Contents Chapter 01: Alien Hot Air Balloons
Emrah Elmasli
Nathaniel West
003
008
Chapter 02: Steam Powered Mechanical Destroyer
Emrah Elmasli
Daniel Ljunggren
012
016
Chapter 03: The Slave Caravan crossed the Desert
Emrah Elmasli
Rich Tilbury
021
026
Chapter 04: The Beast was poised ready to strike!
Rich Tilbury
Mike Corriero
038
032
Chapter 05: Man-Eating Plants
Ignacio Bazan Lazcano
Daniel Ljunggren
042
048
Chapter 06: The City Centre looked like a Jewel amongst the surroundings
Robin Olausson
Mike Corriero
057
052
Chapter 07: It was a long way up but they had no choice but to continue climbing
Nick Oroc
Marc Brunet
062
066
Chapter 08: Once a Thriving City now deserted and taken over by Vegetation
Robin Olausson
Serg S
069
074
Chapter 09: Robot Scrap Yard
Joell Car Joe Carlo lo 078
Ignacio Bazan Lazcano 083
cha pt er 1
“Alien Hot Air Balloons” by Emrah Elmasli & Nathaniel West
Alien Hot Air Balloons
Speed Painting
Introduction: The topic is “Alien hot air balloons”. When they rst told me about the topic, the scene that I’m going to paint was already in my mind. So, I feel comfortable about what I’m going to do. I did some thumbnail sketches and those were enough for me to start.
Step 1: I want to nish this painting in 90 minutes – maybe less than that, but not more. Before starting to paint a “speedy”, I suggest you set a time limit for yourself. This helps you not to over detail your work and lose time.
I’ll use Photoshop CS3 for the entire painting process. I open a new 2200 x 1200 pixel canvas and create a new layer. The scene that I’m going to paint will be an alien-ish world, but I don’t want it to be so different from earth. So, some minor changes will do. First thing to do is to determine the colours. Green and yellow sounds cool. Now, let’s block them in. I always use large, textured brushes when I’m blocking colours, so I’ll do the same this time. By using yellow, green and grey, I quickly create the background and foreground. I want to have two light sources in the scene so I put two suns in the green, alien sky. So that’s it for this step! Let’s now go more into detail (Fig01).
Step 2: I open a new layer and set it to “Color Dodge” from the blending mode tab. Now I grab a soft
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Chapter 1
Speed Painting Alien Hot Air Ballons round brush and glow both of the suns with a saturated, dark orange colour. This gives the soft atmosphere I need. Now I can start putting some details in. I use some textured and scattered brushes to create the water effect on the background, and some hard brushes for the rocky feel in the foreground (Fig02).
Step 3: For this step I continue to add details with my custom brushes. I also need some contrast in my painting, so I open a “Curves” adjustment layer and bend the curve to gain some contrast. I do this a lot when I’m painting. I always start with light colours and darken them in the process. I also made some changes on the colours by opening a new “Color Balance” adjustment layer. I added some blue to the shadows, which makes the painting even richer in colour (Fig03).
Step 4: I can hear you asking, “Where is the balloon dammit?” Well, it’s time. I start painting in the alien balloons with a hard-edged brush. I want them to have arms like squids and glowing from inside. Keep in mind that you can always glow anything you want by opening a new layer and setting it to “Color Dodge” or “Linear Dodge”, then painting in with a dark saturated colour. My alien balloons are now hovering and glowing (Fig04).
Final: For the nal step I just paint some more details in and add more contrast by “Curves”, again. For the nal touch, I paint in two gures with red staffs in their hands. I think they are aliens too, but I don’t care because the speedy is nished! 90 minutes!! Thank you for reading!
Emrah Elmasli For more work by this artist please visit: www.partycule.com Or contact them at:
[email protected]
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Chapter 1
Alien Hot Air Balloons
Speed Painting
Step 1: For this speed painting I began to sketch freely, with no preconceived notions, and waited to see what would come out about. After a short time of messing around with different shapes and values, I began to see a vision of a large balloon coming towards a foreground destination. In my mind, I view air balloons as very tranquil, so the scene began to take on that quality.
When rst starting a piece I begin by laying in a rough greyscale sketch. It is very important to have a good value structure rst and foremost, with values grouped together to create a graphic and dynamic piece. I would say that this is the single most important stage in a painting, and should be worked out before beginning with colour. If your value structure works, then the rest of the painting will follow easily, but if your value structure is off then you will nd the next stages of the painting to be hopeless efforts until the value structure has been corrected. Many times, a painting is not dynamic simply because the lights and darks are not pushed enough, thus resulting in a ‘at’ appearance (Fig01).
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Speed Painting Alien Hot Air Ballons Step 2: Now that my values are worked out, I proceed on to glazing colour over the entire painting. This can be subtle or extreme, but either way I glaze the whole painting with one colour to keep the palette unied. Then I begin to add additional colour variations and levels of saturation to develop the piece further. I am always careful to maintain the value structure throughout this stage (Fig02).
Step 3: Now that the overall palette of the painting has been established, I begin to further develop some details. I add in the balloon portion of the hot air balloon, and then mirror it with the same colour and shape in the upper right corner. I also add a couple of gures and decide to add in that same colour and shape language. This is
all in efforts to tie the balloon and the foreground together, from a story standpoint.
At rst I had indicated some trails of smoke coming off of the ground, but decided to get rid of them so as not to disrupt the landscape too much. The sky begins to get tightened up, along with the mountains (Fig03).
Step 4: I continue detailing the landscape further, introducing textures and colour washes to achieve the desired effect. The air balloon changes quite a bit, and its design begins to take shape. I also introduce additional colour shifts into the sky, as well (Fig04).
Step 5: I now focus solely on the balloon, as that is our main focus. I give it a bit of loose detail, and blend it into the environment with some ambient lighting on the outer edges of the balloon (Fig05).
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Step 6: I now add in additional details to the landscape and foreground. Once done with all detailing, I put some rays of light coming through the clouds, hit a couple areas with some highlights, and push the contrast in some areas to make the scene a touch more dramatic. I add in some highlights on the edge of the foreground to help separate it from the landscape, and call this painting done (Fig06).
Nathaniel West For more work by this artist please visit: www.nathanielwest.net Or contact them at:
[email protected]
chapt er 2
“Steam Powered Mechanical Destroyer” by Emrah Emasli & Daniel Ljunggren
Speed Painting Steam Powered Mechanical Destroyer
Created In: Photoshop CS2
Step 1 The rst thing to do is to decide what you’re going to paint before starting a speed painting. My topic is “Steam powered mechanical destroyer”, so it’s a good idea to draw something huge. I decided to paint a six-legged steam powered spider kind of mechanical device with big weapons. The environment is going to be set in a cave, or something. I start by blocking the colours in with a bold brush. I also paint in the silhouette of the destroyer and the other stuff around of it. I use warm colours because I want a nice dusk-hour feel ( Fig01).
Step 2 For the next step, I can start to put in some light sources, like the sun and some other articial lights, to ‘pop out’ the forms a little. To do this, I generally open a new layer and select “Color Dodge” or “Linear Dodge” from the layer options, then paint in with a saturated and darker colour (Fig02).
Step 3 After determining the light sources I start detailing with bold brush strokes. I don’t zoom in at this stage, I just apply the necessary general details (Fig03).
Step 4 This step is the same as the previous step. I start to add the minor details now, like the grills of the destroyer and the rock columns at the back, and give some more form to the objects. I also add a few more minor light sources ( Fig04).
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Final For the nal step, I zoom in at last and tweak some details, add bouncing lights, and so on. Finished! Approx. 1 hour with PS CS2
Emrah Elmasli For more from this artist visit: http://www.partycule.com Or contact:
[email protected]
Steam Powered Mechanical Destroyer
Speed Painting
Created In: Photoshop
Introduction After thinking about the topic for a while I started imagining something that would be suitable for a younger audience... maybe a toy commercial with gures you could play with, with one of these toys being the “steam powered mechanical destroyer” (or so the description on the back of the box would have you believe!).
I then thought that it would be more fun if it was a big robot, yet still friendly. The “destroyer” part was the main issue which I would have to turn into something not so violent, to keep the positive mood that I still wanted to achieve.
I could’ve gone another route – towards something more serious, dark and violent – but, personally, it wouldn’t feel very original. I’m not saying a friendly robot is original either, but maybe a bit more of an unexpected approach to the subject title. I have interpreted the theme more like a concept artwork than a painting, so please treat it as such.
