I love watching movies. Sometimes, though, they can offer more than just entertainment. This is the first entry in the "Film Studies" series, in which we'll dissect film stills to learn useful composition skills for illustration. So go grab a movie, and let's chop it up!
And make sure to check out the rest of the Film Studies series.
Sometimes the basic hard round brush leaves your lines feeling... flat. If you want to throw in some quick pencil texture at the end of a digital sketch, Photoshop makes it easy! This video is not a replacement for custom brushes, but it works well in a pinch.
Note: In the video I use the 'Multiply" blending mode, though sometimes others are more effective. Overlay is a nice alternative depending on the value range of your texture image.
It's great to be back. Based on your comments, I know you missed the videos - and I certainly missed making them. To address this break in continuity, this video deals with the idea of art-making as habit. Just like exercise or practicing a musical instrument, it's all about consistent practice.
Controlling the viewer's eyes in your illustration is important - and some simple framing elements will often help in this effort. "Framing element" simply means a large object in the foreground that surrounds the subject, like a frame around a picture.
If you like learning about composition, you should also check out the "Principles of Design" series.
Ctrl+Paint has mainly dealt with nude figures and classical study - but what if you want to draw a character with clothes? This video explores costume and fashion sketching from reference, and all of the photos used are from the fantastic blog http://www.thesartorialist.com/ .
Despite the deep collection of menus and tools Photoshop has to offer, the brush tool is where most of the painting actually happens. This video explores a way to streamline the connection between your brain and the canvas.
In this video we revisit the techniques first explained in "Brush Technique: Blending", and have a bit more practice on this crucial skill. If you haven't watched the earlier video, it's a good idea to do that first. And if you want to practice along with the lesson, here is the lesson .JPG.
There are times when you want to make large scale (global) changes to your painting. Things like overall contrast or color tint. Adjustment layers provide a fantastic solution for this type of challenge - and make traditional painters extremely jealous. If you're not familiar with the 'masking' I talk about in the video, here are three videos to clarify the subject: Masking 101 pt 1, Masking 101 pt 2, and Masking 101 pt 3
If I was only allowed to talk about one topic to a beginner digital painter, this would be it. Form, value, and light are truly the foundation of a painting education. If you want to know more about making your own custom brushes from scratch, make sure to check out the premium seriesBasic Photoshop Rendering.
This video shows me painting a loose still life, start to finish. All of the brushes are made using techniques found in the Custom Brush Design series - and have gritty, naturalistic texture.
If you're working to improve your painting, reference is a necessity. The question is not "should I paint from reference?" but rather "What reference makes most sense for this piece?" This video looks for painting reference in an unusual area: visual effects test renders.
If you're looking for the search terms mentioned in the video, here's a good starting point: Global Illumination (GI), Ambient Occlusion (AO), Caustics, Photons, VRay, Mental Ray, and Radiosity. Search any of those along with "test render", and you'll have some fun reference materials.
The anatomy reference was found at onlinelifedrawing.com
Custom brushes can be a wonderful time-saver for your digital painting workflow. Though they can be downloaded from the internet, the very best ones are those that you create from scratch. This premium series explores custom brush design including real world test-cases, and can only be found in the store.
Part 1 dealt with using custom brushes for their shape, and this video takes an opposite approach. Sometimes brushes need to be used in conjunction with other tools, like clipping masks, to get the most utility out of them.If you want to know more about making your own custom brushes from scratch, make sure to check out the premium series Custom Brush Design.
Custom brushes can be a challenge to use successfully. Digital painters often think of them in terms of traditional brushes: flat, bristle, fan - etc. To get the most out of Photoshop's custom brush engine, a digital painter needs to broaden their definition of 'brush'. This mini-series aims to shed some light on the unusual ways custom brushes can be manipulated in a painting workflow.
If you want to know more about making your own custom brushes from scratch, make sure to check out the premium seriesCustom Brush Design.
Feeling blocked up? Lacking motivation? Deciding what to draw can sometimes seem harder than actually drawing it. Hopefully this video will put the challenge in a different light, and get your stylus moving again.
Though color schemes like the one discussed in this video are not 'rules', they can be a nice way to help structure a painting. This time we'll move into a third basic color scheme, triads, and examine some great paintings by Tristan Elwell.
Sometimes making art feels like a long series of frustrating failures. The truth is that every artist feels this way some of the time. Your mindset can be a huge roadblock to artistic progress if you let it. Hopefully this video will give you a little perspective, and help remind you of the big picture.
Painting color can be done in one of two ways: direct and indirect. Indirect painting is the process of glazing colors on top of one another to achieve a slow build-up. Like traditional some oil painters, many digital painters prefer this method to working 'directly'. If you want to learn about going from a grayscale underpainting to a fully colored image, check out "Grayscale to Color" in the store.
The world of "Color Theory" can seem deep and confusing. This video will help break the ice by introducing two basic color schemes, and show their varried use in a digital painting. If you like the art in the video, make sure to check out Scott Robertson's website: http://cargocollective.com/drawthrough
This episode of the Principles of Design is all about dynamic compositions. The path your viewers' eyes follow though a painting is no accident, so make sure you're using it to your advantage! In truth, each Principle of Design is intended to help guide the viewer's eye, but "motion" is especially effective at this goal. Additionally, if you've been following the series I'm sad to report that the orcs are sitting this one out.
And make sure not to miss the other videos in the Principles of Design Series!
