Painting in photoshop tutorial #2

Alright for those that care, another tutorial on photoshop. This time digital painting and due to a suprisingly large number of e-mails asking for something "easier" than the last tutorial, i have drawn a very simplistic and primal picture here. Its simply an A3 sketch done on cartridge paper with a technical pencil and pen in roughly 2 minutes. If your like me and are intending to cheapen your work by using photoshop then your obviosuly might as well photoshop the hell out of it. Therefore it dosent matter how sketchy or terrible your drawing is. If you cannot be bothered drawing your own picture your more than welcome to to use this file below.

Considerations

*First off i will use one type of brush when i draw in this manner.
"Airbrush soft - round" - size dosent not matter as im sure youll change it sporatically.

*On a side not, the pictures can be clicked on if you want to see the steps in greater detail, this is kind of required during the "metal" phase as i am too lazy to save smaller copies of my work.

*SAVE OFTEN, and it also pays to name your layers... you will have lots.

* Also all colours used are made available on the corresponding Step.

Step . 1 and Step . 2

Step . 1 - Either draw a picture and scan it in or just use my one right here.

If you are going to draw one. include some metal things, like buttons and something fur - like. As this tutorial explores the very basics of skin, hair, metal and fur.

Step . 2 - Create a new layer over your sketch, personally i would recommend setting it to "multiply" it just makes things easier and gives your drawing that sketchy look. Now when im colouring i tend to start with the eyes and work my way outwards, no matter what. Use a medium brown and outline the eyes with your brush. Its nice to start with "wooden" typed colours for 2 reasons, they absorb + melt togethor well and also able to be configured later on much easiler than the rest of the colour wheel.

Step . 3 , Step . 4 and Step . 5

Step . 3 - Create new layer, might as well keep it normal as this is just setting a backdrop for what will become your skin colour. Fill in the rest of the skin with a lavander colour.

Step . 4 - Create a new layer again and set it to "multiply" start with a very mellow peach colour and start working your way around the eyes. Take your time and use the lightest of the colours provided first and slolwy move onto the darker shades. I tend to zoom in here abit and use a brush size of about .15.

Step . 5 - Create a new layer, however this time set the layer to "normal". Reduce the ocapity of the brush to something low, i use 17% but this is debateable, find something that feels comfortable for whatever strokes you make. Now using a soft peach colour slowly start to branch out and paint more outwards around the eye. Take your time, and use colours from the previous step to establish a sense of depth in the tonal configuration.

Step . 6 , Step . 7 and Step . 8

Step . 6 - Create another layer, keep this layer as "normal" otherwise your tonal colours are going to become very dark, very quickly. Using a reduced opcaity on your brush

(Opacity - 17% or possibly even lower) continue to colour in the area around the eyes. Try to blend the colours togethor and spend time making it look smoother.

This step spend time paying attention to...

*The inside of the eye- using a light red/brown colour.
*The eyebrow/s , simply use a bark colour, that isnt too harsh or dense.

*The "eyeliner" use a medium brown here to just make the eye more smooth, more rounded.

*The iris of the eye. If you want to give the eyes an intense look use lighter colours. I have used a light grey here.

If your drawing coloured eyes, make sure you outline the eyeball with a thin layer of black to add imperative to the eyes.

Step . 7 - Recreate the other eye using previous steps.

Step . 8 - Create a new layer, make this layer "normal" and using the peachy colours provided create a thin layer of peach (Low Opcaity) over the skin. Then begin working on just defining the outline of the nose and chin with heavier peach colours.

Step . 9 , Step . 10 and Step . 11

Step . 9 - Create a new layer, make this layer "normal" set a low opacity brush

(Opacity - 17% is always a good start and make it higher the more confident you become)

and use the colours provided to colour in the face as you did previosuly around the eyes. Its always good to start off light and work your way to dark i find, but whatever you feel comfortable with.

Step . 10 - Continue your work on the ear. If your like myself and were stupid enough to not colour in the ear/s as you were colouring around the eyes then youll have to start from scratch, i have however supplied all the colours required.

Step . 11 - Now it is time to colour in the lips. Traditionally you would go a lighter shade of red, pink, purple or maroon. Iv decided to go for something more different and keep an earthy brown colour. Keep the top lip darker from the bottom. Dont just make the shade different , use a different colour. It also pays off to gently brush a few strokes of low opacity over the bottom lip, once again personal preference.

Step . 12 , Step . 13 and Step . 14

Step . 12 - Spend time here smoothing over the skin and just tidying it up. When your happy with how it looks its time to give the image a soft glow. Merge all layers togethor

(EXCEPT THE FIRST LAYER WITH THE SKETCH ON IT - you only want the sketch there as lines of refrence, NOT in the final image.)

