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Tutorial - Airbrushing the landscape "Desirable
thirst"
Welcome to my tutorial on how I painted the landscape/waterscape Desirable
thirst.
The tutorial works like a walkthrough/step-by-step guide. I will not explain
in detail
how you should paint the different parts in the painting. But instead
try to show
one way on how to work.
This painting took approximately 36 hours to complete, it was painted
in Adobe
Photoshop using a Wacom Intuios A4 (digital drawing board). I did a preliminary
sketch on paper first. Actually the first sketch was on a tissue and it
where an ugly
dick :| But I scribbled over it and it became the rocks in the left/lower
part :)
Btw, don't ask...
Click here to see the FINAL PAINTING
called "Desirable thirst".
(Click on the picture to see full view)
This is my first tutorial, I have 5 more step-by-step tutorials in progress.
And I'm planning a series of 15 different tutorials explaining in detail
different techniques and paintings. I would love some input and feedback
on these tutorials so please don't hesitate to comment on my portfolio
or mail me at nicklas@nalf.it
- portfolio: http://www.nalf.se/paintings
Step 01 - Sketch
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After i have done a quick sketch
on paper I start Photoshop and create a new canvas. For this
painting I started with 1024x768.
• Background layer.
It's good practice not to choose white back--ground, a grey
color or a color which reflects the mood of the painting is
better. This is because it can be hard to get started with
a blank canvas. Also white is so bright that your eye will
make surrounding colors darker.
Choosing correct values can then be a bitch.
• Created a new layer with a transparent back-ground.
I then drew my sketch again using a hard 3 pixel brush. Mainly
thinking composition and not on specific details at this stage.
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Step 02 - Base
coloring
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Click
here to see big version. (640x480) |
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Next thing to do is to do
the base coloring. This step is just as important as the
sketch. Choosing colors and values can dramatically change
the whole painting in mood and theme.
I wanted something very painterly, rich and warm colors
to convey paradise. This part is always very relaxing and
fun, at least I think so... I feel like a children painting
in a color book :)
• I created a new layer and ordered it below the layer
with the sketch. Then I paint with a hard brush (no soft
edges on the brush).
Those with a digital drawing board should set the brush
to change the size of the brush according to pen pressure,
good for painting smaller regions without having to change
size of the brush.
I started painting the objects that is in the background
and far away from the viewer; in this case it's the sky.
Tip
001 - Learn the keyboard shortcuts.
Improve your skill in Adobe Photoshop(tm),
with keyboard shortcuts you can increase speed and efficiency.
I have written a tutorial and I will try to give you detailed
overview on the most common shortcuts and functions used
by artists.
Click
here to read Tutorial 002.
• After painting the base color of the sky I create
a new layer adding it before the sky layer but still below
the sketch layer. Then using same brush settings I painted
the foreground forest.
I used 2 layers so that I can edit the sky more easily after
I started working on the foreground.
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Step 03 - DPI
and The background
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Until now I have worked with
a small canvas, making it easy to paint big areas. But I
want this to be printable in high resolution. So what we
need to do now is to increase the canvas.
• In Adobe Photoshop 7.0 I choose in the Image menu
"Image size". Photoshop now opens a new window
where I can specify new size.
In the "Document size" section enter following:
This will make the painting huge and increase the file size
to 50 mb. Be aware that the memory and CPU usage will increase.
Old computers should not be used for making printable paintings.
Info
001 - DPI.
DPI stands for DOTS PER INCH.
In other words, how many pixels that's printed /displayed
on every inch. For screen / internet usage 72 in DPI is
enough. For newspaper use 100-150 DPI. For high resolution
prints use 250-300 DPI.
• I almost always start painting in the background
because it can be really difficult to paint it after we
have added details to the foreground. Also the skies color
will be reflected on the foreground.
Making sure that the layer with the base color for the sky
is active I start adding details. I use a soft airbrush
pencil. Because of the change of the canvas size we must
work with large brushes.
Tip
002 - Shortcut for eyedropper when painting
I use the keyboard shortcut for the
"eyedropper" when using the brush tool. It's the
"ALT"
key on pc. So that way when I'm painting I can easily pick
up colors that I want to use by holding "ALT"
and pressing on a color.
I don't do too much detail, rather try to
give the sky a texture that I'm satisfied with.
More information about my technique when I'm painting clouds
will be in another tutorial. Please notify
me if such tutorial is wanted.
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Step 04 - Texturing
the background
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We go a step ahead against
the viewer but still working in the background. The objects
in the far background are usually very light or very dark.
And details are not visible to the viewer. Although this
rule is not often applied in my own paintings, i prefer
details everywhere...
• New layer or choose the base foreground color layer.
I used a brush that where small enough to make single lines
(note: they are still quite large because of the huge canvas
size). Adding base texture to the background trees.
I try to use different values and hues of the main color
of the are where I'm painting. In this case i use different
values of green. But dark and desaturated values. If i where
to paint with the brightest green that we see in the foreground
it had broken the depth.
Info
002 - Saturation / Desaturation.
Saturation expresses how much gray
your color is mixed with. Desaturated images contain a large
amount of grey. Example of artists using de-saturated colors
is Linda Bergkvist (Enayla)
and Socar Myles.
I myself often use saturated colors.