Step 01 Before starting to draw or paint the full-sized concept with details and all, a great and quick way to nd your design is with a few small thumbnail sketches. This allows you to focus on the general shape, the silhouette, and the overall feeling of the concept. After a short while of thumbnail sketching, I see something that shows potential (Fig01). I also put in a sloppy human gure to get a feeling of scale. Working a bit further with it I nd a design and feel that I want to see a fully rendered version of (Fig02).
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Chapter 2
Steam Powered Mechanical Destroyer
Speed Painting
Step 02 Using the thumbnail as a reference image, and keeping the main subject and the background on separate layers, I start to sketch the robot from a more interesting angle and in higher resolution. I’m still working in greyscale because then I can focus on what I want to prioritise for the time being: design, proportions, pose and perspective. I nd that the main challenge in this part of the process is to
achieve the same feeling in the perspective image as with the thumbnail. If I would go on with the next steps before nailing that feeling, I know I would probably abandon it later on because it didn’t turn out the way I wanted, so being persistent in this step pays off ( Fig03).
Adding some more volume and details to the robot, and some brushstrokes to the background, I try to nd the kind of lighting and contrast I want for this image. I add some highlights just to remind myself where the main light source will be (Fig04).
Step 03 I set my brush to ‘Color’ mode and paint some big chunks of colours on the background, as well as on the robot (Fig05). Sometimes I don’t nd the colour I’m looking for when using this method, because of the values of the painting underneath, but it’s a quick way of deciding what general palette the image will have.
I pause here, thinking about the impression I get from the robot. I gure that I really need to kill those highlights soon, as well as change the colour to what I’m looking for. Creating a new layer (normal mode), I start painting directly with colours, and soon I see something closer to what I had in mind ( Fig06).
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Chapter 2
Speed Painting Steam Powered Mechanical Destroyer Step 04 While developing the concept for this robot I came up with the idea of having it working in a junkyard, where he would be “the destroyer” of metal scraps. This would go well with the overall positive feel I was trying to achieve, and the background would be where I could suggest it (Fig07).
Step 05 During the previous steps I wasn’t quite sure what to make of the robot’s left arm and hand, but as I tried a few shapes I knew it would gain visual interest instead of having two similar arms. After a few quick designs I decided to go for some kind of drill (this makes the robot t
better with the description of “destroyer”, too). After that was done I felt ready to start working on more detailed shapes and texture ( Fig08).
Adding more details and rendering (Fig09). Here I’m trying to make it look a bit more realistic, removing a lot of the black from the underlying sketch, as well as thinking of cast shadows and bounce lights from the ground. I put a few strokes on his head as well, trying to gure out what I want that part to be like. I did some more work on the background, made a clearer sky, and redesigned some of his rebox and his chimneys at the back, as well as giving a warmer ground. I still wasn’t sure at this stage what to make of his head (Fig10).
Step 06 Finally I approach the face of the robot. I considered having the robot being driven by a man for a while (with the head as the cockpit), but with the current scale of things I had trouble making the chauffeur read clearly, so I dropped that idea and went for a kind robot face instead. This also helped strengthen the overall positive feel. I put down some more work into the rebox, showing more clearly that it was something that could open and hold burning
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coal. Background details were also added, as well as some stripes on the robot, and then he was done! (Fig11)
Daniel Ljunggren For more from this artist visit: http://darylart.com Or contact:
[email protected]
chapt er 3
“the slave caravan crossed the desert” by Emrah Elmasli & Richard Tilbury
The slave caravan crossed the desert
Speed Painting
Created In Photoshop CS3
Introduction Hi everyone! The topic for this chapters speed painting is “The Slave Caravan Crossed the Desert”. So we have a good excuse to paint a cool environment! I didn’t have anything in mind this time; I wanted it to be a random one. There will eventually be a desert, but the rest is a mystery for me as well. So, let’s start…
Step 1 I don’t know how long it’s going to take this time, but I want to keep it short. Let’s say 2 hours maximum!
Anyway, the software I’m going to use is Photoshop CS3, again. The canvas size is 2200x1200 pixels, again. Let’s start blocking the colours in. I generally use a textured round brush for this step. I paint with fast brushstrokes until I get a nice mixture of warm and cold colours. It soon starts to look like dunes in daylight (Fig01).
Step 2 I open a new layer and set it to “Screen” from the blending mode tab. Then I start to paint in some light on the foreground. I want some strong lighting there, as if it’s under a very bright sun. Just using orange and yellow would be boring, so I use purple and pink to achieve some richness in the colours. I apply these colours by opening a new “Overlay” layer, so I can blend them in really nicely (Fig02).
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Speed Painting The slave caravan crossed the desert Step 3 Okay, so what if I add some hovering vehicles in the scene? Sounds like a nice plan... but what kind of vehicles? I want to keep them simple, so let’s paint some chrome, toaster-like caravans. Well, maybe they won’t look like actual toasters but hey, they’re my caravans! Just some quick brushstrokes on a new “Colour Burn” layer will do the trick. Some nice silhouettes of the vehicles (Fig03).
Step 4 Now, I’ll try to give some form to these boys. A fair amount of bouncing light from the environment would be nice, to achieve a chrome look. I continue painting on a new layer until I’m happy with it (Fig04).
Step 5 Well, I’m not happy yet so I’ll continue to detail the painting: some clouds in the background; a nice green mist, maybe? A cool-looking distant planet is a good idea, too! Wait, what am I missing here? Oh yeah, the slaves of course! Let’s paint in some poor slaves under the caravans, walking on the blazing dunes of hell.
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Just a few little touches with a simple brush will do (Fig05).
Final You know what? I don’t like the result! I think I want a night scene instead of a day scene. So, I duplicate the canvas and atten it. Then I go to Image > Adjustments > Exposure and I tweak the colours until I achieve this look on the nal image. I also make some slight touches to achieve a textured look – and that’s it! Here’s our nal scene. I hope you like it! (Fig06)
Thank you for reading!
Emrah Elmasli For more from this artist visit: www.partycule.com Or contact:
[email protected]
The slave caravan crossed the desert
Speed Painting
Created In Photoshop CS3
Introduction For this speed painting I decided not to make the actual subject of the picture the focal point. I liked the idea of making the caravan seem almost incidental, in order to emphasise the size of the desert which I wanted to almost consume them. I wanted to put a gure in the foreground, gazing upon the caravan from afar and whose intentions remain unknown. Perhaps he is there to rescue the slaves, or maybe he is a scout for some war party?! Either way, he will serve to add scale and depth to the scene, as well as help the composition, essentially.
Colour Base The rst stage is to establish the overall colour scheme and main features in the image. I chose to use the Gradient tool (Foreground to Background) as it’s very effective at creating a blended land/sky starting point, especially when you are dealing with a dusty or hot scene, such as this (Fig01).
The next step was to create the distant sand dunes, which in this case I did on a new layer for the purposes of swift and easy editing later on. In Fig02 I used a slightly darker tonal version of the sand colour and simply painted in the shaded areas to suggest the dunes.
Again, on another layer, I then painted in the foreground, which can be seen in Fig03. I used a couple of textured brushes and the standard Hard Round airbrush to paint some palms and the suggestion of a rock outcrop on the
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Speed Painting The slave caravan crossed the desert right. You can see that, at the moment, things are very roughly sketched in without any real attention to detail. Having crude marks and mistakes at this stage is not an issue as they can be tidied up very quickly later on if need be.
These three layers make up the most important components in the image and already describe a desert scenario.
Focal Points The picture now needs to be “tightened” up and the key elements put in place. The rst of which is the foreground character, which I will put in the left to balance the palms and rock. In Fig04, you can see the rough shape of the man
drama. Again, on a new layer, using a paler
distance off into the background. The other
with a cloak that is being blown by the wind. I
version of the sky blue, I swiftly blocked in some
thing that needed addressing was the contrast.
wanted to keep him almost as a silhouette, so
shapes, remembering not to be too worried
At this stage, it looks as if there is a bit of a
that he reads more as a shape against what will
about things looking wrong (Fig05).
sandstorm as the tonal range is somewhat limited.
eventually be a sun-bleached background. With our main character blocked in, it was time
It was then time too add in the subject of this
to add some detail to the sky. I think you could
challenge: the slave caravan. As I said, I
In Fig06 you can see that I have painted in the
almost get away with it in the current state, but
wanted this to almost appear incidental, so I
caravan, as well as darkened the foreground
some subtle clouds will add interest and a little
decided to have them trailing from the middle
layer and character which helps add depth to
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The slave caravan crossed the desert
Speed Painting
the scene. This is where keeping the various elements on separate layers is useful! I painted some of the small slaves stooping as they walk to help portray fatigue or hardship, perhaps against driving wind and sand, and I also linked them with a rope/chain.