Duplicate your background and on the layer go..

*Filter - Blur - Gaussian Blur - 5 /10 Pixels

Afterwards adjust your opacity on the same layer until you get it the way that really speaks to you. I tend to keep mine at 7.5 Pixels and 45% layer opacity.

Step . 13 - Create a new layer here, make it "multiply". Now this only really seems applicable to my picture and if you have your own here your going to have to improvise. Time to colour in the clothing. I have picked simply automatic black and simply coloured in the jacket.

Step . 14 - I tend to have trouble here as on my original drawing i have put lots of little buttons, zips and what not on. So to make things easier on me here i have super imposed the original sketch over my image again to show where they all are. The easy way of doing this is to just open up the original sketch on photoshop, then...

*make sure the layer isnt locked (if it is just double click it in the tab menu and click ok)select - colour range - and click on the white background, this should highlight everything that isnt a line, and remove it all with the eraser or simply hit "delete". Then its a simple matter of dragging the line work over to your current image in progress.

Create a new layer, make it "normal".Now you have all your buttons and metal bits back and visiable use a medium shade of blue to give the impression of a shadow on everything metal. In this case, the buckles of the jacket, buttons and ear rings.

Step . 15 (missing picture, sorry), Step . 16, Step . 17 and Step . 18

Step . 15 - Ugh alright so i apoligise i didnt save all the images i ment to and have skipped a step, thats alright its pretty easy to explain. If you look back at the previous step picture, all you need to do here is fill in the blank white spots on everything metallic with a darker shade of blue on the same layer as Step . 14.

Step . 16 - On the same layer where all the metal objects have been coloured get your burn tool, and burn the sides of everything metallic. Then when your happy switch to your dodge tool and highlight the lighter parts of the metals and start to make them shine.

Step . 17 - This is more of an optional step and unless you look closely it wont make a dramatic difference. If your keen to play around with metallic colours then go..

Image - Adjustments - Colour balance

And from here then just have a play around. I decided to use an increase of red and a decrease in blue to get a purple like sheen going on. If you have a larger quality of metal in your picture this step becomes very important, however as my picture contains lots of little bits, none are really noteworthy and this step is more just for the hell of it.

Step . 18 - Create a new layer, make it "multiply" to begin colouring in your hair!

Now i think its imperative to use the "lasso tool" when creating the "shape" of hair. I have kept a soft outline with creating this picture , which is easily achieved by setting your

"lasso tool" to 1px and anti - aliased. Use a basic colour first when starting the hair, the bark brown i have given is an excellent way to start off. Use the lasso tool to create a basic outline of the hair you want to create or as in my case just to make sure you colour within the lines.

Step . 19 and Step . 20

Step . 19 - I began to get annoyed with having my super imposed sketch and thought it was bringing down the look of the overall image so just started off by deleting the layer with my oringinal step 1 linework. The next step here is to make a new layer , make it "normal". Now using your lasso tool start making various patches of hair with alternative shades of brown.

Step . 20 - Use the magic wand to select an a shade of hair and its now time to draw details for the strands of hair. To get really thin strands of hair switch your brush to 1px and start to make random strokes. Since my hair kind of comes straight down the majority of my marks were downward strokes. Used 5 seperate colours for the hair strands here, its good to use between 5 - 8 colour variations as it just gives volume to the hair.

Step . 21 ( a / b / c )

Step . 21 - Here i got very slack as it hit midnight as just wanted to jump into bed and watch a dvd. So i apoligise that i kind of half gave up on the picture, as you can see i just bothered with a single patch of hair, normally you would bother with the rest of the head and hair. When you reach this step its here you can start to have alot of fun with the hair. Be sure to create layers just in case.With hair use dark shadows on the top and bottom as it gets to the centre of the strands it fades, its good to keep the roots dark. In this step make sure your layers are set to "multiply".

The pictures above DO NOT SHOWCASE my next suggestions,

theyre just there to look pretty.

a) To make your strands look more detailed, you can use "sharpen" certin areas to make them stand out more.

b) For higher grade area shadow and lighting using the "gradient tool" works wonders, i find the colour to transparent ratio works well. Spend time experimenting with light direction and different gradient colours. It is important to note that you can keep making lots of areas with the lasso tool.

c) Alternativly add lighting areas with the "Dodge tool", remember the goals are to get from lightest to darkest or vice versa.

Step . 22, Step . 23 and Step . 24

Step . 22 - When your all finished and happy with how the hair looks its time to add the soft glow finish. Repeat Step . 12 here - however the catch is only to merge the layers that contain work on the hair. This can be easily achieved by lock/merging the layers containing work on the hair.

