Digital Painting tutorial – Jean Grey Phoenix

This is probably the longest post that I have ever posted, and by probably I mean it is. Anyway this tutorial was originally supposed to be published in SKETCH! magazine. I was contacted to do a tutorial so I put this together but for some reason it was left on the shelf at SKETCH! and never published. But hey that doesn’t mean I can’t share it now so here it is! Hey if anything you may learn what not to do.  So let’s get started.

Programs such as Photoshop and Painter offer a whole new world of tools for artists to explore. But I have also seen this new medium hold people back by hindering both their work flow and ability to learn from their mistakes.

I find too often that people are afraid to simply commit when painting digitally. They spend all their time making tiny adjustments and tweaks while working on a million different layers. Although this may work for some I find that it hinders the creative process and can kill the energy of your work. So in the upcoming steps I hope to offer a new approach to painting digitally.

Before we begin, I should mention that this tutorial was created using Photoshop CS2 and assumes you have an intermediate understanding of the program. I have most all of my brushes set with smoothing, shape dynamics and color dynamics turned on. My pen pressure is turned on and the opacity and size jitter and I used a couple of custom brushes for this piece and pretty much in all my work. If you want a copy of my brush set just make a request here and I will be more than happy to send you my brushes. If I receive a lot of requests then I will just make them available to download.

Ok enough of the tech talk and introduction let’s get to work.

Step 1

First things first, I suggest always starting off with a tight drawing. This can be either a pencil drawing that you have scanned in or something you have drawn digitally. Whichever method you use just be sure that your drawing is accurate with fairly clean lines. It is very important to have a strong foundation to build from; otherwise you will be polishing a turd. Trust me on this because I’ve spent a great deal of time polishing turds and no matter how shiny it is – it’s still a turd.

Step 2

A blank white canvas can be a scary thing. Even with our nice little drawing, all the white is intimidating, its like some sort of a pale demon sucking all the life out of our innocent little drawing. So let’s get rid of it with a splash of color. Create a new layer and set it to multiply. Now pick a very large brush to quickly lay down color. We are looking for big bold sweeps of color, no little brush strokes; we are establishing a mood and vibe. This should take almost no time at all. Just work off of instinct and let it happen.

Since I am painting Phoenix in this tutorial, I lay down a warm base of colors to establish the mood. I put down the digital equivalent of a watercolor wash letting the brush do the work for me. It is important to vary your strokes; I even tap the pen on the tablet as if it was a real brush.

Step 3

Now that all the white gone I can focus on our gal. But before I do, I flatten the layers and save it. My method of digital painting is really just a pseudo watercolor approach. I equate the flattening of layers to a watercolor wash being dry.

So with that in mind, I create a new layer, set it to multiply and use the same method of large brushes to lay down another “wash”. Still sticking with warm colors I lay down green, yellow and brown, which are the base colors of Phoenix.

Step 4

Just like before I flatten the layers, save it then create a new layer set to multiply. I now go in with another wash of color. This time setting some of the values and laying down shadows. When doing this think of the form as simple shapes and planes. Don’t worry too much about staying inside of the lines because you can simply erase any mistakes that are huge, this is one of the luxuries of the digital medium. But really we want to “color” outside the lines so that the figure (in this case Jean) doesn’t look pasted onto the background.

You maybe asking yourself why flatten the layers and create a new multiply layer each time? The answer is because if you didn’t it would destroy all the subtle nuances of the under painting. I want the previous brushstrokes to show through in different spots on the painting. Again I compare it to painting with watercolors. You lay down a wash; let it dry, and repeat.  Because if you try to paint everything at once it will become mud lose all depth.

Step 5

You guessed flatten it and save it and create a new layer. Only this time leave the layer set to normal. I am finished with carefree washes for now and it’s time to start defining shapes with opaque colors. At this stage I choose to  make some adjustments such as playing with the hair.

As I mentioned earlier my brushes have the opacity set to pen pressure. This means the lighter I press the pen the more transparent the color will be and vice-versa. There is no need to be heavy-handed. I use finesse and try not totally paint over everything I have done. I use the opaque colors to compliment, not dominate.

