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Ongoing attempt at Digital Painting


webwize

webwize

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Hi All

I thought I would start a thread that follows my attempt to draw an image, put it into Photoshop and color it. My hope is that along the way I can get some hints, tips, pointers to useful tutorials and constructive criticism... Then at the end of it all a picture I am proud of :) (Perhaps even give some help/ideas to others who are interested in similar things)

From the start I would like to say I am no artist so this is pretty out of my comfort zone, the idea came from one of the challenges on this forum (#20 I think). I'm following a tutorial of sorts from a book called "The Monster Book of Manga - Fairies and Magical Creatures)" so the character is not my own but along the way I hope to develop it into something a little more personal to me.

I don't know how long this will take as I don't get much spare time but each time I make some significant changes to the picture I will post the results in this thread.

Image #1 is the untouched scan of the drawing I have done, originally I wanted to do the whole thing in Photoshop including the sketch but I just didn't have the skills :(

It's fairly obvious when you see this that I haven't managed to get started on the hands or feet yet, I'm hoping to sort those out a little later (with a little help from youtube). To help with the digital inking process I have already "pre-inked" the image and got rid of most of my pencil lines.

Here goes - feel free to comment as you wish

FirstScan1211.jpg

webwize
 
OK it's nearly 2am and time for bed but before I go here's image #2. The original scan has been tidied using a levels adjustment layer and a combination of overlay and multiply layers. I've also set up the canvass better so now I have something to work on...

TidyLines.jpg
 
I'm impressed. For someone who says he's (she's?) not an artist, you're doing a pretty good imitation!

You're losing a few details in some of the delicate lines, but you might be able to get that back with duplicating the layer, maybe changing blend mode.

I like your avatar as it is now. :mrgreen:
 
lines at the bottom are too thick Chad. What method are you using?

Extract Lineart in 8 Simple Steps | this is probably very similar to what you are doing already if not the same. Except he use channels to make selection then fill it. Not sure that would be any different than deleting or masking though.

You can make the lines darker by using linear burn instead of multiply

There was/is a similar thread in which the guy was asking about stroke layer effect. Your lines are probably too delcate for that though...

Anyway, you're doing a great job and I'd love to see more.
 
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Yeah, I only noticed her bum line were fat when I posted the image. I then noticed that the lines on his/hers were fine in that region, and would not be difficult at all to merge the two.

I don't ever use one certain method, I use what ever I feel will get the results I want.
 
Thanks for all the reply's so far, I haven't had a chance to turn on the PC until now this weekend (Christmas is coming). I'm going to have a look at the tutorials above now and then go back to the picture, I should hopefully have something to post a little later :) Special mention for Carson - the coloring is great.
 
Right - I think I have the lines down now - what do you think? Followed some of the tutorial (thanks Clare) and then did a little close up work with the paintbrush to tidy it up. I realise that I could spend hours on this but I'm happy with these for now.

TidyLinesV3.jpg
 
Picked a color basic color scheme now and filled in all the flats, next up shading and highlights, quite happy so far...

Flats.jpg
 
Looks good... Try experimenting with mask layer gradient tool shading?

Create the mask layer on areas you want to shade. Make the selection active, and use the gradient tool with specific light to dark color tones to add shades in gradients..... If you dont like the result, repeat the process.
 
Thanks Dv8 I will have a go later and see what results I get, would you suggest this is done on an overlay layer?

Cheers
 
Yeah do new layers with differing levels of shade and even texture.
A new layer for every new variation.
 
Finished off the basic shading, I will try some of the masking effects another time but for now I have to admit I am happy with the results. I think I would also like to try some more realistic shading but again that will have to wait a bit.

Thanks for all your help so far I have found this a really satisfying and helpful experience. Of course more suggestions etc are always welcome.

ShadingV2.jpg
 
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