Engaging street scene

Discover how Ramón Nuñez uses layering techniques, colour and lighting to help balance a range of different elements in one illustration

I consider illustration one of the best ways to tell stories. I’m not able to use movement as with animation, or employ multiple comic panels. Instead, I have just one shot, so my illustration choices need to be precise.

It’s exciting to present an idea that mixes characters and backgrounds, but I can get lost easily while I’m constructing the composition. I’m building something from my imagination, so if I don’t put my elements into some kind of order, then I’ll have to spend a lot of time trying to solve a visual puzzle – with no guarantees that elements in the final art will be consistent. Building up a hierarchy of values during the creative process is crucial if I’m to create a functional composition that the viewer can read easily.

In this workshop I’m going to go through several art basics that you should know before you jump into a complex illustration. This will include composition, perspective, values and colours. I’m going to paint a fun scene featuring four characters in a city.

It’s important to keep things simple so you can maintain control, because at some point things will get complicated. The worst-case scenario is painting without feeling entirely comfortable about your progress so far. I’d always advise keeping everything organised, in case you need to go back and fix something.

1 Initial idea, perspective choices and sketching

I’ll usually imagine a composition from one of two points of view: either a top view or a bottom view. My idea is simple: I’ll be painting four characters taking a selfie in the middle of a city. I choose a top view in the perspective to show several elements of the four characters, with hints of the city’s buildings in the background.

Developing the line-art

The drawing is the structure of my art; knowing the perspective from the beginning helps me to visualise the composition. I usually start with the head of the main character and then I draw the body, outfit, props and so on. I use reference images during this stage.

Blocking out and creating grey shapes

I create new “shape layers” below the line-art layer to fill in each character. Separating one from the other helps me to identify which elements are in the front, the middle and the back of the composition. Here, the order is the main characters in the foreground, then the mid-ground crowd and finally the city in the background.

Painting the shadows

My light comes from the top right of the painting. All the shadows are on one Multiply layer, which I then desaturate. If my shadows are too dark then I can’t see the drawing, and if they’re too saturated then they can affect my choice of colours. It’s a balancing act.

After defining the shapes, I start to add colours inside each shape layer. I choose between five or six desaturated colours for each character; the less relevant the character in the composition, the less saturated and contrasted their colours will be.

Background detail choices

I don’t need to be extremely detailed with the visual information beyond my focal point (the main characters), so I paint the city’s buildings in the background with a rectangular brush, using city photo references as a guide. I’m careful not to include too many details – it can end up becoming a noisy distraction.

Creating depth between elements

I create separate layer groups for the main figures, the crowd and the city. Inside each group I add new layers in different blending modes (Hue, Multiply, Darken and Color) to emphasise their different positions in the scene. I want to push my main characters more into the front, while darkening and desaturating the background.

Using Adjustment layers to add some energy

I add more contrast and saturation to the illustration using the Levels and Selective Color Adjustment layer options. Working on a desaturated and lowcontrast version at the beginning of the process keeps my attention on the line-art.

Bringing in texture to mimic traditional media

I sometimes like to add a subtle watercolour effect to my art. I lay down soft strokes with a watercolour texture brush on a layer on top, then blend in Overlay mode before reducing the Opacity to 30 per cent. You can’t really notice it, but I like to know it’s there. I like the old-school, traditional look of some artworks.

Using Selective Color mode to develop the mood of the painting 10

If I have a range of colours in an illustration, I can then use the Selective Color tool to help me to merge everything. This gives the painting a cohesive mood. I only touch the whites and neutrals because I like to keep my shadows desaturated.

11 Adding small details after the hard work

At this point I’m happy with the painting as it stands, so I spend a bit of time fixing little things. I also flip the canvas, which highlights any mistake in the composition. I do this several times during the first few steps, but it’s good to check again that everything reads okay as I’m nearing the finish line.

I create a new Color Dodge layer on top, select a saturated blue and a Soft brush, and do small strokes in strongly lit areas where I want to capture the viewer’s attention. I then reduce the Opacity to this layer so that it doesn’t become too noisy.

Sharpening elements in the composition 13

I group all the layers, duplicate the group and then merge them into one image. Then I select Filter>sharpen>smart Sharpen. I like how it looks, but be careful – overusing this filter will ruin your hard work. For best results, set the Amount to 50 per cent and Radius to 3.0px.

Generate chromatic aberration for that anime touch 14

Duplicate the image twice and bring these to the top of the layer stack. Double-click the layer of the first copy and in the Layer Style window turn off the red channel under Advanced Blending. Press OK and then move the layer a little bit to the left. Do the same with the second copy, but this time turn off the green channel and move the layer a little bit to the right. And that’s your chromatic aberration right there!