This is PART 2 of a 2-part Digital Painting Tutorial Series.
The series features a time-lapse recording of the entire painting process which took a total of about 6.5 hours in real-time.
Concepts Covered In Part 2:
- Combine the Gradient Tool & Lasso Tool in Photoshop for time-saving digital painting techniques.
- Feathering/ Sharpening effects with the Lasso Tool.
- Making the most of your accidents & spontaneity in while painting.
- How to focus and paint with confidence.
- Practicing marks before you make them.
Check Out Part 1:
Perfecting Your Drawing With The Photoshop Warp Tool and Merging Different Styles!
How Boundaries Boost Creativity:
At the end of this part, I talk about Jack White and how he finds inspiration within self-imposed boundaries and constraints. I highly recommend visiting my Tumblr to check out the Jack White video.
I post fun & inspirational stuff there a couple times a week so subscribe there too if you like what you see!
If You Like This Tutorial Series:
Check out my other Digital Painting Tutorials for Concept Artists & Illustrators!
Comment & Share:
What is your favorite way to paint in Photoshop (or your software program of choice).
If you have any questions about Digital Painting in Photoshop, post them in the comments below and I’ll try my best to provide answer!
{ 36 comments… read them below or add one }
Hey, Chris!
I can use this technique in a more realist painting? Or this works better in a cartoon painting? I mean the lasso and gradient tool.
Thanks again! Awesome tips!
I use it in more realistic scenarios all the time. Try it out and let me know what you discover!
Okay, Chris!
Oh man…. I use gradients so much in Illustrator for my vector work, I never even thought about applying the laso tool and utilizing gradients in the selection for Photoshop!
I bet you just improved my digital painting by like 30%! (And probably cuts down on my time too… not that speeding up is the goal here!)
Thank you!!!
; )
So glad it helped, Sarah.
It’s all about slowing down the painting and speeding up everything else!
(30% or more, I SHOULD say!)
I’ll have to wait til lunch to watch this video, but I wanted to jump in right away and answer your question!
I sort of grew up with Photoshop, but surprisingly learned very little when it comes to painting with it! HA! I developed a couple of watercolory brushes that I was getting pretty good with and really enjoying the results of them(I put the best example in the website box of the comment form if you’re interested).
Of course, that was about 6 years ago and I’ve done less than 5 pieces in color since then, so I’m terribly out of practice. That’s why I’m watching and reading everything I can when it comes to digital painting. Gonna check out those Loomis books you linked on Twitter the other day as well. Thanks for all these tips & resources!
So awesome!
I love your cartoons, AJ.
I love them in B&W too. But your painting technique looks nice and appropriate for the style.
My advice to you would be to look for some stylized ways to apply some minimal texture when you’re wanting to add color.
Using a combination of the Lasso Tool and my stylized texture brushes (from my free Digital Painting Kit).
Does that make sense?
Oh man! Thank you! I mainly started doing the B&W because of how long it takes me to color something.
I missed something key in my art school coloring curriculum, i.e., little to none
So, honestly, no. I messed around with your brushes when I first subscribed, but I haven’t a real idea of how to implement many of them when coloring. I’ve seen other folks using the lasso & gradient technique in fancy comic books, but their results have far less texture than yours here(read: smooth & metallicly shiny for everything).
I just finished watching the video above and it went by so fast I couldn’t be sure of what you’re doing in there. I guess I’m saying(for me) I need more specific examples and instructions. Are you lassoing an area and using a texture brush to paint inside that area? Or are you using a gradient? A gradient that has texture applied as well? What is the reasoning behind some of those choices?
Unless all it takes is a ton of mistakes and experimentation, then it’s just a matter of time
Ah, man, Chris. Watching this video made me wish I had more time and money so I could be one of the first in your classes. Fortunately, my time is taken up in the ventures you’ve already encouraged me to pursue, so we can consider me well-schooled. I’ve never used the lasso tool the way you demonstrated, so when time permits, I can’t wait to play around.
Well, Scott, God willing, this will be the first of MANY classes to come.
Thanks for YOUR encouragement.
“What is your favorite way to paint in Photoshop ”
I prefer almost exclusively basic round brushes. Only time I use gradients is to place my initial light sources, I find it’s the only way to get the effect of light falling rather than spotlighting, although lighting effects is also okay.
Can’t beat the classic round brush! Thanks for sharing, Steve!
Hey Chris,
After watching these videos, it’s hard not to notice the radial menu popping up all the time. I would imagine you use a Cintiq – do you have your radial menu setup posted anywhere? If not, care to share it? I’m always interested in how others use it.
I’ve been getting a lot of questions about that, Oz.
I haven’t posted it yet but it’s definitely on my TO DO list.
Soon.
Huh, I was wondering what that was… I didn’t even know I had that feature on my wacom, and I thought I’d read my manual pretty thoroughly! I would also be interested in ways to use it, it looks useful!
Chris!
You are amazing.
Thank you for the tips in this tutorial and the rest of your site.
I noticed you used a overlay brush texture to give this image a more ‘interesting surface’. How exactly do you apply it? I usually slap on one of my go to paper textures, but I love the look you created.
Thanks!
Rani
Thanks, Rani.
I just painted the texture in a couple of seconds using one of the texture brushes that are available as part of my Free Digital Painting Kit right here:
http://ChrisOatley.com/newsletter/
Then, you have the rest correct. I just switched that layer to overlay and adjusted the layer opacity to my liking.