Step . 23 - Fur is very similar to hair, make sure you continue to use your "Airbrush soft - round" brush. Make a new layer, make the layer "normal". Get the lasso tool again and create the outline of the fur, use a tan colour for the default colour.

Step . 24 - Once your done, create a new layer , make it "multiply" and using a medium brown lightly colour the centre of the fur, its kind of important to not colour in too much. You will want some white outlines when your done for the next few steps.

Step . 25, Step . 26 and Step . 27

Step . 25 - Create a new layer again, make this layer "normal". Use the same brown in the previous step. This time however lightly make some blurry around the section we have just created. Once again make sure you dont colour in too much.

Step . 26 - Make a new layer , once again and this time put it to "normal". Use the light tan colour again and begin to add small light strokes. Make sure you orchestrate your strokes outwards as this should situate a fur look, and furthermore i would do this quickly, a rougher approach makes it look more natural and fur-like. Keep repeating this step until your as happy as a meerkat.

Step . 27 - Like the hair, here is where your able to have fun with this step. So ill offer up a few suggestions.

*It is important to make sure you stroke outwards.

*Make some sections the darkest with the burn tool.

*Sharpen up some areas.

*Blur some other areas as well.

And on a final note its kind of fun to create a new layer, set it to "colour" and trace a few strands of fur in a soft pastal colour, for example i threw in a bit of baby blue.

Total time taken - 5 hours.
Its also not finished yet, i have only half completed the hair and it needs much MUCH more touching up work. but this tutorial is simply to show the basic principals behind photoshop painting.

Love wanted;

EDIT ;Experiment starts soon - Taking place in Wellington city

Im going to let it run for a few days and then will post up all the results and info as soon as i can choreograph it all. For those who misplaced the contact info or were misguided by a loveable gang of young british pick-pockets send it through to..

republicofcolour@hotmail.co.nz

According to Dino Dini

According to video game developer Dino Dini in a talk given at the 2005 game design and technology workshop held in Liverpool JM university, design underpins every form of creation from objects such as chairs to the way we plan and execute our lives. For this reason it is useful to seek out some common structure that can be applied to any kind of design, whether this be for video games, consumer products or one's own personal life.

For such an important concept, the question "what is design?" appears to yield answers with limited usefulness. Therefore the design process can be defined as "the management of constraints"; I think there are 2 kinds of constraints, negotiable and the non-negotiable. The first step in the design process is the identification, classification and selection of constraints. The process of design then proceeds from here by manipulating design variables so as to satisfy the non-negotiable constraints and optimising those which are negotiable.

Ink and water drawing

Drawing done with techincal pencil, watercolour, indian ink and lots and lots... and lots of water.

The cartridge paper used was vellum and therefore didnt have enough acid, hence the splotches and scrumpled up look. rather depressing.

Questions concerning design

I think there are 3 main concerns when it comes to evolving a design theory in conceptual stages. It comes down to questioning the fundamental assumptions behind designing something innovative, therefore allowing the opportunity to creativly explore not only evolving theories but culture, new concepts and historical ideas that all contribute to the field of contemporary design.
This should be applied to design objects and environments, both real and virtual, within a critical and theoretical framework.

1)Paradigms and their cultural contexts;
*How do paradigms relate to the place of design in the articulation of culture?
*In what ways can design express itself as a negotiation between people and their surrondings?
*How can we creatively respond to the ethical implications and possibilities of design in relation to its situation within particular environments.

2)Structure of communicative space;
*What is the "eventfulness" of design?
*To what degree is the meaning of a design dependent upon the context that it is situated within?
*To what degree is the meaning of a design dependant on the occasion it comes into being?
*How can we rigorously explore the poetic and the technological in design as a unity?

3)Representation and design processes;
*What are some of the present conflicts/tensions between symbolic and instrumental representation, and how do we deal with these in our creative processes?
*How can we best unfold and cultivate the relationship between our representations and our more poetic meanings?
*What are the varying possibilities, conditions, and limits of mathematical, virtual and simulated representations?
*What is the role of the body, scale and ergonomics in our design processes and in the representation of our design ideas?
*How can we best apply our creative problem-solving skills with equal rigour to abstract and concrete processes?

Fairy

Completed on A3 cartridge paper with technical pencil, technical pen, sharpie black markers and watercolours.

c.LIP

Creating a person with a piece of black card, a single paper clip and a title as a gesture.

Photosynthesis

Visual diary sub-site

Have created a sub-site that i will put up copies of my visual diaries.
Will update this as often as possible , link below.

http://republicofcolour-visualdiary.blogspot.com/

Happy birthday mickey mouse

EDIT;picture has been taken down cause it dosent say what i want it to, back up soon.
November 18th, 1928.. im preparing a few months in advance so i dont forget.