Colour Adjustments The picture was almost complete at this stage, but a few small changes could make a huge difference overall and tie everything together nicely. In Fig07, you can see the layer structure so far which will enable control over all the major parts of the image.
First of all, I added some sunlight to brighten up the whole picture. This was done using a Radial Gradient blending from a pure white to a bright orange. The layer was set to Overlay mode with an opacity of around 35%, which you can see in Fig08.
This has essentially injected some heat into the scene and transformed it from a late evening into a mid-afternoon. This layer, when set to Normal mode and at 100%, looks like Fig09. This layer was meant to depict the sunlight, but I also added the actual sun on another layer. This was done in a similar manner, except the gradient was not stretched to the edge of the
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Speed Painting The slave caravan crossed the desert
canvas and was to blend from white to pale yellow, set to Hard Light at 70% opacity ( Fig10). You can also see that I added some highlights on the foreground rocks and tweaked the main character slightly, as well as giving his spear a metal tip.
This all but concludes the tutorial, but there is one more quick layer to add in the form of another Gradient. It was set to Multiply blending mode and composed of a dark brown to transparent layer from the bottom edge to just above the caravan train. This helped bind the foreground and add a little more atmospheric perspective. The desert is almost swallowing the slaves now!
The nal image can be seen on the following page (Final).
Conclusion I hope that you have enjoyed this month’s speed painting exercise as much as I have. As always, it was a challenge to do, but one that was fun. I have always been keen on deserts and so enjoyed this particular one!
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I hope that I have showed how powerful colour adjustments can be and how they can transform an image. When the picture is broken down into key layers it also proves how variations can be achieved almost immediately, which is vital in this day and age when producers and directors require quick changes!
Richard Tilbury For more from this please contact him:
[email protected]
chapt er 4
“The Beast Was Poised Ready To Strike!” by Mike Corriero & Richard Tilbury
Speed Painting The beast was poised ready to strike!
Introduction: The key to speed painting is textures; unique patterns and shapes; the suggestion of forms without too much detail, and a good sense of light and direction. If you’re going to try to communicate an image without rendering out forms in detail, the use of custom brushes and textures will help sell the conceptual idea of an object. You need to captivate the viewer with interesting details that don’t have to be handpainted one by one. These details don’t have to be your conventional method of thinking and can quite often be more abstract or intricate.
Quick Sketch A quick line sketch, which doesn’t need to be detailed, will help keep you on track but will also leave enough room for creative changes.
I’m not even going to bother worrying about getting the anatomy down correctly or adding things like eyes or dening the forms; I’m just laying down a quick gradient ll on a Multiply layer ( Fig01).
Separation of Planes and Elements Sticking to the Multiply layer so the sketch will still show through, I’m separating the main elements which exist on a couple of different planes with varying colours and values. The suggestion of a light source is thrown into place. It can often give you an interesting effect if you paint on a new layer and, instead of trying to ll in the elements, you use the eraser to carve them out after painting over the lines. Leaving a couple of specks which aren’t fully erased is okay and will just make the image a bit more interesting and gritty! (Fig02)
Texturing with Custom Brushes With the use of custom brushes, I’m taking a bit of creative leeway to make some areas a bit more interesting with suggestive abstract patterns.
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The beast was poised ready to strike!
Speed Painting
In the foreground and background I’m using some brushes to lay in texture effects to the rocks and ground. Switching the size of your brush from large to a very ne small point can also be effective in speed painting details (Fig03).
Focal Highlights Highlighting areas you want the viewer to focus in on, and muting areas that aren’t important, will make the image much easier to read and more interesting. The sky, although unconventional, has some added texture that can be construed as light from the sun. A higher saturation of colour and higher contrast in value will always draw more attention than areas left in a dark shadow. This is why the two most important parts of this image are either framed by a highlighted shape or located where a higher concentration of saturated colours are. These two elements, being the creature’s head and the unsuspecting prey (humans), are located on the ground plane (Fig04).
Passage and Characters I’m starting to dene a few areas now to make a bit more sense of them. Our two characters have been given a quick touch of highlights and colour
to suggest that is hitting thethe light plane they are on. I’ve also opened up a passage-way to suggest the path in which they are headed. This pathway helps ‘popout’ the characters with some dark values against the highlighted values. Specks of dust, leaves and some added break up to the ground, are all done with custom brushes and the scatter option ( Fig05).
Adjusting the Values A quick x and change to the values helps give a better perspective of the colours in use and how to dene the shapes. In duplicating the level, you can erase areas that you don’t want to become too saturated or areas you want to remain darker or more muted. Sliding the black arrow to the right, and the white arrow to the left, will give you a broader range in values on the level adjustment table. In doing this, you will also inadvertently pump up the saturation of these areas ( Fig06).
Making the Most of your Levels The layer options make it easier to adjust the levels without completely losing the colour and
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Speed Painting The beast was poised ready to strike! details. First, make a duplicated layer of the original. Next, desaturate the layer to greyscale and choose the auto level adjustment option under Image > Adjustments > Auto Levels. This will automatically adjust your image to the most compatible dark and light values located within the painting. Now take the original layer, place a duplicate on top of the greyscale version and choose ‘Color’ for the layer option. Finally, create another duplicate and place that at the top of every layer, setting the layer option to ‘Darken’. Flatten the layers, copy and paste it on top of the original, and erase out the areas which are too dark/too saturated, and lower the overall opacity a bit. These are all quick adjustments to x the colour, hues, saturation and values to really bring out the best quality of the image (Fig07).
Tightening the Key Elements After having adjusted the values and saturation I’ve started to dene the silhouette of the creature while adding some texture and details, especially toward the head region. I’ve chosen to make the eye a bright orange to compliment the colour scheme and to tie in the colours of the characters with the creature, while adding
some elements of oating leaves and petals (Fig08).
Let There be Light! On two new layers I’m using the Screen and Overlay options to boost the value and colour of the Sun. I still want the patterned effect to show through and I want the beast’s head to be visible but obtain a warmer glow from the light. Erasing out a couple of areas and carving out the silhouette of the creature will set my sunlight in place without covering the important
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Speed Painting
elements. This is really going to help frame the head of the creature and draw more attention to this area (Fig09).
I had worked on adding some scaly texture to the beast’s body, but the only area that really needs a bit of extra attention is the face. Zooming in I’m just adding some highlights on the scales, tting him with some teeth to make him a bit more menacing and geared up to attack his prey. I’ve also provided him with a bit of a pattern again, using the green and orange colour scheme. A lot of these little details are often painted on their own layers for quick adjustments and editing options (Fig10).
Foliage and Fine-tuning Once again, on a duplicated layer, I’m making another adjustment that will be lowered in opacity and portions erased. Under the Image > Adjustments > Auto Contrast option I’ve given the saturation and values one last tweak to bring out all the colour and highlights. The characters have been ne-tuned a little to make their bodies a bit more easy to read, without detailing them too much. Using some custom brushes created by another artist I’m providing some owers, extra foliage, falling rocks, trees and branches. These little elements are suggestive and help complete the environment with some lush additional life (Fig11).
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The Final Taking a look at the nal image as a whole, I’ll probably make a few last minute additions and minor changes, but I think the important details are dened in the focal points and the overall colour and textures are working to the advantage of the concept. The warm tones and direction of the elements, as well as the strong complimentary colour scheme, really provide the look I was going for which brings out a lot of drama and mood. That’s all for this piece; most of the custom brushes I used were created by Barontieri, Daarken and M@ (Fig12).
Mike Corriero For more from this artist visit: www.mikecorriero.com Or contact:
[email protected]
The beast was poised ready to strike!
Speed Painting
Introduction For this month’s tutorial I did not have a clear picture in my mind before starting. I usually have a vague notion as to how the image may look, but in this case I really did not know what I was going to do. I had imagined a few compositions but was not happy with any, and so I literally started without any idea as to how the image would evolve. It was an interesting experiment as I started to put down random, large sweeping shapes in a purely abstract fashion. It was within minutes that I saw a composition and the concept was born ( Fig01).
