Drawing symmetrical objects in perspective can be a challenge. In situations like this, I generally use Google Sketchup to help me with my accuracy This video explores the powerful tools that Sketchup provides for working with repeated shapes and symmetrical forms. Even if you're saying "Yeah, yeah - symmetry is no big deal in perspective..." would you change your tune if I asked you to draw an object that 7-sided with rotational symmetry? Sometimes a little bit of 3D saves a lot of time.
Most of the basic information about brushes and blending I give only works on "normal layers". To get the most out of other blending modes while still using on-screen blending mixing takes a few tricks to understand. In this video I'll show how I like to use a combination of blending modes and how they interact with my traditional on-screen-mixing technique.
Note: Reader Tom H brings up a great point: the videos this week are going under the assumption that you have the "sample all layers" mode activated on your eyedropper tool. You will get different results if you use the "sample current layer" mode. Thanks for the reminder, Tom!
The Eyedropper tool is used to sample colors that are already on your canvas. It seems straightforward, but what happens when your layers are set to different blending modes? This video explains a bit more in-depth about the eye dropper tool, and how you might use it in a complex painting. It may seem like the Eyedropper is of only minor importance, but to a digital painter it becomes one of the most frequently accessed.
To learn more about the on-screen mixing talked about in the video, try these others:
Digital Painting 101 #3, Brush Control Basics , Blending Technique
Most painting is done with basic brushes, but sometimes it's nice to have a big chunky block-in brush to get your canvas started. This video introduces my ctrl+Paint block-in brush, and includes a free download.
To try the brush for yourself, download it here!
What type of computer should you use? Is it ok to draw with a mouse? What about the iPad? I answer these questions and more in this video. It's worth noting that these are my personal views based off of personal experience, and we'd all love to hear additional viewpoints in the comments!
Even if you're aware of 'glossiness', and can observe its effects, you still need to be able to reproduce it in your own paintings. This video offers some practical advice for doing exactly that. Focusing on brushwork, I'll show how to use layers effectively to work on the specular highlight separately from the base form.
Why are console video games played with a controller or a touch screen, and not a keyboard? Because those are the best-suited input devices for the way most users interact with their device. Guess what? Being a digital painter means you're no longer included in "most users". Now you've got a different set of needs, and will most likely be spending longer at your computer than the average user. With this in mind, a standard keyboard might not be the best input device for you. Just like using a stylus instead of a mouse, you might want to consider alternative keyboards or controllers for your other hand.
When it comes to ergonomics, re-mapping your keyboard shortcuts is a great start - but it doesn't need to be the end. Over the years I've radically changed my input scheme and the results have been very clear: expensive, but worth every penny.
Like the buttons and dials in your car, keyboard shortcuts are the "user interface" with which you control Photoshop. Have you customized these commands yet? The whole point of keyboard shortcuts is to save you time and avoid wasting energy. With this in mind, it's worth considering your personal needs when working with keyboard shortcuts. In general, shortcut keys are designed for easy recall: ctrl+s = save, etc. In this video I suggest that a better scheme for assigning keys is based on the position of your left hand. Re-mapping the keyboard shortcuts with this new prioritization will reduce your hand strain and speed up your painting technique.
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.
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.
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.
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.