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Step 06 - Getting
closer
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More basic texturing, going forward
against the viewer. I started on the tree that comes in front
of the volcano. Worked on the first waterfall with texturing
and detailing. |
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Step 07 - Trying
to fix composition
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Click here to see details.
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More details on the volcano.
Felt that the volcano had some composition problems. Just
having so bright red colors there ruins the mood. But by
adding more of the same colors around making a transition
between the colors somewhat fix it.
So I added some lava or magma running down.
Also added some more details to the trees.
Info
003 - Composition.
One of the most important issues in
paintings is the composition. If a painting has a bad comp-osition
it can ruin everything.
It helps coming from a design and movie back-ground. Imagine
this painting here to the left without the volcano... everything
falls to the left.
Annoying and disturbs the mood that I wanted.
Composition can be learned by reading some design books
and tutorials.
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Step 08 - The
foreground
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Not much to say... Worked on
the foreground Adding basic textures. Using brighter colors
than i used in the background. More details added with a smaller
pencil using a hard brush.
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Step 09 - More
textures
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I prefer working from left to
right in my paintings. Now when I have finished the basic
texturing on the foreground I continue on parts that have
been neglected. Tried to give depth to the forest by painting
with dark colors first and add brighter colors above.
• The composition was still falling so I added some
mountains in the background to keep it from slipping away.
You can easily see that it helps.
Tip 003
- 100% Black
It's not often I paint with 100% black,
nothing is really black. Try instead to paint with a very
dark value of the color in the surroundings. |
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Step 10 - Adding
details
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Click here to see details.
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Finally.
Everything has a basic texture. Now begins the slow but fun
process of adding details. Using a small brush and shift the
opacity and colors a lot i go trough the painting. In a dark
textured part i paint with a brighter and more saturated color
in the same color or something that stands out. This pushes
the details forward and they will "pop" out. Same
technique in bright areas, just add dark details and they
will stand out.
At this point i have some perspective errors...
My biggest weakness, Itried to fix it by removing
one of the waterfalls. This also improved the mood and calmness
of the painting. But there remain a couple of perspective
problems. |
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Step 11 - Details
again...
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Click
here to see details.
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Darkening parts so that I
can use the above technique and add things that stands out.
Adding more details again...
On a side note, water has no color of its own, it's based
on the material, environment and with the lightning. The
main source of color for water in this painting is the sky
and the forest.
I'm adding reflections on the water further down.
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Step 12 - Realistic
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Reality change, volcanoes often
tend to change the atmosphere and color the sky red. So I
had to repaint the sky. Adding red and purple, enough so that
I could do a nice fade to the blue. I darkened several areas,
added stars to the darkest parts of the sky. Made minor color
changes to the water to reflect the sky change.
Quote
001 - Socar Myles about realism
"However, knowing HOW to paint the
pillar (or whatever you've got in your background) realistically
is important. Before you get too stylized, you've got to have
some foundation in realism. Looking at reference pictures
so you at least understand the forms you are painting before
you get too crazy with the artistic license is wise."
- Socar
Myles
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Step 13 - Details...
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More details, darker, better
mood. Added some shading in the water. Removed some stuff
on the left part that destroys the composition. |
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Step 14 - Waterfall
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I love painting waterfalls...
Adding a lot of white and bright blue values to the foreground.
Really pushing the background back and gives the painting
good depth and mood.
I'm still trying to fix the perspective error. This time by
modifying the beach and darken some parts. |
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Step 15 - Fixing
stuff
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The volcano had to go, it was
ugly and the red lava/magma didn't fit in the color scheme.
It was too outstanding and made the mood eerie.
• Added a moon :)
Quote
002 - Fred Flick Stone about coloring
"From all the artists I have learned
from, the one thing most of them say is keep the image simple,
keep the values simple, no more than 5, no less than 3. Less
than three, the image becomes a graphic representation, go
more than 5, and chaos ensues. This does not mean your image
cannot have many colors. It can have all the color in the
world so long as the value makes up of the image remains in
tact. " - Sijun |
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Step 16 - Composition
fixed
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Finally fixed the composition,
adding a tree on the left that is quite high saved my day.
I also merged the two stones, and added a third. I removed
the beach in the foreground. They bright colors of the water
and beach destroyed the mood. Much better this way.
• I darkened the middle forest a lot, making better
depth. Added more details everywhere.
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Step 17 - Details
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In the previous step I darkened
the forest so now I added single strands of leaves and bushes
that are in a brighter value. Added more splash and details
to the waterfall.
• I added reflections to the water. I copied the painting
above the water into a new layer. This layer I resized and
twisted using the shortcut "CTRL+T". I then mirror
the layer and changing the opacity so that the water still
is visible.
Next step was to erase the reflection on all places where
there shouldn't be any reflection. |
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Step 18 - Details
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More details, this time focusing
on the
foreground tree. Adding leaves and grass.
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Step 19 - Almost
done...
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Almost final. After this step
I go trough the painting adding FX details, such as sunrays,
glowing fairies. Darkening parts. Adding some flowers that
stand out in color and much more.
Then when finished I add a signature, save the original and
smaller versions for internet use.
Click here to see
the FINAL PAINTING called "Desirable thirst".
(Click on the picture to see full view) |
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All paintings are protected by copyright laws. © 2002-2003, Nicklas Forsberg - NALF This tutorial has been viewed 49850 times.
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