bathe the lighter parts of the art in the orange to emulate warm light, and use the blueish green on the parts in the shade. Use your stomach here! You will feel what is right for your painting in question. I will let the wash spill out into the background too, to really bind everything together as one piece.

12) Now this is when digital media will simply rock. To really finalise my painting, I will add an adjustment layer where I will push the contrast. I use Curves, but if you’re more into using Levels then go for that. Stomach feeling is very important here as well, if you push it too much, you will burn out the lighter parts as well as lose detail in your darker areas. Trust your instincts and eyes. If you feel you have stared too much at your painting, flip it horisontally to look at it from a fresh angle. Any mistakes you will have made will be blatanly obvious. Also, as a final touch, I will flatten everything and use a Smart Sharpen filter. Usually around 100% intensity at at a 0,3 pixel radius. This will bring out your carefully chosen details more, as well as give your entire image extra clarity.

Last but absolutely not least, don’t forget to sign your painting!

Article by: Theresen Larsson

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Below are more work examples created by Larrson herself:

For more information, visit:

http://www.thereselarsson.se

Tags: photoshop, therese larsson, traditional art, tutorial