purely academic
Complex architecture
I like to work with my line work on top of my painting on a Multiply layer. As I start to block things out, I erase my drawing. Remember to only erase on a layer mask so you can keep your original drawing safe.
The importance of light
Atmosphere is a great way to convey the lighting scenario. For this moment, the lighting I want to achieve is dewy, early-morning lighting, just as the sun is rising. I choose pinks in the clouds and a golden haze to depict a more magical-feeling sky. Pictured in the “after” image is a version with a screen layer of blue, a couple of Color Dodge layers, an Exposure adjustment layer, and a Color Lookup adjustment layer.
Applying texture
Often I’ll want to add a photo texture to something repetitive, such as a brick wall. Here’s my process for creating painterly textures from photos. First, find a photo with a nice contrast or texture. Then, use paint daubs to reduce the noise and detail. A hard Round smudge brush on a high Pressure setting can further reduce detail. Then, I desaturate the texture and set the layer blending mode to Overlay. Apply this over a blocked-in shape to quickly add texture.
Witches on the run
I decide to have two characters running late to their class. When designing character poses, silhouette is important. If you make one figure a solid grey, would her pose still read as a silhouette? To keep them from blending into their environment, I also give them some rim light and make sure to choose outfit colours that won’t blend in.
Bumblesnoot designs
It took me a few sketch passes of these guys on a separate document to get the design right, before I paint it. I want to design an creature with elephant ears and a trunk, but that pollinates flowers like a bee.
Quickly creating detail
When working on a highly detailed painting, it’s important to use techniques to save time. Here’s an example of a chunk of trees I’ve duplicated. Because the two elements are on opposite sides of the screen, colour adjusted and slightly painted over to increase the randomness, it’s hard to tell that both of these chunks are only made from two or three painted trees.