Digital Painting Progress Questions (With pictures)

[Tyrannax]

Hey guys, I'm not entirely sure if this belongs here rather than the painting section, so feel free to move this thread.

Anyway, I've started working on somewhat of a trial run on digital painting using an old drawing of mine. I've decided to begin with a grayscale layout in order to better shape my shadows/highlights before coloring and adding texture to the image. I've taken two progess shots. The first shows my image with the lineart visible. The second hides this lineart. I've only added shadow up to this point.





My questions are:

Should I try to do away with the lineart altogether in the end, or is keeping it somewhat visible (maybe lower the opacity) a better idea?

If I should shoot for ridding of the lineart, how would I go about creating a believable image without the use of lines? I assume an overabundance of highlighting and shadows accomplishes this.

At this point, should I hide the lineart and work without it or keep it visible for now as I continue to add lighting?

What do you guys think? Any tips/advice would be great.

Thanks!

 

[IamSam]

For me, once I have the painting blocked in, I turn off or hide the line art layer. You can't have a realistic or believable image with the lines. Some edges are meant to be soft while others are much more defined. Your right in your assessment that it's about highlights and shading.

Are you familiar with hand held masks when using a real airbrush? You can do the same thing with Photoshop by creating a temporary selection and varying the degree of feathering. I save the selections by filling with a color, turn them off, then group them or sometimes I save them as paths. Or you can just make selections as you go along.

Here is a selection (hand held mask) with a hard edge or not feathered.



Same selection reversed.



Here are the edges produced by the selection..



Same selection, but here are the results after I feathered the selection..



Notice the softer edge.
Hope this makes sense.

 

[Tyrannax]

Thanks for taking the time to help.

So, you're saying to utilize selections as a means of establishing clean lines? I made an overall body selection by coloring in the subject and then simply using the quick selection tool. It accurately surrounded the fill color and I saved the selection. I wonder if doing this to individual limbs would help to better isolate them from the body and allow for easier shadowing/highlighting. For example, making the leg its own selection.

Needless to say, it's going to be TOUGH to create a realistic animal using only tones!

 

[IamSam]

Yes.

You can use an overall body selection if you want. But remember, I also stated that some areas require harder edges than others, so it's easier to make specialized selections you can feather.

Needless to say, it's going to be TOUGH to create a realistic animal using only tones! Not really, this is the way its done in painting.

 

[Tyrannax]

Okay, here's an update. I've been working on the left leg a bit. I'm stuck though. As I continue to learn how light affects different surfaces, I'm unsure as to whether the right (back) side of the thigh should have an outlining highlight as the front of the thigh does. What do you think? As you can see here, I've only given the front of the thigh a highlight. The back is darkened. Thanks again for any help. This is my absolute first painting in photoshop. It's a culture shock needless to say. Haha. (Edit: I should also mention that this highlight ordeal pertains to the entire leg, as you can see, not just the thigh.)

 

[dv8_fx]

Looking good.... I don't do freehand painting but.... I think the hilight on the top pelvic area should extend a bit lower merging with the hilights defining the leg thigh muscle.

 

[dv8_fx]

Here's something I did during the old days of the forum for one of its challenge threads.



My point to showing you this is it's not only the way light casts over objects but the shadows created by it. When I was applying the brush/airbrush strokes on this, I wanted to emphasize the curvatures of muscle and skin. To me, hilights brighten an area but doesn't wash out texture or color. It's shadows that can make a difference.

Just an added suggestion to what you're doing.... you can add real scale texture to Rex via layer with a blend mode applied.... just me thinking out loud as your project is cool and would look impressive once done.

 

[IamSam]

Looking great so far. I agree with dv8 on the highlight from the top reaching further down and blending. Where or what are you using as a reference for the Rex musculature? I feel the upper thigh looks a bit thin.............you know.........with all my experience observing T-Rex in their natural habitat!

 

[Tyrannax]

Thanks for the helpful hints and compliments guys. That dragon looks great, and I really like your end values. The dragon looks realistic needless to say. I like the "Noise" look in the background too. I assume that was purposeful?

I drew this several years ago (I'm 20), so at the time I must have been 15 or so. I'll certainly need to update my Tyrannosaurus in the near future, but honestly, this is a trial project for me. Haha.

As far as blending layers and whatnot...Im not entirely sure how to go about that. It'd be interesting to add scales!

 

[IamSam]

Not sure what you mean by blending layers. dv8 and I are referring to blending the highlight from the top down into the thigh. I don't know about scales, but at least some texture.

 

[Tyrannax]

I'll definitely be adding some texture by the end of this project.

Here's a bit of an update. Finished up the legs and tail, and now I'm on to the torso and head.

 

[dv8_fx]

Looking good... Hilights on thigh look better. You should definitely add the scales to bring it to life.

What about the scalp and rear of neck? Maybe it's how I'm viewing it on my monitor but I find it a bit too bright compared to the rest.



Can't say my dragon looks realistic. Without the line drawing, it would be just a blob of color and dark shades..... lol. Your's is without the lines.

I added the background in just for effect and the "scales" you see is just a pattern overlay on a layer- nothing fancy.

 

[IamSam]

Yeah, this is looking very good. I consider this to be an under painting that is far from being done so I will hold off all critiques.

 

[dv8_fx]

I agree... as an under painting it looks good.

Thinking about it... I know you've done a great deal so far. But I was thinking on the lines of doing the paint work first... complete the rex at least 80% with colors and/or scales intended before adding the hilights.

The same would apply with real manual airbrushing... the subject done first before hilights added. I think it would be easier to add light effecta as you can see how it will play with the colors and contours.

Seeing you have it on separate layers, try finish a portion say... the thigh. Then see how the hilites look on it. Chances are you may have to adjust or worse repeat the brush work.

.... just saying.

 

[Tyrannax]

dv8_fx: I actually haven't gotten to the neck and head area, so they may appear too bright in those pics. Soon they'll get the attention they deserve.

Creation of that dragon must have taken quite a bit of experience. A bit off subject, but how long have you been using photoshop?

IamSam: Haha, I appreciate that in a way. At the same time, I wouldn't mind as I'm certainly open to wrapping my head further around this software.

Currently my approach is pretty cut and dry. Gray-scale for the values, then I'll color it and add scales.

I really like this idea of painting before highlights: I feel the outcome of my Tyrannosaurus may turn out to be flatter than I'll like. I read that constructing values before applying color was the "easier" way to paint, so I'm giving it a shot. I have an idea for scales as well. I'm going to apply some sort of scale-like texture once I'm finished. As to how I will go about this overlay of texture, I have no clue yet. I'll post another update when I've made decent progress. Thanks again guys for the tips. They're giving me some great ideas.

 

[dv8_fx]

.
how long have you been using photoshop?

Since the day a former employer received version1 bundled with an HP Printer..... lol. I think he was one of the first outfits here who saw it's possibilities and took advantage of this new design application. We used it to retouch/crop or do simple manipulations for print layout. I'm more of a vector application user which I use 80% in my day to day activities. The only time I fully used PS was when I was with an architectural company doing project perspective renders. I'm not that great with PS compared to others here who are much, much better. But I'm proud that I've gone this far in my career armed with PS and other design applications.

In earlier days before PS I did manual airbrushing so in a way I applied that know how to do the dragon in the same way I'd PS airbrush archi perspectives. Except for the dragon, I've never actually painted something like what your doing here. Maybe I'll try that when time permits..... during retirement , maybe? lol