Improve your Painting Process

THE BIG PICTURE Video games illustrator Atey Ghailan pulls back the curtain on how an empty canvas develops into a fully fledged painting

We review this instructional video on page 95.

Process is a bit of a vague word to describe something that’s critical towards creating the best artwork you can. Essentially, process is the sequence of steps you go through to make your painting.

Yet more crucially, it’s the intent that informs those steps. Are you aiming for efficiency and clear visual communication to hit a tight deadline, or is realism perhaps your goal, whatever the cost in time and effort?

Half a hour may not sound like much time to go through an entire painting process, but Atey Ghailan packs more than enough ideas into this brief but engaging video to help you develop or refine your own process. The first few minutes show new artists in particular how to refine their basic ideas until there’s a clear purpose in your mind, and you understand not just what you are painting, but why.

Atey then dives into the fundamentals of building a painting up from nothing. He shows the steps he takes while also suggesting alternative paths you might follow, depending on your own strengths and interests. As an artist with a background in environments, for example, Atey reveals that he prefers to establish the setting first and then move on to the characters; you might prefer to do it the other way round.

Atey largely takes a step back from the nitty-gritty of Photoshop tools and settings to focus on the bigger picture of process, but his choice of subject matter means that you do get some helpful advice on creating convincing reflections in water. His narration is rather rapid at points, but his enthusiasm and understanding of his craft carries you along, and you’ll be surprised how much you can learn in just over 30 minutes.

Atey Ghailan shows how this contemplative study grew from a basic idea of a character reading a book. Character work starts with blocking out of the main shapes, making selections for detailing straightforward. The artist shows early on why it’s not just the idea that counts, but what you want to achieve with the idea.

Atey likes to cover the canvas as early as possible, then build up his environment before working on the characters.