Art Tutorials

This tutorial is used by permission from 2DArtist Magazine – Monthly Concept Art, Digital and Matte Painting Magazine for Digital Creatives.

Inspiration
This painting is based on a photograph which I found on the Internet. Inspiration for my paintings can come from many different sources; photography, movies, games, dreams, day-dreaming, etc. Sometimes I even start with no vision at all! When I saw the photograph of these two girls, I knew immediately that I wanted to paint this scene because I wanted to create a moody, Luis Royo-like piece. Luis Royo is my favourite artist concerning this type of subject, and I own many of his art books, so a little influence from this artist cannot be denied.

Sketching
I sketched the girls with pencil on A4-sized paper, added a simple background (no perspective issues here) and scanned the whole thing. Once satisfied with the sketch, I took it into Photoshop and made a new PSD file and saved it. You can transfer parts of the references (or the whole reference, if you are 100% pleased with it) via tracing paper (traditional) to the canvas, or if you enjoy the comfort of the digital method, you can trace on a new layer above the reference layer. You may also place the reference beside your canvas and transfer the needed parts freehand, either with a grid or without one. I cannot stress enough that there are no rules!

Everyone of you should use, or do, whatever you think will make your final product better. I always start my paintings in Photoshop, but this is just a habit. Apart from that, PSD files tend to be more stable than Painter’s RIFF files, which you would need only for preserving special layer modes. After that, I switched to Painter…

Underpainting
I started the underpainting with digital watercolours beneath the layer with the sketch, because I also added some opaque colours for the figures so I did not want to lose the sketch in this early stage. I wanted to make these 2 girls look contrasting, so I decided to use green and blue as a background and contrast with warm, reddish colours for the girl on the right-hand side. Another contrast was established between the two girls, because I made one of them look very pale, almost sick. I have worked with this scheme before and quite like it. As you can see, I was going for a more painterly look, so I started out very rough. I used the soft oil pastel chalk in Painter for the opaque colours. Only big brushes, and a magnification of maximum 25% was used in this phase because I wanted to concentrate on big shapes only. I often zoomed out to check my values, which should be established as early as possible within the process. My way to do this is to start with mid values and tone them down, or up, to get the desired range. Other artists start from dark to light, or vice versa, so again – there are no rules.

Rendering Step 1
I started the blending and refining of the facial features, adding darker and lighter values to push the contrast, working on the painting as a whole. That means that when I worked on an area to the point where I was not sure about further decisions, I moved to the next area. This way, I am able to come back after a while with fresh eyes, and probably an idea about how to continue. Sometimes, when I know exactly what I want, I work out one area after another, so again, there are no rules. Throughout the whole painting I try to zoom in to no more than 50%. I do this because what you see later on in print equals a magnification of 25% in Photoshop or Painter. This means that there is no need for rendering everything at a 100% zoomed in, because you won’t recognize it later, once it is printed. Apart from that, working in a lower magnification keeps the whole thing looking fresher. For some minor details, it may be necessary to zoom in a little further, so that’s no problem.

Rendering Step 2
At this point, I decided to get rid of the disturbing blue in the background and to tone down the light areas behind the figures. This adds to the overall composition and pushes the centre of interest further. Apart from that, I have a real complimentary contrast established. Please don’t ask me why I chose blue at the beginning – it is all part of the creative process. I often change my mind during the rendering of a painting. The whole process is fluid and I don’t stick to my first composition/colours/values/decisions, etc. when there is an opportunity to improve it. Secret tip: I tend not to use many layers in Painter. Most of the time, two would be the maximum. When I like what I have done, I drop it on the canvas, meaning that I have to save frequently, just in case!

Rendering Step 3
Here I removed the knife in the foreground. I decided it was just too distracting, so I removed it completely. Kill your darlings, if necessary! Instead, I added a red spot between the two faces, to draw the attention to the right area. Apart from that, the rendering continued; blending, detailing, refining, etc. Regarding the reference material, I tried not to copy the faces of the girls 100%. These are more stylised versions, improved where necessary. I personally don’t like super-realistic figures in paintings, because they often don’t seem to fit in and tend to look misplaced.
However, I do like a certain level of realism, therefore I have to use reference material (especially for portrait-type work like this), but please beware of copyright. I always try to use just a part of any references that I have not shot myself. This means that my own creations don’t match the found references at all. I change everything, add a lot of other detail, like equipment, clothing, hair accessories, weapons, environments, and so on.

Rendering Step 4
Now is the time to start adding details like tattoos, piercings and earrings, refining here and there, tweaking some areas a little, and generally checking the overall look of the painting; the mood, values, colours, etc. (Please note that I have been doing this throughout the whole process.)

Final Result
At the end of a painting – the final step – I don’t look at it for a few hours or so. After that I check it again with fresh eyes, make any last adjustments if necessary, check if I can push the levels in Photoshop, and finally… I can then call it finished.

I hope you have enjoyed the tutorial, and have at least learned something from it… I certainly have!

Article by Erich Schreiner.
More work from this artist can be found at www.drakken.de