Building the Structure You can hopefully see in Fig01 that there are some architectural structures and the silhouette of a lone gure wearing a robe. The diagonal shape intersecting him was to be a raised walkway upon which I would paint my “beast”, who would eventually be about to leap onto the character and do whatever beasties do – ATTACK!! The robe suggested a religious gure and so I gave him a hat in the manner worn by a high priest or bishop, for example. You can see that, as I was forming
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Speed Painting The beast was poised ready to strike! the composition, I was intuitively developing
tall buildings bleached out against a bright
a narrative. This is not a necessary part of
sunlit sky. I have painted in the beast, who is
the artistic process but it can help structure
ominously shadowed by the architecture around
the image in terms of mood, colour schemes,
him, almost camouaged. Its gaze is aimed
perspective, etc. As the character was to be
downwards, focusing on the target below; its
of a religious nature, I imagined that the beast
knees slightly bent and ready to leap. The
was an assassin sent by an unknown assailant
priest has his arms crossed in an authoritative
– maybe someone of a different faction or
manner, unaware of his impending doom.
faith, or perhaps a politically motivated person. Whatever the reason, the idea was now tangible
Colour Scheme
enough to illustrate the title.
The essential components of the image have now been established and it is time to add some
In Fig02 you can see that I have now rened
colour to the scene. I added a warm brown
the initial shapes and developed the tonal
across the foreground as a Soft Light mode on
range. I decided to make the foreground dark,
a separate layer, and added a similar colour
maybe in the shadow of towering columns or
across the background but this time setting the
buildings, and the background would show
blending mode to Hard Light. The result can be
seen in Fig03 where the towering buildings in the background now appear faded and warm in the distant sunlight. The overall palette is warm and I decided to echo this in the foreground also, to help bind the different spaces and suggest a strong source of light.
Adding Detail and Texture The picture now has some colour and so it is time to start putting in a few details to suggest some of the textures in the materials. I decided to use a standard Chalk brush and focus on the near doorway and wall supporting the priest (Fig04). You can see where the textured brush has been used to help describe the stonework, and I have also dened the background buildings as well as increasing the intensity of the sky. The doorway in the near foreground still looked a little undened at this stage so I suggested an entrance, and for interest I placed a light above it which would softly illuminate some detailing down the right side. I used a white with the Layer Style ‘Outer Glow’, and then applied a green colour on a new layer set to Overlay to show the reected light on the door frame and interior wall (Fig05).
These small areas of textured canvas help
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Chapter 4
The beast was poised ready to strike!
Speed Painting
suggest details without the need to illustrate
add some nal renements before calling it a
One nal adjustment was a Soft Light highlight
them, but at this point the image needed a more
day, so to speak.
under the priest, so as to differentiate the space
clearly dened beast as this was the subject
You can see in Fig08 that the background
between this and the near foreground. The nal
of the title. I kept this on a separate layer just
buildings have been made less orange and
image can be seen here (Final).
so I could make quick alterations if need be. I
instead I have focused the more saturated areas
painted a more dened silhouette to start with
around their tops, as though the sunlight was
Conclusion
and then added some subtle highlights to add
just clipping them. I also swapped the warmer
This has been yet another enjoyable learning
volume, as well as some demonic green eyes
foreground colour to a cooler hue, leaning
experience, as are most paintings/drawings.
(Fig06). I painted a purple colour across the
towards the green and blues, but this just did
This time around I started without any dened
priests robes to also help make him a focal
not seem to work somehow and neither did
idea in my mind and so improvised from the
point. At this point, whenever I looked at him, I
the support struts under the raised walkway –
very beginning. The interesting aspect about
kept seeing Admiral Ackbar from Return Of The
changes were therefore needed!
working in this way is that the chances are you
Jedi (I think it must have been the shape and colour of his head!).
will arrive at a destination you could not have First of all, I changed the perspective of the
foreseen beforehand, which makes the process
struts because they were clearly wrong, and
exciting. I am happy with the overall result and
Time for a costume change: I added some
then I set about unifying the picture a little
like the composition in this one, although, as
denition to his robe, toned down the colour
more. I added a further warm tone set to
always, I am keen to explore this further and do
scheme and turned him into a human ( Fig07).
Multiply across all the foreground objects and
a more detailed version in the future. However,
then erased into it around the doorway light. I
I think next time I will choose different eye
also moved the creature right and scaled him
shapes as I think my beast does unfortunately
The priest now at least looked more human
down a tad, so as to keep the perspective more
look somewhat like a ‘ninja turtle’!
and so, with the overall image at semi-nished
accurate – this is precisely why having elements
stage, it was time to tie-up any loose ends and
on separate layers can be valuable sometimes!
Final Stages
Richard Tilbury For more from this artist visit: http://www.richardtilburyart.com/ Or contact:
[email protected]
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Chapter 4
chapt er 5
“Man-Eating Plants”
by Ignacio Bazan Lazcano & Daniel Ljunggren
Intro Text
Man-Eating Plants!
Speed Painting
Created In: Adobe Photoshop CS2
First of all, you must decide what to do with your picture. This is the most important thing to do, because it’s not very often that the best idea comes out – magically – from a unique brushstroke. If it were like that, then our whole history would be different! The best thing is to make several sketches – at least four – to give yourself a variety of options and to help you get a better composition and cover different styles (Fig.01).
Here, I worked my sketches using black ink, a pen-nib and a paintbrush. My idea was to give it
a more traditional stamp and to take advantage of natural textures one can obtain when using a paintbrush. Sometimes it’s good to combine several techniques in order to get unique results (Fig.02).
Once I had several options, I chose the one I liked most, which was the one I felt had more action and dynamism (Fig.03).
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Speed Painting Man-Eating Plants!
I opened a new le, at 3000 x 1800, and pasted in the sketch. First of all, I tried to analyse the composition. I realised that objects weren’t arranged in the ideal way ( Fig.04); I therefore selected the “plant hunter” with the loop, turning it from the middle of the picture to the right side of it (Fig.05). Finally, I added some more hunters to give the composition more drama (Fig.06).
To get depth in my picture, I accented the contrasts by adding vegetation and better dening what was placed in the foreground. For this purpose, I created several paintbrushes. As my idea was to go on with the traditional technique used to make my sketches, I decided to set my paintbrushes using the spots you get when pressing a paintbrush against the wall. I used black watered-down ink and a paintbrush to spot a paper sheet, testing different pictures on it. To save time, you can also use Photoshop to draw them directly (Fig.07).
The following step was to choose the spot I liked
up, especially the hunters and the esh-eating
most, turn it into a new paintbrush, and then cut
plant (Fig.10).
it and paste it on a new document (CTRL + C + N + V) (Fig.08).
With the subject being a plant, I already knew what the leading colours for my picture were
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In Fig.09, you can see how the paintbrush looks
going to be, and I knew that green and orange
in my picture. I then touched the whole picture
would match better.
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Man-Eating Plants!
Speed Painting
I selected the whole canvas and then applied copy merged (Fig.11). Once I had joined the whole image together in one layer, I changed its colour to green scale (CTRL + U + COLORIZE) (Fig.12). I achieved a contrast by creating a new layer and painting it orange at 100%, changing the layer to the Color Dodge option. I did this on the grass and on half the hunter’s body. Remember that to create distance amongst objects and make them stand it, it’s best to use “warm” colours for the foreground and “cold” colours for the background (Fig.13).
I selected the principal lights with a loop to focus points of attention better. I used the loop, selecting strongly lit areas, and lled them with blue colour using the bucket tool ( Fig.14). I changed the layer to the Overlay option, 100%, and then used the eraser to brush 30% of the mask’s border in order to get a better fusion of colour in the background.
Continuing with the lights, I used a lot of green colour on the esh-eating plant to make it stand out. I opened a new layer and painted the moss colour on the plant’s surface green, using the Overlay option at 100%. Thus, I obtained a vivid green colour (Fig.15).
To add cold tones to the background, I opened a new layer, selected the bucket from my tool
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Speed Painting Man-Eating Plants!
bar on the “gradient” option, chose a blue-green colour, and nally used the Vivid light option at 70% on the same layer ( Fig.16). To separate the plant from the bluish background, I made a new layer and used an orange colour, opacity 30%, in the Screen option at 100% ( Fig.17).
The next step was to add all the remaining details to the esh-eating plant ( Fig.18). To do this, I used one of the textured paintbrushes I created for this picture, and the basic rounded paintbrush. I gave the plant more denition, added palm trees behind, and improved the right hunter’s anatomy and position. The background had too much white colour, so I added blue to get a better contrast between the plant and the back (Fig.19).
