Techniques and Tips for digital art

Well after posting few of my works I thought I should give certain tips to the readers who wanna try their hand at digital art. So here we go:

THE SKETCH

Start with the shape of the central object or the object of focus first. In fact this is the most crucial part of the entire work because whatever amount of detailing will not give you a convincing look if the base sketch is not accurate.I generally set the brush at low opacity and the thickness to minimum. Color of the brush should such that it doesn't dissappear when you paint the base layer. The sketch can be a little messy with guideline here and there but make sure it matches the proportions of the actual image. Here is an example:

EXAMPLE OF THE SKETCH

THE BASE LAYER

Any object or a part of object that you intend to paint is of a particular base color. The base has to be a simple flat layer of color which is somewhere in the midtones, not too light or not too dark either. The edges of the painting have to be defined neatly so there is no confusion later on. There are two methods, one where you cover the entire space with the base color and then proceed for detailing on each area and another where you finish a particular area with the final details and then move to a different section. The choice of the methods is subjective and is left to the individual. However, both ways great results can be achieved.

THE SHAPES

The base layer is merely the start and in fact the easiest of all the stages. Now comes the task of making the object look solid. What makes the objects look 3 dimensional? The answer is the shadows and highlights on that particular object. And as it is obvious the shadows will be darker than the base layer and highlights are lighter. And that is the reason why I choose the base layer to be a moderate shade.

                                Carefully make the regions darker and lighter as per the lighting on the object. This part can be tricky as you may have some smooth surfaces to work on and the shadows and highlights have to be gradual. Constantly changing the opacity to achieve that effect is one technique. Another approach is keeping the opacity low and applying color multiple times on the same region as per the required definition required. The video below has a small demonstration of the technique.

VIDEO ON SHADOWS AND HIGHLIGHTS

DETAILING

The most assiduos part of the entire ordeal. This part usually constitutes about two thirds of the time consumed in the entire process.Yes you read it right. The more the time you spend on giving your work the finish the better. Try to incorporate fine details such as strands of hair falling on the face of a person and its shadow if required. While drawing living beings atmost care must be taken with detailing the eyes, draw the reflections and highlights aptly and accurately. This will add to the liveliness of the image.

Now one important tip or rather technique I would like to mention here which helps me in all my projects. Divide the entire picture into small segments. What I mean by that is, take up a small region, zoom into it and give enough time to make it look very similar to the object's respective region. It might sound very obvious but trust me it helps a lot. Not by making it easier but by boosting your morale. When you are done with a few areas and you zoom out completely you will be surprised with the result.

I hope this post of mine was of some help. Please let me know what techniques you follow and if you tried any artwork after reading this, how useful it proved to be.

The Movie Buzz in Me

Being a hardcore movie buzz, how could I not make a few artworks of my favourite characters? So here are few works I made again on facebook graffiti.

NEYTIRI

Neytiri from Avatar(2009), the movie which broke all the previous box office records. It lest a huge impact on me, took me about a day to come out of the experience in IMAX. How often do we see a movie which makes us refrain from blinking for the fear of missing out something spectacular. Simply Brilliant!
           The blue color of the skin is a joy to play with. Started with the background and then basic shape of the face was sketched out. Changing opacities and brush sizes I esablished the shape of the face. Notice the work on the jewellery, it adds to the realism of the portrait.

Mr. Jim this one is dedicated to you.


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Neytiri from Avatar(2009)

THE JOKER

Who gives a tough competition to Jack Nicholson and Anthony Hopkins at being the Baddest Man in hollywood or rather the entire film industry? Heath ledger will always be remembered for his role Joker in The Dark Night(2008) which is undoubtedly one of the best potrayals of a  negative character so far. But passing away of a man who had a promising career ahead, very unfortunate. 

The technique used is very crude and its evident from the replay video. Simple use of opacities and thickness of brushes. Could've been better but not bad for a start.

Joker from The Dark Knight(2008)

TERMINATOR (T-800)

James Cameron movies have always been trendsetters, be it use of latest technology or the kind of story. The Terminator movie franchise is among the most successful franchises in film industry. I must admit that this was by far the most difficult graffiti I've made and I can only imagine what kind of hardships the crew went through to bring this character alive on the celluloid.

 Took me more than 15 working hours because of the immense amount of detailing in the image. However I like how it came out finally. Started off with the upper half of the face but realized that the technique of completing small sections individually will take time. The lower jaw and the rest of the T-800 is done with a better approach. The replay will show the difference.