I first focus on adding color to her face. I add a mild red to her nose and cheeks and a very light blue for the highlights. The contrast of light blue against the warm colors makes the highlight really “pop”. I use this same light blue to add highlights to yellows.

Step 6

I now turn my focus to the greens of her suit. I pick a cool light green and start throwing in highlights. Again using a loose hand and confidence in my decisions. Remember to think in forms and not sweat the details. Not yet anyway.

Step 7

I like the way she looks right now but I have been ignoring the background. Time to correct that oversight. I stare at the background for a bit and look at the piece as a whole. It is always important to step back and look at the piece as a whole. Doing this prevents getting a sort of tunnel vision, which can lead to losing sight of the painting’s goal.

After staring at the back ground for a bit I see what could be turned in an abstract Phoenix. So I decide to pull it out from the chaos of the background. Again with loose strokes I darken the bottom of the background with a deep purple and use an orange and yellow to reinforce the shape of a Phoenix.

Step 8

This is a great time to save my progress. I like to overall look and feel but it seems a little flat and dull. So first thing I want to do is push the values. I will do this by creating a new layer set it to multiply. I then use a warm red to wash over the darks of the green. I also add a highlight here and there.

I use a warm red because it is the compliment of green and when you combine two complimentary colors you will end up with a darker and muted version of the base color by neutralizing it. Doing this will allow for her hair, which contains no green, to pop more since it will be a purer color. Doing this will put more emphasis on her face (the focal point) as well as adding more life and energy to the piece.

Step 9

I flatten the layers save it and create a new layer. However this time I am setting the layer to Color Dodge. This will give my lights a vibrant glow and really make everything hum. I must warn you though don’t overuse this technique or your stuff could have a cheesy look.

Ok so with that being said, I pick a light yellow and bump up the lights of my background, really placing emphasis on my abstract phoenix. I also hit a highlight here and there on the figure.

Step 10

Ladies and Gentlemen: I introduce to you the final step of this tutorial. The most important part of this step is adding a rim light around the figure of Phoenix. This will help add an ethereal feel to the character as well as give her a little more form and volume. After doing that and playing with the hair a bit more I save it and call it done.

I hope that I have given insight into my process by more importantly I hope that I have given you some options and ideas next time you sit down to create a piece of your own. Thank you for taking to time to read my tutorial and please leave a comment, as I  plan on doing more tutorials down the road. So your input is valuable on what I should focus on in future tutorials.

**UPDATE WITH BRUSHES! Instead of separating out the 10 brushes I use most I decided to just give you everyone my entire set of brushes. Warning this file is 60mb but I think it’s worth it. The brushes I use most are the palette knives, pastels, and anything with my name on it. Let me know what you think. Thanks all.

Related posts:

• Scarlett Johansson step by step Part 3
• SKETCH Magazine tutorial update!
• Scarlett Johansson step by step
• Jungle Babe Progress
• Jason McLellan Character Design How-To Part 3

 

4 Responses to 'Digital Painting tutorial – Jean Grey Phoenix'

Subscribe to comments with RSS or TrackBack to 'Digital Painting tutorial – Jean Grey Phoenix'.

1. Well, I hate with all my being to say I actually learned something from you but, dammit, I think I did. Just you wait until I bust out with all I’ve learned and present the world with a multi-layered anthropomorphic water fowl with color dodged testicles. Thanks!

   

   Henry

   3 Dec 09 at 3:46 pm

    

2. Awww…. I just happy you can read…finally. Oh and you’re welcome. :0

   

   Jason McLellan

   3 Dec 09 at 10:50 pm

    

3. this is pretty darn cool. im going to try ti recreate this drawing at home later tonight.

   

   NickGuy

   4 Dec 09 at 1:45 pm

    

4. Very nice tute with a great result. Really like the sketchy/scratchy feel. Enjoyed your gallery, too.

   

   digistyle

   5 Dec 09 at 9:46 am

    

 

Leave a Reply

Name (required)

Mail (will not be published) (required)

Website

Spam protection by WP Captcha-Free