To nish, I placed a pair of spears over the plant to make the scene more violent. If you wish you could also use a new layer with a textured photograph, to make it more realistic.
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I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed the experience of making it. Remember, no matter how much time you have, you must pay great attention to your original sketch to get the best results! (Fig.20)
Ignacio Bazán Lazcano For more from this artist visit: http://www.neisbeis.deviantart.com Or contact:
[email protected]
Man-Eating Plants!
Speed Painting
Created In: Software Version Information
Introduction In the previous speed painting tutorial that I wrote for 2DArtist, I used a rather methodical approach (thumbnail sketching to greyscale painting to colour painting), so I thought I should do quite the opposite this time. Starting the actual painting directly with colour is, personally, riskier because there is more to deal with at the same time. On the other hand, I think it’s a lot more fun, and I can skip the actual “greyscale to colour” step, which can be painful sometimes.
PAINT! I started by just throwing down some colours and contrast onto the empty canvas. I used large texture brushes, trying different colours together and going for a somewhat warm palette ( Fig.01).
I had a vague idea for the composition; I knew I want a human character standing pretty much in the centre of the lower half of the image, looking up at some nasty carnivorous plants. I created a new layer and painted in some big shapes which suggested the foreground plants were looking down on an imaginary character ( Fig.02).
Because I didn’t like the colours at this stage, I tried a more reddish palette using the Hue/Saturation settings. Along with that I rened the
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Chapter 5
Speed Painting Man-Eating Plants! shapes a bit more, pushing the left plant back a bit and adding a dark silhouette representing the character (on yet another layer). The feeling of water splashing against the rocks (or whatever it is the character is standing on) was all by chance, but this gave the idea of having the plants emerge out of a swamp ( Fig.03).
At this point I was thinking that the foreground should receive a local light, but I wasn’t sure about the rest of the painting.
The huge head of the main plant was taking up too much space and focus, and the way the stalk was shaped made it feel like it was bending, trying to t inside the painting. I wasn’t happy with this, so I used the Lasso tool around the plant, and scaled it down. To free up even more space I made the canvas larger at the top, and added some paint to that area ( Fig.04).
I added some lighter hues to the ground, suggesting reections, which made the swamp water look more realistic. On top of the background I created a new layer for some distant plants and trees. I painted some light behind the trees, and added a few design elements to the foreground plants and the character.
It was now time for more rening and detailing (Fig.05). I worked on the main plant, trying to nd a decent design. The background plants were dened and some hints of vegetation on the ground were added.
Because I felt that the image needed more colour variation, I added more Cyan/Blue to the background, which made the painting a lot more interesting to the eye.
I added more design elements in an attempt to make the plants look more interesting ( Fig.06).
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Man-Eating Plants!
Speed Painting
I wasn’t sure about the plant on the far right; as I feel the placement and the side prole made for a stiff and obviously planned composition. The plant would probably have attacked already if it was such a short distance from the character, so I removed it completely.
Now I wanted a more unied palette again, so I added a warming photo lter, which felt better (Fig.07 ). Fig.07).
I started to move things around a bit; the closest plant was shifted so that the head was in line with the golden ratio, which made for a better composition. I tried moving the character around as well, to see if it added to the composition, but because it didn’t work with the alignment of the plants, I let it stay where it was.
I added more vegetation to the background to give it more of a forest feel and I rened the details of the ground and the foreground plants.
Because I felt the shape of the main plant was rather boring, I gave it a more interesting look (Fig.08 ). Not as “evil” as the one before, but Fig.08). more creepy!
Adding a “black & white” adjustment layer on top of all other layers enables you to quickly spot any values that don’t quite work. The closest plant and the left plant further away had values that were too similiar in Fig.08 Fig.08,, so I adjusted the values to pull the foreground plant closer to the viewer.
I began working on the character, giving him a more dynamic pose and readying him for the coming attack.
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The left foreground plant should focus more on the character so I xed that ( Fig.09 Fig.09). ). I gave gave the closest plant a longer stalk and a more sinister look, with sharp teeth and lots of tentacles.
I used some big brushes to apply contrast in certain areas, making the painting slightly more comfortable to the eye. A few vague rays of light in the top left corner were added, then some nal levels adjustments and the painting was done!
Daniel Ljunggren For more from this artist visit: http://darylart.com Or contact:
[email protected]
cha pt er 6
“The City Centre Looked Like a Jewel Amongst the Surroundings” by Mike Corriero & Robin Olausson
Speed Painting The city centre looked like a jewel amongst the surroundings
Created In: Adobe Photoshop
Introduction The key points behind successful speed paintings are textures, unique patterns, shapes, the suggestion of forms, without too much detail, and a good sense of light and direction. If you’re going to try to communicate an image without rendering out forms in detail, the use of custom brushes and textures will help you to sell the conceptual idea of an object. You need to captivate the viewer with interesting details that don’t have to be hand-painted one by one. These details don’t have to be your conventional method of thinking and can quite often be more abstract and indicate intricate details through the brush strokes.
Base Layer After laying down a quick base colour with the paint bucket tool, I decided to throw down some quick suggestions of shapes with a simple, square brush. I’ve used the brush tip shape and dynamics option to adjust the brush a bit, also giving the brush some spacing so the quick strokes will create a bit of a pattern. At this point, although I’m working with a topic, I’m not quite sure what’s going to come out of this yet so I’m just playing with random abstract strokes (Fig.01).
Choosing the focal point I’ve quickly chosen where I want the focal point to be and, in keeping with the same square brush, I’m just laying down a quick base of lines and shapes for what will be a type of shrine. The steps, the square tile patterned lines for the wall, and the arch above, all help to push the viewer towards this area – the hot spot of the painting. A quick splash of a bright value and a saturated gold instantly draws your attention to this spot. I’m going to stick with the square brush throughout the entire painting, but I’ll be switching the tip shape and adding dual brush and textures to it for a gritty appearance later on. The textures will give the painting a more detailed look without any real extra effort or work ( Fig.02).
Quick lighting and Forms With darker and lighter values of the same colour tones, I’m starting to dene the arch with some added strokes of detail, although still very quick and rough. I’ve also reinforced the steps and angled walls with
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The city centre looked like a jewel amongst the surroundings
Speed Painting
stronger and more saturated hues, once again drawing your attention to the main focal position. Without too much thought the design is taking on some Asian architectural and object inuences, so the jewel of this painting will be a golden statue; something similar to a Buddhist gure but it will be left very rough and allow the viewer to really interpret what it is they are looking at (Fig.03 (Fig.03). ).
Cool Shadows and Shining Through Duplicating the layer allows me to make a quick adjustment to the colour of the overall image. An Auto Levels adjustment changes the colour scheme to blues and purples, which is perfect to offset the warm golden hues radiating from the jewel of the city. In lowering the opacity opacity of that level a bit, I decided to go in and erase out the areas where the focal point is situated, letting the original original colours shine through. through. At this
to just give the steps some texture while also
point I can start to throw in some rened details
providing the base of the railings. Above the
and bright hot spots on the statue, and the arch
shrine and the arch much larger and thicker
above. In order to have have the square brush follow
squares give off a rough impression of bricks.
the form of the arch I just set the brush shape
The reason this square brush was chosen
dynamics to initial direction (Fig.04 (Fig.04). ).
for the topic is because it can be adjusted in
Rows of Beams, Bricks and Rails Once again, just by adjusting the brush options of the square brush, I’ve slimmed down the
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so many ways and used to show something of structure, while also allowing me to paint highlights and shadows on a lower opacity and pen pressure setting (Fig.05 ( Fig.05). ).
shape, adding more spacing with some opacity
Adjusting the Levels
and ow jitter, and have begun suggesting
A quick adjustment to the levels brings the
some different materials. The size, shape and
main attraction forward. This levels adjustment adjustment
angles alone will determine what they are meant
darkens the shadows and brightens the
to portray. In this case, I’m using vertical lines
highlights, whilst also increasing the saturation.
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Chapter 6
Speed Painting The city centre looked like a jewel amongst the surroundings So now the cooler shadows fall back and the jewel really begins to pop out and give off the golden vibe I’m looking for ( Fig.06 ). Fig.06).
Majority of Detail The majority of suggestive detailing is going to be given to the focal point of the image. Some textures have been added to the tiled walls surrounding it, but I want to make sure that smaller and tighter shapes are located within this jewel. I’ve very lightly gone in and and dened some of the shapes by shading around the highlights and suggesting that the statue is holding something of of value. The bright violet really draws your attention in now and it makes you curious what this glowing object is. They could in fact be jewels, diamonds or perhaps something of a more ethereal nature. nature. This is once again left up to the viewer to decide (Fig.07 ). Fig.07).