Struggling with a problem

dig,

and dig,

and dig,

and dig,

and all that results is a hole...

People are a problem

gunheadbrains

Hate for photography

Yes the title says that, and i realise that i use photos to show my ideas. I feel like i lose a part of my soul with each photo i chuck up. A photo is the death of a moment, its that moment as it was then. By taking a photo you are simply showing a clip of the atmosphere, which is no longer around. Its reminscient of a joke that fails to be funny when repeated. In my defence i am trying to use photography as an applied solution rather than novelty, like everyone with a digital camera.


I also think you have too much control over the manipulation of a photo, wait .. what am i saying. Lets turn this post into how to become a professional photographer. Firstly buy a digital camera, you are now halfway to becoming a professional, alongside everyone who owns a camera or cellphone. Make sure you have light in your photo, othwerise photoshop helps. I will also put up a few photos, dont feel discouraged i am very artsy and professional because i have a digital camera.






Mindless bitching aside, Current display processed images create too many exaggerated opportunities to create less clinical reproductions of reality, further enabling the introduction of midly artistic elements such as vintage or contrast to be available to more of the public. The availability of this technology has resulted in vivid abuse and over-use resulting in a tsunami of soulless sub - par images in such a commercial manner. The internet seems to be flooded with photo technology porn.

Perception of a story

Anorexia nervousa

Alright so "Anorexia nervousa" is a morbid phobia of getting overweight, the intresting thing here is that this eating disorder occurs in high achievers and perfectionists, it also gives them a sense of control that they might lack in other areas of their lives.

Jalepeno cocktail

Trying to develop an emotional attachment with tequila and something fire-y.
Will edit when im happy enough with how i think it should be constructed.
So far heres what i have, it needs to be doctored.

Ingredients;
Jalapenos
Fresh lime
Sugar syrup ( 50 bricks )
Tequila, iv been using patron but thats kind of expensive. Just dont go cheap
Vanilla liquor

Build like so;
-De/seed some jalapenos, i would preferable start with 2 more medium inflamation.
-Add half a lime cut into 4 "cubes"
-30 mls of sugar syrup
-Begin to muddle here
-30 mls tequila
-15 mls of vanilla liquor
-serve in a cevina with crushed ice.

To grow famous you need

My childhood dreams were ruined the day i heard that if you can draw a perfect circle then you're a good artist.

Joker with crayons

Done with some old box of crayons i found on white A4 cartridge paper.

Love for maths

A basic understanding of algebra is required.

*9x - 7i > 3 (3x - 7u)

*9x - 7i > 9x - 21u

*(-9x___-9x)

*-7i > -21u

*(-7 __-7)

* i < 3 u

Problem of explication

Everyone consciously or not appreciates the problem of explaining things, especially where creative work and any form of art is concerned, auctually or where anything that involves a certin mystery or question.

Perhaps it would be more beneficial explaining to an animal or a child. Things always seem more simplistic and embedded in what can only be called magic. It conveys a sense of the secrecy of the world and of existance that appeals to the imagination.

Memorial qualifications

This chain of thoughts is more of a continuation of a previous post dealing with questioning the fundamental assumptions with funerals. Link is just below for those who missed it or care.

http://republicofcolour.blogspot.com/2010/05/thoughts-on-death.html

Was looking over Vietnam veteran's memorials and inadvertently produced a new orthodoxy, which i feel could potentially raise a fair amount of debate or even consideration. When a new language of commemoration is produced with regards to a war memorial ( or for that fact any memorial in general ), the challenge realisticly lies in invisioning a language that can speak through abstraction without depoliticizing the situation or the site. I feel that the communicative power that a tribute must have is the issue, and more importantly not just for those who have established an emotional attachment by experiencing a trauma or loss first - hand. It needs to be orchestrated for generations to come, for whom the event will be remote.

Consider this, when the veterans of Vietnam are no longer around or the families of its victims, will the memorial maintain its power? What can a memorial do for the other generations.

Heartbreak

Bipolar

: ( :

Want to travel the world

The centre within structure

It is beyond comphrension to concieve of an unorganized structure, subconsciously or not we always orientate ourselves around a point of refrence, or a centre. The responsibility of a centre is to organize and balance a structure, by orienting the coherence of the systems and elements within its total form. The suggestion of a structure devoid of any centre is simply unthinkable. It physically, metaphorically or even emotionally cannot work.

By following this system of thinking however we end up with a catch - 22. By agreeing with this statement we situate that the centre is at the centre of the totality (which is a fact), however since the centre does not belong to the structure, as it is not part of the structure, the totality therefore has its centre somewhere else.

Its an intresting thought that the centre is not the centre.

Words from Adolf Loos