Let me know if that makes sense!
Chris, this was awesome!!!!!!!!!!!
My favorite method of painting is with layers of flats and then multiple layers of brushing with a feathered brush and a knocked down opacity. It allows me to create really smooth transitions of value and color and I have learned to use it to create some shape too. I am still very new to this so I it a functional start that I am happy with.
A question: in your laters, do you essentially have a layer for highlights, then one for shadows that both float above the mostly flat characters or is everything essentially kind of scattered more organically for your approach (e.g. you have layers just to test stuff and merge them later)?
Thank you so much!!!
Hey, Dutz.
In response to your question – it depends on the painting and my intent.
In this painting, I used very few layers and basically just painted it.
I didn’t really cut anything out of the video so what you see is pretty much it. The only thing I cut down was the long stretches of blocking in color – which is very repetitive.
Ok, great! I get it, just going straight at the painting sounds like it would feel great. very freeing approach compared to how I normally go for it.
Thank you!
It was for me. I still use Layers and Layer Masks for client work to make the Art Direction phase(s) easier and faster. …but when I’m working for myself I work much more straight ahead.
Another great post Chris!
I have been waiting for the second part to this tutorial and it is fantastic!
Derrick mentioned about layers and I am curious as well – do you have a tutorial that goes into detail on how you use layers? I tend to paint on a layer and merge once satisfied – I haven’t messed with using the layer in Overlay or adjusting Opacity.
Also, loved the Bob Ross “Happy Accidents” comment – love that guy and his amazing talent and attitude!
Thanks for sharing your insight!
Thanks, Mark.
Bob Ross is the man!
I haven’t made many just straight Photoshop tutorials because there are already so many out there but the interest in an oats-version of “Digital Painting 101″ seems to really be increasing so I’ll probably address that at the end of 2013 or early 2014, depending on whether I can fit that in along with the return of my comic.
That said, just play around with the different adjustment layer settings in Photoshop. It only takes a few minutes to go through them and see what they do.
Only a few of them are really any good, IMO.
Multiply, Overlay, sometimes Color Dodge (but that gets over-used a lot in the Concept Art realms online). Color and Hue (behave similarly) for tints…
That’s about it.
I have a few little Layers Panel tricks that I could demonstrate… I’ll just have to start a list of things I’d show and then address them on video. Be sure to let me know if you have any more specific questions…
Thanks so much!
What a smart technique! I’ll surely try it next time I paint. Thank you for sharing!
You’re welcome, Roz,
Let us know if you have any success with the technique!
That makes sense Chris, Thanks!
I got the email for the Kit, I just have to play with it now
THANK YOU!
Great! Feel free to send me any art you do using the brushes!
That’s a totally interesting way to paint! I never thought to use the gradients on small sections like that. I often use them as a base for large flat surfaces, like skies, or large walls, though I always end up painting over the whole thing…
I actually prefer to paint in Photoshop and in Painter almost exactly like I would on a real canvas. Unless I’m doing a cartoon style, or something that doesn’t call for a painterly look. I even tend to think of the gradient in the same way I would a wash of thinned out oil color. I’m really more of a traditional painter at heart, but I can’t afford the time or the cost of doing my illustrations in all oils! The one thing I have to fight with is the undo button, as it’s soooo easy to use, but it then leaves the painting without those “happy accidents” you get in a traditional painting and it ends up looking super stiff – sometimes I go back in an add some “oops!” brushstrokes, but it’s never really the same…
I agree wholeheartedly, Laura.
I wish Photoshop spilled paint randomly every now and then – and that the brushes wore out…
Its so hard to allow accidents when working digitally.
Lol, well we’ll have to make do… Another thing I try to do every other mistake or so, is instead of using the undo button, I use my brushes to fix the mistake. It’s not exactly the same as fixing a mistake in oil paint because of course it doesn’t mix the same way and never gets mushy, but it does help keep it a little more painterly. I wish there was a way to “scrape” color off in digital programs, too, that would be a sweet feature. Looser digital painting is actually something I’m always striving for, so this video was very cool to watch. Thanks for the post!
That would be amazing. Thanks, Laura!
Just have to tell you that I’m now fan! Your philosophies, your art! Thankyou for the wealth of info you share!
Birg
Thanks, Birg. So glad you like the site!
I’ve spent most of my time doing fine art, with a little experience in photoshop, but I want to learn digital painting as well to bring my work to the next level.
Is the ‘underpainting’ that you start sketching over with the black a physical drawing that’s scanned in? Or is everything seen on the video digitally done?
I’m trying to figure out where to start in learning all of this.
Hey Chris,
I’m new to your site and your posts, so forgive me If I’m asking something you’ve previously covered, but I was hoping that you might be able to recommend some tips or techniques, something that might help with painting digitally; I never seem to be able to get nice, rendered looking colours, it was just turns muddy and sloppy, the colours don’t seem to blend and I’m constantly ruining it and restarting.. I’m not even sure what tools to be using.. There’s a lot of different methods but I’m trying to get a clean, smooth, rendered look to my drawings, which is just so difficult. I seem to be able to produce nicer work when I leave the linework in, but that makes it too graphical, so again I was hoping if you have any tips to help me improve?
Many thanks!
Inksticher