Finalising what is Important Towards the nal stages I’ve just made sure that the surrounding environment is in perfect contrast to the jewel, in both colour and detailing as well as design. The surrounding shapes are more haphazardly thrown together; they are more gritty and of less importance. It’s indicated that there are forms of walls, bricks, tiles and random objects of unknown design. These remain in the darker and cooler toned values so that the main attraction comes forth without effort. Some detailing is made to the the railings, warmer red orange tones are added where light transitions might take place, and the structure of the stairs is reinforced.
Overall, the most important aspects of this painting are complete; there is enough texturing and detail to keep your interest and to describe what you’re looking at, while still remaining rough and open to interpretation. And that’s it! Just remember that the key to a focal point point is through the contrast of values, saturation of hues and the direction of shapes ( Fig.08 ). Fig.08).
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Mike Corriero For more from this artist visit: www.mikecorriero.com Or contact:
[email protected]
Speed Painting The city centre looked like a jewel amongst the surroundings
Created In: Adobe Photoshop
Introduction: Speed-painting, for me, is about capturing the most essential elements within an image in the least possible time, whilst still keeping as
brushes and standard ones to keep things more
brush” of a texture and then used it as a custom
much detail as possible. Form, light, values,
simple and practice pure painting speed.
brush to paint in some random background
composition, contrast, colour, edge quality, and
noise (Fig.01). While following my perspective
so on, are all really important elements in order
Blocking-in:
to get the results you are looking for. I don’t
Since I was going to do a landscape type of
an architectural structure to t my perspective,
have any particular order in which I build up my
image with a town, meaning lots of man-made
and with a big brush I painted in some values
images, since different methods work better for
objects, a good foundation of a perspective grid
to dene more hints of structures and a ground
me with different types of images. Sometimes
was really important. To get the imagination
plane (Fig.02).
I go for textured work with a lot of custom
going I needed some kind of shapes going on
brushes, and even stamps made out of photos,
and not just a simple white background with
The next few steps are about the same
whereas other times I just go for simple custom
a stiff perspective grid, so I made a “stamp
procedure, adding some stamps and more
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grid I distorted and added another stamp of
Chapter 6
The city centre looked like a jewel amongst the surroundings
Speed Painting
brush strokes to indicate form and value changes. Keep in mind your composition and contrast and don’t go too dark or too bright with your values since we want to save this for later!
Colouring: I’m not too concerned with which colours I start out with, because if I don’t like them I can always change them pretty easily if things are backed up or on different layers. It’s pretty much all about having fun, and what can be more fun than playing around with lots of different colours? After all, isn’t that what every child nds most enjoyable about painting?
When I rst started to colour this piece I made some new layers and set the mode to either Multiply, Dodge, Screen, Overlay, etc. It really doesn’t matter though, as long as you nd a combination that feels good for you! After you get something you’re happy with, it’s time to get more serious! Think about what your light source is, where it’s coming from and what temperature that light would have, and then counter the shadows with the opposite temperature.
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Speed Painting The city centre looked like a jewel amongst the surroundings
overused so be sure to use it wisely! Think of
the entire image a bit and added more lighting
where your light source is coming from and what
to get the mood I was looking for. And that’s it
type of a surface the object you are dealing with
(Fig.08 and Fig.09).
has. Is your object wet, metallic, translucent?
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All of these different types of surfaces will make
Robin Olausson
a difference in how the light reacts with the
For more from this artist visit:
object. I personally felt that the image was a
http://www.robin.reign.se/gallery
bit greyish or dusty, so to correct the contrast I
Or contact:
used Ctrl + L to access the Levels. I darkened
[email protected]
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chapt er 7
“It Was A Long Way Up But They Had No Choice But To Continue Climbing” by Nick Oroc & Marc Brunet
Speed Painting It was a long way up but they had no choice but to continue climbing
Created In: Photoshop
The idea behind this subject matter came to me reminiscing my childhood in the Mediterranean. I remember as a little venturer playing with a type of vegetation on which some kind of fragile cherry would grow. These delicate cherries would explode with a mere touch and splatter me with what ever liquid they contained. Luckily for me they weren’t poisonous.
My main thoughts behind this speed painting consisted of: exploding cherry, team work, amplitude, and especially humour. I wanted to
so a simple grey tone gradient solved that
hard edge round brush and the rest are part
create a team effort of 2 venturers climbing from
problem. Doing so also helps me gage my
of my collection of custom brushes that I’ve
one vegetation platform to another using nothing
values. Using a freehand perspective guide,
created over the years. As you can see I’ve
but rope, a spear and exploding cherries. My
I blocked in some silhouetted shapes. This is
selected a small range of organic looking
main focus was to create a directional focal
the stage where I don’t think about detail...only
brushes that appealed to me and will facilitate
point depicting the altitude they had to travel
composition. It’s fast and easy and can be done
rendering out my scene in no time. Creating
from each platform.
in a matter of a couple minutes.
the brush settings is a very personal thing. What’s important to keep in mind is simply to
In Fig.01, I roughed out a composition. I
Fig.01-A displays the six brushes I used to
experiment and save the brushes. Create a
personally don’t like working on a white canvas
create this painting. Brush A is a standard
folder with a library of these brushes for easy access and just load them up in Photoshop depending on the subject matter you will paint.
When I’m unsure of a color palette, I start off with a value painting. It’s a safe and quick approach that allows me to knock out an image. This allows you to not have to worry about color. Fig.02 illustrates this step. This stage took me about 40 minutes to produce. With my base sketch underneath and composition set, all I had to worry about were four things: textures created by my custom brushes, character posing, depth, and mood lighting
Once I was content with the value painting, it was time to add color. I try to keep my layers very minimal to maximize desktop speed and also to not get lost over loads of layers. I
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It was a long way up but they had no choice but to continue climbing
Speed Painting
created a new layer over my value painting and just started painting some colors using some texture brushes. (Fig.03). Notice how the colors are darker and warmer on the bottom left, and brightens and gets cooler as I worked my way up to top right. My reason for doing so is simply to create more contrast between the foreground and the background (warm vs cool). I then set the painted texture in overlay mode (Fig.04). This then tints my background without losing too much detail in my value painting. The only problem I have with using the layer overlay mode is that the colors get pretty dull and washed out. But it’s a good base to start with. Fig.05 is the stage where I start to bring back to life those colors that got very dull by simply color picking them, increasing the saturation, and glazing lightly over the colored areas to liven them up.
Fig.06 is the nal stage where I started to add some particle effects, nishing details, and sharpening up the image.
I hope you enjoyed this tutorial as much as did creating it. Always keep in mind to have fun with every piece and to makes lots of happy mistakes. Keep things simple without deviating to far from your main goal.........illustrating an idea.
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Chapter 7
Nick Oroc For more from this artist visit www.nickorocart.com or contact
[email protected]
It was a long way up but they had no choice but to continue climbing
Speed Painting
Created In: Photoshop
Introduction As artists, one question we often get is “Where do you get ideas for your pieces?”. Normally I always have something in mind when I start a piece and that idea itself it triggered, most of the time, by something I will see browsing the internet as I think it is one of the best sources for inspiration. But when it comes to speed painting, things are not quite the same. At the very start of the process, I will skip a key step which is “building and dening my idea”. I think
that is what makes speed painting really interesting, you just go and start, having absolutely no clue where you’re going.
Shaping things up Having no idea what to do normally forces me into painting very abstract shapes as a start. I then build upon those shapes and ideas will start to ow. In this particular case, I know at least two things; I want to have a sky in there somewhere and I want to draw rocks. Call those self imposed guidelines or whatever, I’m just feeling that way today I guess. After only a few couple of brush strokes normally I start to get a clearer idea of where this is all going and it became clear after only a few minutes into the painting that the subject would be a mountain of some sort. The theme being “It was a long way up but they had no choice but to continue climbing”, I am now kind of going in the direction I told myself I would not.