My love for Big Cats

The big cats have always fascinated me. They are such elegant species. I remember how I used to try to get close to the cages of these giant beasts when Circus Troupes used to keep them out in the open for transportation. I never imagined there would come a time when people would have to camp for days in the sanctuaries to get a glimpse of these wonderful creations of nature.
                Both these works were made on Facebook's grafitti application and remained in top graffiti of the respective weeks.There is a simple trick in making amazing looking animal (those which have fur) portraits.

TECHNIQUE

   Starting off with an outline, I started highlighting the areas which appear brighter in the image. Then comes drawing the fur, which is the part I like the most. Making the fur can be done immensely casually because you do not need to give it a finished look. The smaller the brush size the better and the strokes have to be free flowing. Keeping in mind the direction of strokes because that decides how convincing the end result looks. But some areas like the eyes and the mouth needed proper detailing.

Click on the play button to watch the replay of the process:

Click on the image to enlarge:

Nostalgia

         Fill the area with thin lines taking care of the lighting. The best thing about making furry animals is that there wont be any difficulty in merging colors because the desired effect is thin stokes rather than smooth finish. Even after the fur has been drawn one might notice some areas where the lighting is still not accurate. That tends to happen when you keep changing the shade you are drawing with. To adjust the tone I used a large brush set at minimum opacity and painted over the fur.


Click on the play button to watch the replay of the process:

Click on the image to enlarge:

         Drawing animals and capturing the beauty of nature is a wonderful experience, looking forward to making some more in the near future. Please leave a comment about what you think about my post. Any questions or queries are most welcome.

Discovering my potential

The Cute Bunny

After a few tries on Adobe Photoshop I returned to grafitti. I wanted to draw something that was closer to reality than what I had done before. I searched for one such pic online and finalised on this one. The ease and flexibility that Digital art offered amazed me. I did experiment a little and found that the freedom of being able to use darker colors on lighter ones and vice versa was a bliss. 

                                         The bunny looks complicated but is very simple. An outline in black of moderate opacity. Quick stroking moves to make the fur look hairy keeping in mind the darkness of the shade in various places. At the junction of white and black a little merging had to be done. Somepart of it was done in black and some in white so that the blend is proper. The eyes took me some time to make. Complete black base then the brown pupil and finally the shine was done in white. First in less opacity and then bright shine in more opaque color.

Familiarizing myself with the tool

Friends forever

I couldn't wait any longer to try my hand at drawing with the new tablet. The very evening that I bought it I sat down and started doodling and made this one.I was in awe of the tablet since it made my job so easy. That can be seen from the fact that this one has lines of smallest possible thickness all over. Of course it took me a while before I could actually feel comfortable drawing with it.
                   Work here is simple enough. gradient background and a little darker shade for the water. Then comes the moon, the land and the dolphins follow next in black and opacity set to halfway. The finishing part was fun because of the ease with which I could now do it. A little highlights to the land,trees and dolphins concluded the work.

The Mighty Weapon

Wacom Bamboo Pen Tablet (CTL-460)

In January 2010, I attended Spring-fest'10 at IIT Kgp. While I was there I participated in a few painting competitions and to my surprise won 2 prizes.
I was longing to buy a tablet for really long given the fact that I had become a die hard fan of Nico Di Mattia. Had spent more hours watching speed painting videos than anything else. I had made my mind up that I will buy a tablet with the prize money no matter what. During that summer while I was in Bangalore, I finally bought one.

 For people who are unaware how a Tablet input works, here's the deal. The pen that you see in the image works as a pointing device and the pad detects its motion.Plugging the pad into a USB slot will enable you to use the pen now as a pointing device similar to a mouse (only it is a hell lot easier to use because it feels like a regular pen). It has right and left click on it and the cursor can be moved by simply hovering the pen over the pad a few millimeters away. Touching the pad with the pen also has the same effect as the left click.
                  
       
The Wacom Bamboo Pen Tablet (CTL-460) (cost me around  4400). Today its one of my most prized possessions. Of course there were some cheaper alternatives available starting at around  1600 but I preferred to buy a good one once and for all.

My very first work in Digital Art

Deers at Dusk

Now this one started it all. I know it looks an amateurish attempt at digital art. It was a little difficult for me back then considering the fact that it was done with a Microsoft basic mouse. But this was a milestone for me and so I had to share it. Made on facebook's graffitti application. Its very simple and took me about an hour. Looking back I feel how much effort I had put in to make such a simple piece of work because mice don't offer you the comfort to be able to draw effortlessly.

Simple use of opacity and different size of brushes. Started with the background, then came the tree and deer. Mountains and the highlights of the tree we the finishing touches.