Create A Colorful Fantasy Digital Painting in Photoshop

8/9/2016 Create a Colorful Fantasy Digital Painting in Photoshop
In art, there are no wrong answers. That is especially true with digital art. There are a
million techniques to produce the same piece of art. Some designers start out with a
sketch, others create their artwork without a plan of any kind. In this tutorial, we will
explain how to create a fantasy digital painting without a sketch. Let's get started!
http://design.tutsplus.com/tutorials/fantasydigitalpaintingpsd18357 2/48
explain how to create a fantasy digital painting without a sketch. Let's get started!
Preamble
This piece has been painted using a graphic tablet, a Wacom Intuos 4. The tutorial can be
followed and accomplished without the use of a tablet as well, but painting with a mouse
is not something I'd recommend. You have less precision (at least, with the common
mice) and you have no opacity or 쉯ຸow jitter. With the mouse, it's going to take you longer,
be harder and it's probably not going to look as precise and nice, which is why, if you want
to get into digital painting (and you probably do, since you're reading this), I seriously
recommend that you to get a graphic tablet. For starters a Wacom Bamboo Fun is one of
the best around and the price should be generally around $50.
Step 1 - Before starting

I'd like to start this tutorial by stating that this is not only going to be about THE actual
painting. There is no point in explaining you just what I did without telling you why and
how. Otherwise, you'd end up with a bad painting without having learned anything new.
You're reading this to learn something, so I'm going to teach you what you need to know in
order to make a digital painting, based on my experience. I'll explain my points of view, my
thoughts during the process of creation, and some of my techniques. I can't assure it will
be the best way of doing it, because probably it's not. But it is my way, which has been
developed during years of practicing and it's the one that currently works best for me.
I began this piece with no clue of what it will be like at the end. I almost never have a
precise idea of what I want. I 돸爅nd it a boring way of making art. If you already know in your
mind how it's going to look like at the end, then there is no fun. You won't be surprised of
the result and you won't enjoy experimenting at all! Instead, I like to let the mind and the
hand 쉯ຸow free, waiting to have the right idea. You'll understand better what I mean once
you see the 돸爅rst steps of this painting.
Almost forgot: the only brush I used in this painting is the evergreen Hard Round Brush,
which is the 돸爅rst brush you 돸爅nd in the Photoshop preset. There are people that when
starts painting digitally, usually thinks that a lot revolves around the famous "custom
brushes". They couldn't be more wrong. With this tutorial I'll show you that you can do
anything with just the most common brush in Photoshop.
Step 2 - Let's start!

Ok - here's the 돸爅rst thing I do every time I start a new painting. I choose the background
color. Why is this one pink? No real reason. It just inspired me in that particular moment.
We have a color. We've done a lot already. Really. I'm serious. If you decide a background
color, then you automatically narrow the 돸爅eld of the kind of environments you can create.
It's pink, so we know that it won't be a jungle, for example!
Ok, now we know a little bit more about the direction we're going to take. We can do more,
now: let's add some colors.
You may wonder: "why these colors?" Orange is for 돸爅re, so I'm currently planning to have
돸爅re in the 돸爅nal image. It doesn't mean there will 100% sure, but just that in that speci돸爅c
moment I wanted 돸爅re in it. That desaturated blue instead is there because it gives contrast
to the warm colors there are in it now, and because I'm planning to paint rocks next and
usually blue/grey are the kind of cold colors you 돸爅nd in rocks.
Now I've been adding more: a sky, a river (or a sea, or a lake) and a few darker brush
strokes. We can start seeing something more from it, some sort of structure. Painting is
not that different from sculpting, in my opinion. You start from one block, then you create
not that different from sculpting, in my opinion. You start from one block, then you create
more shapes until you get something recognizable and then you add details until you
reach the desired level of realism.
From now on, I will just keep working on the structure, trying to create recognizable
shapes that I like.
In the following image I did something interesting that is worth mentioning. When good
ideas aren't 쉯ຸowing, I always do this. In Photoshop, New Layer > Image > Apply Image,
then with the newly created layer I experiment. What does it mean? I move it around,
then with the newly created layer I experiment. What does it mean? I move it around,
stretch it, 쉯ຸip it, set it on blending modes (usually darken and lighten are the ones that
work better), use random 돸爅lters, and so on. In this speci돸爅c case, I 쉯ຸipped it horizontally
and vertically and set it on lighten.
Then I added some clouds at the top and made it look like it was some sort of 'smoke'
that's being blown out by the clouds. At 돸爅rst it looked like a good idea, then after a few
seconds I started hating it. But, hey, wait a second! Idea! It also looks like a mountain lit by
sunlight, if 돸爅xed!
Then I just kept painting details. I added a statue inside the cave and painted some
mountains (image below) to add depth in the image by 'exploiting' the previous layered
brush strokes. "Layered" means that, using the pressure of the tablet's pen, we have
different layers of the same color that vary depending on the pressure made with the said
pen. You can use the same "technique" when painting mist or clouds above something like
mountains, in this case.
Step 3 - Colors, colors, colors