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Speed Painting It was a long way up but they had no choice but to continue climbing I wanted to come up with something a little out of the ordinary, so that when people look at it they would tell themselves “Well I wouldn’t have thought about that!”. I’ll have to do something about that! (Fig.01)
Then there was light! Light is always a very important part of any painting I do. It helps set the mood of the piece, determine the time of the day, the temperature but is also a double edged sword: if you screw it up, the whole piece will end up looking like an ugly butt. At this point in a speed painting, you just live with what you have so far and try to make it look like something interesting. So far two things are already decided, the light is coming from the left and it’s a very sunny day. Painting lights is always a challenge for the brain; you have to put yourself in the sun’s point of view and try to imagine what you see and what you do not. Things you see will obviously be lit, while the rest will be in the shades. My
composition being a little boring, I’ll use light to improve it and bring the viewer’s eyes to wherever I want in the image. It’s like subtle mind control. Genius? Yes. (Fig.02)
The palette Just like lighting the scene is crucial, the color palette is even more. In this case, like in most, the colors take their importance when the lights are set. Only then you can tell from which direction are the backlights coming from, how the ambient light is affecting the colors and so on. In this painting I have a very bright sun hitting the left of the cliff, so I want to have some colors on the other side to make sure I do not have too big of a bright/ dark contrast going on. This is all considering the cliff is not really the focal point of the image. With the two characters I’m planning to add, I really don’t want anything else to steal the show. Best solution in this case is to boost the refraction from the sky on the rocks. If you think about it, those rocks in the shadows are still being lit by the subtle blue light coming from the sky. (Fig.03)
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Composition I like what the composition look like so far, but I’m starting to think I might have a problem when the characters are done. I want them to be the focal point of the image, but I’m thinking at the same time that I really want to give the image the feeling they still have a long way to go, emphasis the height of the mountain. Normally at this point I any characters I was planning to put in there should have been blocked in already to prevent such composition tweaking that far in the process. (Fig.04)
With the little men thrown in there nally, I’m able to see my options better. All I had to add to x the compo were a few simple huts with a really punchy red, leading the eyes all the way to the top. (Fig.05)
Conclusion All that is left after that is about 30 minutes of tweaking and polishing to make it look a little more decent. For the entire piece, I used about 4 custom brushes, no textures or anything else. I like to be able to paint everything myself, at the same time it helps develop speed without relying on your custom brush sets too much. I also used a single layer for everything, helps to give it that “painted” look.(Fig.05)
About halfway in the process, I came up with the idea something dangerous was chasing them from the bottom, which is why they were climbing. I xed my mind only at the end, imagining these were lava monsters coming out of an overowing lava river surrounding the mountain. Being distracted, those two unlucky folks got stuck in a bad situation trying to escape to save their lives.
Now you’ll ask me “Why is the one in yellow not helping his friend?” I’ll tell you why... He’s not his friend alright!?
Mark Brunet For more from this artist visit http://bluey.cgsociety.org or contact
[email protected]
chapt er 8
“Once A Thriving City Now Deserted And Taken Over By Vegetation” by Robin Olausson & Serg S
“Once a thriving city now deserted and taken over by vegetation”
Speed Painting
Created In: Photoshop
The idea behind this image came from those abandoned cities in movies like 28 Days Later, Dawn of the Dead etc. I wanted to take one of those moments and turn it into something really
More objects and renements were made with
free details and colours going on. I altered the
beautiful, instead of dark and menacing. With a
the intention of making the composition look
perspective with the Transform/Distort tool to
standard squared brush, with the opacity set to
more interesting and trying to create a pathway
convey a better feeling of scale. With custom
60%, I started painting in some basic shapes to
to lead the eye through the image. Up until
brushes set to Spacing, the windows in the
get my imagination going. My intention was to
this point almost everything had been painted
buildings were painted fast and loosely; no
create a back, mid and foreground relationship
with simple round/square brushes. I saved the
details were added at all, I was just trying to
as early as possible. Always keep in mind the
textures for later on (Fig.03).
keep everything as simple as possible ( Fig.04
perspective you want to use; for this scene I
and Fig.05).
used a basic 1-point perspective, with some
Here was my rst introduction of colour to this
minor vertical adjustments, for the simple reason
image. To get some fast details and colours
The colours still needed more work, so here I
of keeping the process quick and easy ( Fig.01)!
going on, I took one of my recently painted
tried to add more interesting ones by duplicating
images and played with it a bit; duplicating,
all merged layers (Ctrl + Shift + Alt + E) and
Here I dened the depth in the image by
ipping and cropping it; changing the layer
playing with the curves and layer modes.
darkening the foreground a touch and adding a
settings of it and then applying it over my current
The city was supposed to be abandoned and
dark gradient from the sky downwards, to make
image as an Overlay layer, just to get some
untouched for quite a while, and what shows
it feel like the city is emitting some light as well. Some secondary details were added in the fore/ middle ground to boost up the imagination and to get some more ideas of how the city was going to look. These were just random lines made without thinking about what I was doing really. You need this randomness in order to get variety into your images (Fig.02)!
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Speed Painting “Once a thriving city now deserted and taken over by vegetation” that better than overgrown vegetation? The easiest and absolutely quickest way to paint vegetation with a high level of detail is to use custom brushes. You can use photographs as well to gain lots of free and fast details, which I have done for the windows and for some of the cracks in the road in the foreground. Since I lost a lot of the light whilst playing with the layer modes, I reinforced the lighting in the image with a brush set to Colour dodge. If you don’t get the relationship values and the lighting right, it doesn’t matter how cool the objects that you paint are; it’s absolutely necessary to make the image look 3D and not at ( Fig.06 and Fig.07)!
Conclusion Start loose and fast; keep in mind the fore/ middle and background relationships and where the light is coming from. Try to think about what you are adding to your painting in a simplied way, and see if it enhances the composition or not. Keep the most contrast in the area where you want your focus to be and save your highest contrast for that. Don’t be afraid to try new things! Even if a thing you recently added to your painting looks wacked, don’t worry too much about it; try ipping/playing with the Curves and layer modes and see what you can come up with! Always ip your image in all directions to get a fresh look on things and to get new ideas as well. Sometimes when I ip my image I see a new thing in it – maybe a monster, a cool building or something else useful! Just take the Lasso tool and copy it and reuse it in your original, un-ipped image.
There are a lot of things I could improve in this image, like upping the contrast and changing the values, but overall I’m happy with the outcome.
Robin Olausson For more from this artist visit: http://www.robin.reign.se/gallery Or contact:
[email protected]
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“Once a thriving city now deserted and taken over by vegetation”
Speed Painting
Created In: Photoshop
Introduction The outcome of a painting cannot be determined in the rst stages of its creation; an image usually evolves with the artist over time.
Research The process that I used to approach this brief started out with some research into interesting shapes. It’s always a good idea to have some kind of reference for what you’re drawing, but this time around I wanted to see what I could achieve from a two-hour speed painting without using specic references!
Step 01 So for this painting I started off with a standard round size 13 brush, with pressure dynamics
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Speed Painting “Once a thriving city now deserted and taken over by vegetation”
turned off and 75% opacity. The colours I went
bottom left helped with the colour contrast and
image in order to give it more hope, and to lose
with for this overgrown city were neutral and
I used red to indicate rubble and to introduce
the repetitiveness (Fig.05).
earthy tones (Fig.01).
some reds to the shadows ( Fig.03).
Step 02
Step 04
At this stage I started bringing it all together. I
In the beginning stages I tried to focus on
At this stage, adding some perspective lines
added more detail using a standard brush with
shapes and the negative space of the image,
helped me out with the repetition of objects, and
the texture option checked, and I angled the
and tried not let the perspective of the piece
to dene the shapes from Step 01. At this point
brush to the perspective of the image ( Fig.06a).
hinder my search for these shapes. At one
it was a good idea for me to check the values
The main change here was to separate the
point I had a cityscape, but then it turned into
in the image. The order of values I used were
values of the atmospheric perspective of the
an interior shot after I put in the three vertical
a value of 10 for the foreground, a value of four
structures, and so I decided to go with that
for the mid-ground (the area where the light hits
instead.
the oor), and six for the background ( Fig.04).
Step 06
A good way of thinking about this is: light, dark, I try not to put in the perspective lines when
light, dark – it’s never ending! But when have
starting an image, as I like to be able to search
dark next to dark, you lose the edge (although
for shapes with a greater freedom. At this point I
sometimes you may want that!).
decided on the composition and that the space I was painting was going to become the base of a
Step 05
building that had been taken over by vegetation,
After adding a gure to set the scale, I decided
as the brief suggests (Fig.02).
that I wanted to create an uneasy feeling for
Step 03
the character. Having verticals in your image creates stability, and so angling them to the left
Once my composition had been decided, I
and darkening the value of image seemed to
started to think about the lighting and shadows.
help create the illusion that I was hoping for. I
Adding a complementary light source from the
then painted out one of the centre pillars of the
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image, where the objects seem to become closer in value as they reseed in the space (Fig.06b).
