Kaen's mini painting tutorial (my process)

[KaenLogos]

After having a few people make request to see my work process lately, I figured I would throw together a quick (and boy do I mean quick) little demonstration. This is just a little walkthrough on some general guidlines as I go through this little fanart peice. I figured there are plenty of other great custom brush/photoshop guru tuts out there so im not gonna bother and make an ass out of myself.

Here is the image animated for a better follow through.

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b27/beisnerart/Comp1.gif

Some general methods I use.
-Almost always paint on one layer.
-Make use of the other dynamics feature on the brush settings
-Always start with big rougher brushes
-Paint big, work your way down to smaller detail in layers.

Step 1: Just laying out the lineart.

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b27/beisnerart/sketch.jpg

Step 2: Set the lineart to multiply. Create a new layer directly below. I usually start off with a simple gradiant. In this case a very desaturated red/green. After I set the gradient I go in and define the sillouette with a darker tone real quick. Just to seperate it from the background. Also this is normally where you should splash color around to start working out a background, but I wasnt to concerned with that on this peice and dont start till a little later (this is technically bad kiddies just remember).

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b27/beisnerart/1.jpg

Step 3: Given the character design, I treat the inner sections of the armor much like you would flesh on anything else and go in and lay out some color on that first. Remember painting is a layered process. This is just flat blocking in, almost no blending to be had. I add value where I want as to not forget about it later.

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b27/beisnerart/2.jpg

Step 4: Now here is where I go in and add a bit of value to the background to try and give the illusion the character occupies 3d space. One of the most important things I was told recently was to always incorporate a harmony of color with the background and characters in it (although thats probably common sense, still its a point I try to abide by from now on). So with that in mind I start slapping a little value on the character to start laying out some form.

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b27/beisnerart/3.jpg

Step 5: Pretty much the same as step 4, only continuing to build up form through use of color. Try to avoid just using light and dark values of one color, this is where studying color really comes into play.

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b27/beisnerart/4.jpg

Step 6: After ive gone through and scraped out enough detail I cut out the lineart layer altogether (though I recommend keeping it around to pop up occasionaly to double check your detail).

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b27/beisnerart/5.jpg

Step 7: Now I start going in and carving out shapes, pushing color around to define form and adding some rough highlights here and there. From here on out its mostly a process of polish as your design is roughed in for you.

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b27/beisnerart/6.jpg

Step 8: Same as step 7, just continuing to define form and work with color. Building more shading and highlights where needed.

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b27/beisnerart/7.jpg

Step 9: After adding some strong highlights on his backside created from the main lightsource. I add some secondary color (the red) on the underside to compliment the color and pull some more in from the environment.

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b27/beisnerart/8.jpg

Step 10: Just going in and adding fine details. Alot of people (myself included) want to add detail to soon, remember just build up to it.

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b27/beisnerart/9.jpg

Final step: Just go through and play with some saturation and adding some more color and highlights to give it a little more pop.

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b27/beisnerart/10.jpg

[Gamerdork]

That's just the kind of tuorial I've been looking for. What i really need to work on now is my colors. Im gonna try out your method tonight.

[Quixotica]

the gif isnt animated.


Good tutorial though.

[KaenLogos]

the gif isnt animated.


Good tutorial though.

Works for me and others, is it not running for you?

[muzz]

It is actually, but it only plays once.

Helpful as always Kaen :D.

[D4Shadow]

do I smell guyver ^.^

[McGarnacle]

This helps. It's also how many other great artists suggest to do your work. I can do the line art and blocking in just fine, however when I get to about step 6 (in all my artworks) in your tut I just can't seem to pull detailing together... I have no idea what to do first, where the light source is, and how to make highlights and shadows look believable. This results in plenty of half finished work saved in my folders yet no detailed ones... Detailing is a real hassle for me. Any tips? When do you exactly zoom in to detail or should that be avoided?

[KaenLogos]

Well Mcgarnacle one of the more intersting things ive come to realize with painting that you really save details for last. Just focus on overall nailing the form down (preferably stay zoomed out for most of the process to avoid going crazy with details to early on). Another little suggestion I would make with lighting is to remember that the highest contrast is found in areas where the light source is strongest. Also another common mistake is to overdo the light source, quite often less is a whole lot more.

[DarkWater]

do you leave an outline around your drawings, cuz I can never tell if something has an outline or if it is just the color.

[jt4470]

do you leave an outline around your drawings, cuz I can never tell if something has an outline or if it is just the color.

Kaen cuts out the lineart layer, aka, no outlines, just painting to simulate edges.

See step 6