Digital Painting for Concept Artists and Illustrators

Most digital painting tutorials are all about the "digital" and not at all about the "painting."

They tell you which button to click and demonstrate cool, digital tricks but they don't help you create believable worlds and characters.

"Digital" is just a synonym for "convenience."

The power is in the painting.

Concept artists and illustrators want to create worlds and characters, tell stories with pictures, find meaning in ideas, and make emotional connections with an audience.

To be fair, this page could really benefit from a little more "step-by-step."

...so I'm working on that.

But for now, if you're looking for something deeper, more personal and challenging, then you've come to the right place...

Easier Edge Control For Digital Painters (Part 1): Rotate Brushes In Photoshop With Hotkeys

By Chris Oatley

Detail_Head_of_a_Capril_Girl — Note the beautiful, atmospheric edges in this detail of Sargent’s ‘Capri Girl.’

Interpretive edges are one of the most appealing and beautiful aspects of oil painting and watercolor techniques.

Edge control isn’t easy in traditional painting but when it comes to digital painting in Photoshop, edge control has been almost mechanically impossible.

The angle of a brush stroke is essential for sophisticated edges.

Before I designed the workflow revealed in this tutorial, I knew of only two disappointing solutions to this problem:

1.) You could spend up to $100 on a special stylus with rotation capability like the Intuos4 Art Pen (or the 6D Art Pen for older tablets and Cintiqs).

This option is really expensive considering that the rotation control isn’t always dependable.

The Brush Tip Angle Control in Photoshop — The Brush Tip Angle Control inside the Brush Settings Panel in Photoshop

2.) You could constantly click over to the Brush Settings Panel and rotate the Brush Tip Angle manually.

This option is clunky and incredibly disruptive to your workflow.

Today I’ll show you how to set up a custom rotation control for your Photoshop Brushes so you can quickly and smoothly change the brush angle as you’re painting.

Part One of this tutorial will work in just about any version of Photoshop. This alone can really smooth out your digital painting workflow and save you tons of time.

Part Two requires Photoshop Actions and a Wacom Tablet or Cintiq with the programmable ExpressKeys, Touch Ring or Radial Menu.

Read on for easier edge control!

The Technique Trap

By Chris Oatley

A perceptive (and talented) art student by the name of Chris Campbell recently asked me this impressive question:

“What do the animation industry pros say about us when we’re not around?”

He elaborated…

“Have they noticed any common mistakes or bad habits in current student portfolios?”

“What do most pros think we need to work on?”

Obviously, I can’t speak for everyone.

But…

…there is, in fact, one general criticism that comes up pretty much every time I discuss current student work with animation industry artists.

Just this past week, I had three different conversations with three different artists and they brought it up every time the topic of student work came up.

It isn’t going to be easy to hear.

But because I love you, I have to share it with you…

For many aspiring concept artists, the answer to this question could be the most important critique you’ve ever been given.

[Read more…] about The Technique Trap

The Hudson River Painters Vs. The Texture Monster :: Digital Painting Tutorial

By Chris Oatley

'Among The Sierra Nevada Mountains' by Albert Bierstadt — The painters of The Hudson River School used tons of texture but they kept it under control. [ Painting: ‘Among The Sierra Nevada Mountains’ by Albert Bierstadt ]

The Texture Monster is on the hunt.

We all must remain watchful for no painting is completely safe.

When The Texture Monster attacks, it will SMASH your subtle values, PUMMEL your perspective, SKEW your sense of scale and CONFUSE your compositions.

…unless you trap it and tame it.

So how can you protect your paintings?

You will need three ancient weapons to trap and tame The Texture Monster.

In this post I’ll teach you how to use these ancient weapons with a horror story, a history lesson, a video tutorial and a Downloadable PDF that you can share, print, load onto your mobile device etc…

So read on.

…if you dare.

Disney’s ‘Pixie Hollow Games’ Visual Development Painting: Rumble

By Chris Oatley

This was the first Visual Development painting that I did for ‘Pixie Hollow Games’ (line art by Ritsuko Notani; art direction by Fred Warter).

This is an early piece of “Rumble” concept art. Rumble is Glimmer‘s partner on the storm team and the antagonist of the story. He’s not really a villain but it was fun to be able to play with some classic “Disney Villain” qualities while designing this character.

Our original vision for Rumble was sort of a Disney Fairies version of John Travolta’s “Danny Zuko” from Grease. He evolved into a more athletic, David Beckham type by the final film, but I’m still a fan of this original version.

Read on for more insights and detail images…

Disney’s ‘Pixie Hollow Games’ Visual Development Painting: Glimmer

By Chris Oatley

In May of 2010, I was promoted to Character Visual Development Artist as I joined the crew of ‘Pixie Hollow Games.’

Suddenly, I went from designing props and tertiary background characters to designing brand new principal characters. …a rare and precious opportunity.

My favorite of all the new characters we created for ‘Pixie Hollow Games’ is Glimmer (shown above) a lightning fairy and a member of the Storm Team (painting by Chris Oatley based on LineArt by Ritsuko Notani).

I’ve posted some detail images below, so click through for a closer look…

Digital Painting for Concept Artists and Illustrators

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