Final At this point I was happy with the image because it conveyed mood, environment and scale. If this image was used as a piece of concept art, it would give the 3D artist a good starting point. If it was a matte painting then the use of photographic textures would be the next step, as well as cleaner edges and greater use of the selection tool.
Serg S For more from this artist visit: http://deadlinestudios.com Or contact:
[email protected]
chapt er 9
“Robot Scrap Yard”
by Ignacio Bazan Lazcano & Joel Carlo
Speed Painting Robot Scrap Yard
Created In: Photoshop
When I was approached to create this speed painting, I initially began with a slightly different idea than what the nal version turned out to be. My original concept was to have a set of characters digging through a pile of junk in a scrap yard, in a somewhat typical layout and setting. As with most of my illustrations, I usually work things out as I do them, and most of my images usually never turn out exactly the way they’re started. While I didn’t deviate too much from the original concept, I feel the nal image does have a bit more of a science-ction air to it.
I began this image with an extremely rough sketch done on paper (Fig.01). By my own admission, I’m the absolute worst when it comes to sketching! It’s not so much that I’m necessarily bad at it, I’m just extremely lazy and I like to work everything out as I paint. The most important thing at this point for me, was to establish a rough layout for the scene. Once this was achieved, I moved on to laying down colour and values. I did this by setting the properties of
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Robot Scrap Yard
Speed Painting
the sketch layer to Multiply mode and creating a new layer underneath to paint on ( Fig.02). Here I roughed out some colour ideas and some quick values to gauge a little bit of what the depth of the scene would look like. In this case, I felt the characters were a bit too prominent in the scene, so I adjusted their size in the sketch layer and I added the crane silhouette from a set of industrial cityscape brushes for Photoshop (Fig.03).
Although I liked the way things were moving, I decided to experiment a little with some
emphasise just how crappy the characters’ line
more colour ideas and the overall mood of the
of work could be (Fig.04). I knew sooner or
image. I thought that maybe looking for robot
later I’d have to start working on details for the
parts during a stormy night scene would really
scrap yard, so I turned to ZBrush for a little help.
The great thing about ZBrush (apart from being an incredible modelling application) is it can also be used to create “greebles” ( Fig.05a and Fig.05b). For those who don’t know what that is, a “greeble” is a way of creating intricate surface detail on an object without a whole bunch of complicated modelling. In this case, I used some simple cylinder shapes and added a default texture to them. I then masked the object based on the texture’s value intensity and extracted the shapes using inate deformation. From here, I imported the greeble renders into Photoshop and applied them to my image using a mixture of layering and adjustment techniques. I also began to work on additional details, including the building to the left, crane lights, and metal slab in the centre of the scene ( Fig.06).
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Speed Painting Robot Scrap Yard At this point I felt the image was becoming a bit too dark and muted, so I decided to work in some colour, beginning with the sky ( Fig.07). The effect I was aiming for was along the lines of the same lighting you would expect to see during the magic hour of an evening. I liked the way the brighter colours contrasted against the silhouettes and also the way they gave the image a less-claustrophobic feel. Satised, I decided to stick with this new colour scheme and worked it into the rest of the image ( Fig.08). I also added additional detailing to the crane as I felt it looked a bit skimpy and a bit too modern for the image’s overall theme.
Pausing for a moment to reect on the work I had completed, I quickly realised that there were some issues with the positioning of the silhouetted characters. It was apparent that this part of the image wasn’t clear, so I decided to shrink the characters down further and add some sort of utility vehicle, which helped add a bit more clarity to this section of the image (Fig.09). I also realised that, at this point, the image itself was completely void of anything resembling an actual robot, and although it appeared to look like a scrap yard I may not have done the best job of translating the idea of it being a “robot scrap yard” as I could have. Adding the robot at the side of the building (although admittedly last minute) was something I felt brought the idea home a bit better.
From this point on, it was a simple matter of rening the image. Detailing on the utility vehicle as well as certain areas along the metallic slab helped tighten the image a bit more ( Fig.10). After a few Level adjustments and some colour correction, I considered this painting nished.
Overall, this image took roughly ve hours to complete... hardly a “speed” painting by some standards, but extremely fun either way. I thoroughly enjoyed working on this piece as it did give me the opportunity to get out of my normal painting habits and allowed me
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to experiment a bit. I hope you enjoyed this walkthrough and if you have any questions or comments, please feel free to contact me any time!
Joel Carlo For more from this artist visit: www.joelcarlo.net Or contact:
[email protected]
Speed Painting Robot Scrap Yard
Created In: Adobe Photoshop CS3
The best thing about speed painting is that it doesn’t limit your freedom. It also allows you to put whatever comes into your mind rst, rather than thinking too much. It is pure energy and movement, and it shows the artist’s mood! So for this tutorial I had the intention of not being so technical about showing the development of the image, and to instead demonstrate the advantages that this freedom offers.
As a rst step I painted in greyscale with rough lines to develop the general concept. At this stage I paid particular attention to the light and shade, focusing the image at the point of reading. Everything has to t in, little by little; you don’t have to worry too much about polishing things up – everything just has to ow naturally (Fig.01).
Here I plunged into the colour! I already had
them easily!). To colour the greyscale image I
things dened well enough in my mind to start
use the “Colorize” option (Ctrl + U) ( Fig.02).
working in colour at this stage, and I didn’t have to worry about whether I’d made an accurate
In order to choose the colours for your scenes,
calculation with the perspective or if I had the
the main thing you have to consider is if it is by
shapes of objects right – I just threw myself into
day or by night; if you are in a closed room with
the inaccuracy and vagueness of it all! I didn’t
articial light or if you just want to apply colours
want anything to stop me going onto the next
as and how you wish. It all depends on the story
step (I believe that the best way to speed paint
you want to tell through your image!
is to learn rules well enough in order to break
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Speed Painting
With my basic colour established, I started to dene the space better by adding a touch more light and a few more shadows. The drawing leads you and tells you where to move along. I believe that there is some sort of “chat” that goes on between an artist and his masterpiece (Fig.03)!
In order to brighten up the front light, I put a yellow overlay layer all around the points of interest. This is just like magic! What often makes a drawing look beautiful and spectacular, is its approach and brightness ( Fig.04).
To give the drawing better texture, I used a single photograph and then leaned it over the whole canvas. I then de-saturated the photo into greyscale in order for it to be later adapted to any surface of the drawing. You only have to place the texture layer wherever you need it, and set it to Overlay ( Fig.05).
I don’t usually use textures in my images, but it always helps if you can add some additional elements or tints to your paintings. Try not to overuse textures and use them with an opacity of 50%, or if not you can also erase the sides
subtly so that it goes unnoticed and adapts
to work with volumes you have to scrape each
better to your image (Fig.06).
element of the drawing (Fig.08). Doing this gives me speed and, at the same time, a certain
In order to give a little more light to the whole
amount of texture to objects.
drawing I created a new layer, applying some brightness and contrast (Fig.07).
So I started to work on dening the volumes of each element. You might wonder why things
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Once I had the atmosphere and colour
with spots and rays make drawings look better;
established in general, I started with the step I
well to understand this it is necessary to know
like most: “scraping”. I named it thus, because
values, materials and volumes. The ideal and
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Speed Painting Robot Scrap Yard perfect exercise for this is the study of geometric gures. This is why, with only a small dot of light and a spot, an object can be understood. The incorrect application of light can distort or atten an object. The most common mistake is to put the brightest light on the contour of the form, attening the object (this generally happens in cylindrical forms) (Fig.09).
It was not necessary for me to use any other images as references for this piece, as I wanted everything to come out of my head – to feel free! I also didn’t use too many layer effects either, except for the Overlay of the light. My intention was to make it more “plastic” (Fig.10).
When I noticed that I had almost nished my work, I realised that it could be better. Therefore
I added an additional structure in the middle to get some extra depth in the composition. Finally, I made the spots that interested me the most stand out, by using a higher intensity of light (Fig.11).
The best way to apply this technique with looseness, as well as accuracy, is to draw untiringly (Fig.12).
I hope that you like this piece and have found something useful from the tutorial walkthrough!
Ignacio Bazán Lazcano For more from this artist visit: www.neisbeis.deviantart.com Or contact:
[email protected]
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