Digital painting tutorials

I always get asked how I digitally paint on the computer so I decided to make a quick tutorial outlining the techniques that I use. This tutorial assumes you already have a reasonable understanding of Photoshop.

Figure 1.0

Figure 2.1 is a photograph of my hand that I will be using for this tutorial. Since this is a painting tutorial, not a drawing tutorial, I have traced around the image of my hand in Photoshop to get the outlines. I would normally sketch the image and then scan in the pencil lines. They tend to give me a much smoother and accurate line to work with. These lines are used as a guide on a layer called outline. I use this layer throughout the painting process by turning it on and off to make sure you are keeping the overall dimensions and shapes. I find keeping this layer turned on permanently can be very distracting as you don't get a clear view of the paintings edges and line work.

Figure 2.1 Figure 2.2

These next two images Figure 3.1 & Figure 3.2 are the single most important parts of this tutorial. The purpose of the lines in Figure 3.1 are to illustrate the areas of shadow and light. At the end of the day that’s all painting is about, shadow and light.

Take the time to study your subject matter. Look for the areas of strong light and deep shadows. The more you see how light hits an object and how shadows fall and form, the simpler painting becomes. The first thing to do is establish the light source. The image I have used has a light source directly above it. As you can see the fingers shadow themselves and the hand. In contrast the top edges of the fingers are catching the light. To make it more obvious I have emphasised this with colour in Figure 3.2. I used red for shadows and dark areas and yellow for light areas and highlights. The lines in Figure 3.1 are very important & I use them as a guide on the layer above called shadow light outline. These lines are the basis for the whole painting and are a crucial starting point.


Figure 3.1 Figure 3.2

The next step is to start painting your base colours. The base colours are essentially your areas of light and shadow. When picking the colours I try to start with shades that are close but contrasting. I start with two colours and base the rest of the painting around these. Obviously it depends on what you are painting but as a rule I only use two colours. You can use black and white for this part but I find using colours easier to understand where your heading. This is where the guide lines come in handy. I start of with the light colour, covering the whole image. I then apply the darker shade with a flow of only 5% to 10% I work with such light flows as I prefer to gradually darkening the areas which I feel gives me more control. The important part of this process is that you clearly establish your light source and shadows with these base undercoats. See Figure 4.1 and 4.2.


Figure 4.1 Figure 4.2

For the next step I turn of the guide layers off and start to refine the main areas of the painting such as the palm and fingers. I start by giving the fingers and the hand more shape and form. I purposely keep the fingers very simple as I will add the detail later on, making sure that the areas are more defined. One of the main benefits to digital painting, apart form undo button, are the layers. Working in layers allows you to go back, refine and adjust any stage of the painting at anytime. I like to create a new layer for each stage of the painting. This gives me the option to go back later on. Figure 5.1 is the base layer of the painting and Figure 5.2 is the next layer, which I have called 'hand detail'. This is where I have started to outline the folds and creases in the hand as well as more accurately define the shadow and light areas.


Figure 5.1 Figure 5.2

Once I am happy with the detail of the base hand layer, I then move onto the fingers. As above I have started working on a new layer called 'pinky'. I start working in the detail with a larger brush refining the shapes, the edges and the main areas of light and shadow. See Figure 6.1 and 6.2.


Figure 6.1 Figure 6.2

From here I begin to define the edges of the finger through shading. I start with the dark colour on the edge and work back to the lighter colours towards the top, to create the shape and depth of the finger. For the below images only three colours are used to shade. Click here for an example. These colours are blended together using the larger brushes with a low opacity (flow) as it gives you a large range of colours and depth. For shading example Click here This is a very simple version of the shading technique that I use throughout my paintings to create depth and shape.

Now I will start to emphasise the lighter areas as well as the highlights and shadows, I tend to use finer brushes for this part to create more defined edges, such as the darker lines around the finger nail in Figure 7.2. As you can see the finger nail starts to take shape by outlining the area with thin lines of a darker shade. This is further illustated by adding the base highlights to the nail.

Figure 7.1 Figure 7.2

The following steps to create the detail are done using smaller brushes and harder lines. As a rule I never use black but rather a darker shade of the colour your defining. For the folds and creases a broad brush is used over the crease line, then a much finer brush is used to define the dark crease line. I then use a light colour on the edge just to show more depth. See here. I continue to add the detail refining the shapes and working on the shading. This is a gradual process until the level of detail you require is achieved. See Figures 8.1 and 8.2.

The final stage is all about detail and finishing off the highlight areas, making sure they stand out in the correct areas and are not too obvious. I tend to refine the final highlights again at the very end.


Figure 8.1 Figure 8.2

The same process is used on the remaining fingers. In Figure 9.2 I have completed the ring finger, make sure that each finger starts on a new layer so that you can edit them later on if needed.


Figure 9.1 Figure 9.2

Now that we have completed the fingers in Figure 10.1, the bulk of the work is done. Using layers I can now easily add the finger shadow layer above the base hand layer, placing the shadows underneath the fingers. See here. I have kept my shadows subtle as I want them to blend in more, rather than stand out. As shown in the figure 10.2.


Figure 10.1 Figure 10.2

Now for the ring. With chromic objects the most important parts are the highlights, reflections and contrast. I start off with simple base highlight lines. As seen in Figure 11.1. I then begin adding the reflections into the ring. As I want the ring to blend in I do not use any silvers or greys. I just use light and dark variations of the colours that are already used in fingers and hand. I have also added some black areas for contrast to define the edges of the ring. With the chromic look I found that the relfection edges between the colours need to be a solid line with very minimal blending. See Figure 11.2.


Figure 11.1 Figure 11.2

The next step is to more accurately define the reflections by painting stronger edges. The ring itself needs refining with black in the grooves and around the ring edges. I then re-work the highlights making them stronger and more contrasting. See Figure 12.1 and 12.2.


Figure 12.1 Figure 12.2

Finally, the rest is just more detail and more refinement using very thin sharp lines. See Figure 13.1 and 13.2


Figure 13.1 Figure 13.2

From here on it’s all about the detail. You can go as far as you want adding more and more, it just takes time. In Figure 14.2 I have continued to add detail to the image. I did this by adding adding skin lines and highlights, I also refined and sharpened my lines and colours giving more detail to all the creases, folds and fingers.


Figure 14.1 Figure 14.2

Finally I have adjusted the contrast and brightness of the image using curves. Below is the final image, Figure 15.0.


Figure 15.0

I hope that this tutorial has been helpful and gives you an understanding of how to approach your digital paintings.

Written by: Shaun Schellings

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