The pen tool is great. But it's intimidating for many beginners - and I was one of them. As I've spent more years painting, I've learned to love this unusual tool. Especially for creating precise selections, the pen tool is a crucial ally. So let's see what it's capable of!
If you find this topic interesting, make sure to check out Edge Control to learn more advanced techniques!
In the video I mention videos about the 'lasso tool', if you'd like to learn more - check these videos out.
If you're coming from a drawing or painting background, it's not immediately obvious how important 'masking and selections' should be... but trust me: they're essential. This video is the start of a mini-series exploring the tools and techniques you'll need to become fast and effective at making selections. Stay tuned for more!
If you find this topic interesting, make sure to check out Edge Control to learn more advanced techniques!
Now that you've learned one way to paint glowing objects, get one step more advanced: groups. Whether it's falling leaves, burning embers, or a flock of magical birds - sometimes your glowing objects come with a crowd. This video explores an efficient treatment for scaling up your glowing effects.
Certain subjects are easier to paint once you know a digital 'trick'. Glowing objects fall squarely in this camp. In this two-part mini-series, I'll demonstrate simple Photoshop tools that help you paint glowing objects.
You surely know 'copy and paste', but what about 'step and repeat'?. The ideas are similar, but it's possible you're missing out on this powerful tool hidden deep in Photoshop's UI. Like many specialized tools available to digital painters, this won't solve every problem. But once you know what's possible, it'll occasionally save you a lot of time.
Traditional painting is often slow and deliberate. One does well to plan colors, and composition, ahead - because late-stage changes are costly. Digital painting plays by a different set of rules. In this video I'll show how to radically change colors in your paintings (whether they're finished or just getting started). What other ways do you like to change colors in an image? We'd love to hear about it in the comments.
Digital painting allows for efficiency not available with traditional materials. Re-using assets from a personal library is one of those benifits. In this video we'll explore the amazing opportunitiy in Photoshop's "Custom Shapes", and how it might speed up your painting process.
This technique pairs extremely well with "locked transparent pixels", and "Clipping Masks" - so make sure to check out these related techniques:
Drawing shapes might seem like an obvious task: start with the outline, and then fill it in. In this video I'll offer a much more effective alternative, that allows for quickly (and cleanly) drawing even the most complex of shapes.
One of the best ways to avoid mistakes is to get a 'fresh impression' of your painting. The techniques I show in this video apply a studio art mentality to your digital process - and it's easier than it sounds! The idea for this techniques originates with my natural tendency for 'tunnel vision'. When this happens, I focus on smaller and smaller details of the painting- often at the expense of the larger vision. For this reason, it's important to learn a coping mechanism for 'tunnel vision', which for me is a simple set of Photoshop shortcuts. How do you avoid tunnel vision?
To Finish our blending tool mini-series, it's time to compare all three options in a real-world scenario. In this video I show the smudge tool, mixer brush, and brush tool working together. But everyone has their own style - what's yours? I'd love hear your personal preference for blending tools in the comments.
Click on the image to download your copy
Blending is tough, so let's get familiar with all of Photoshop's options. This video takes a look at the 'Mixer Brush'. Just like the exercise with the Smudge tool in the previous video, I encourage you to spend a week experimenting with the Mixer Brush, and see what works best for you!
Download your copy of the mixing worksheet
Blending - it's the cornerstone of digital painting. My favorite method has always been straightforward: the brush tool & the eyedropper to sample colors. But there are two other options, and it's time to explore what I've been missing! In this mini-series I'll be experimenting with the smudge tool and the mixer brush in search of a replacement for 'on-screen-mixing' with the brush tool. I invite you to join in - and to share you experience in the comments!
Download your copy of the mixing worksheet!
In the previous video I introduced the clone stamp as a useful tool for digital painters. In this demonstration I explore some of the more advanced features, and show how powerful it can be for illustration. If you have any additional tips, we'd love to hear them in the comments!
The 'Clone Stamp' has been a part of Photoshop for years, but it's often avoided by illustrators. Designed to remove blemishes from photos, I find that it's equally useful to push paint around the digital canvas. In this video I'll introduce how to use the Photoshop Clone tool for illustration, and hopefully you'll give it a try!
I love sketching complex subjects with simple tools. In this video I sketches two flowers from photo reference, and discuss the challenges involved. In my mind, using limited tools (charcoal, needed eraser) is equally relevant with traditional media and Photoshop. No matter the format, simple tools are a great way to learn visual problem-solving skills. What will you sketch?
In the previous video I demonstrated a simple sketching exercise, in which I drew cups. This video also has a simple subject (apples), though I approach it with a totally different technique. Here tone comes first, followed by line - showing that there's no single 'best' way to sketch, even when the tools are very limited. If you want to use the brushes I'm demonstrating here, or would like to learn more about sketching on your tablet, make sure to check out the Digital Sketching Starter Kit!
Sketching in Photoshop is tough. We're using a stylus instead of a pencil. Moreover, it's likely that your hand is in a different place than your monitor - making hand-eye coordination even harder. But it's worth the challenge. So let's practice!
In this video I demonstrate a great, basic, exercise. Whether you use it as a warm-up before painting, or simply to improve your technique - it's an essential practice. Though you can use any brushes you like, I'm a big fan of 'tool presets'. Having these presets ready ahead of your painting allows you to focus on the creative part, not the technical part.
If you'd like to know more about the brushes I'm using here, or want more in-depth instruction on digital line art - check out the new bundle: Digital Sketching Starter Kit!
The Bundle Includes
This collection walks you through the process of sketching digital lines in Photoshop. It includes Custom Brushes, 6 video series (total run-time 371 minutes), exercises, and drills. Each series focuses on a specific aspect of line art - from basic line control to advanced sketching. For an overview of each series, check out the preview videos below.
Video Previews
Gesture drawing is an essential practice. Whether you're working with traditional or digital media, it's a great way to warm up. In today's video I'll show a fun source of reference material for you to use as inspiration: a website called Sketchfab.com. Instead of traditional photo reference, these images are actually interactive 3d models - allowing you to move the camera freely. Have fun!
As I showed in the previous videos, we have a lot of options when it comes to customizing Photoshop workspaces. Once you understand the rules, the question becomes ‘what tools do I need for my process?’. There is no one-size-fits-all solution, so I can’t prescribe a perfect layout.
In this video my challenge was to dissect one aspect of my process, and to give it a tailored workspace. I chose ‘color grading’, which is a short but crucial phase in my painting process. As you’ll see, color grading requires many more panels than I generally have on-screen - which is a bit overwhelming at first. But it’s a great example of conditional tools: they’re only on-screen when I need them, and hidden the rest of the time. But this is just my example, what workspace will you design?