Now we might have something. So far we created an interesting environment with nice
and warm colors and a small and vague story about a statue. But I knew I could do better,
and warm colors and a small and vague story about a statue. But I knew I could do better,
which is why now there'll be more experimenting!
Again, Image > Apply image and let's start move it around. In this case, since the painting
was getting too 'dark', I decided I wanted something brighter in the middle of the rock
structure. First, I tweak a bit the colors using the Selective Colors options, then I press
Command/Ctrl+I and voilà, now the colors are inverted and so, if before were dark, now
are very bright!
Same thing as before, this time using multiply and luminosity blending modes.
Now let's try to 'sculpt' out some shapes from this mass of colors.
Step 4 - More details, more story

As done already before, Image > Apply image. This time I just moved it more to the left as I
wanted the rock structure more centered, since it was clear that it was going to be the
main focus of the image.
Alright! Now I have 돸爅nally decided the composition and the main character of the image
(well, actually not, but we'll talk about it later). As you can see from the image below, I
attempted to create some sort of 'rock monster' by just adding two eyes. It looked awful. It
looked like one of those in쉯ຸatable crocodile that luckier kids than me had.
Since it was looking so bad, I decided to take another try. It wasn't working again since
there were no eyes, but whatever. When I don't get good ideas for something, instead of
wasting time on that I just move to another area of the painting and work on that. I
improved the general shape of the monster, added some sort of 'hands' and a few reptile
characteristics, like those things on his back.
So I decided that I didn't want a 'statue' in it, but a person. It wasn't looking like a statue
anyway, so good for me. I'm really bad at drawing people, I've never really practiced on
anatomy and such, so my knowledge of human body isn't that great. No problem, though.
When I don't know how to paint or draw something, and this happens more often than you
might think, I Google. I wanted to draw a person sitting on a throne in a bored position and
yet still communicating power. As if "Oh, I'm so powerful that I can allow myself to be
bored". You get what I mean. I hope. Well, anyway, as I said, I googled. In this particular
case, I looked for some photographs, or drawings, or paintings, of kings on their thrones.
Googled "king on throne" and tons of references magically appeared. Now we can select a
few images that can help us understand the right anatomy and check them out while
learning how to draw that speci돸爅c pose.
Let's zoom in
I've also re-painted the eyes, but now the monster looked like Bear from Bear in the Big
Blue House, so that wasn't looking great either. :)
Step 5 - Forget
I liked the painting. I really did. I saw potential. But there was something that wasn't
working. I didn't know what, so instead of wasting countless hours over-thinking it, I tried
to stay away from it for a few days. I worked on other projects, went out, saw friends, and
overall my goal was to forget about it and, after those couple of days of relax, once I was
ready to sit at the computer again, I could give it a fresh look, almost as I was watching it
for the 돸爅rst time.
Well, it worked. I immediately decided that the main problems were two: the canvas size
wasn't right for the kind of image I wanted to paint and the story was too ambiguous. The
piece needed some 돸爅xing in order to guide correctly the viewer into a more de돸爅ned and
well-made storyline.
Images > Canvas Size... and changed them from 4592x2500 pixels to 4592x6084 pixels.
Now, we do Images > Apply Image, Then with the Rectangual Marquee Tool we select a
few pixels of the bottom of the current layer (so not the bottom of the canvas, but of the
layer!) and, with the Move Tool, we drag the selection down. We do the same thing with the
top part of the layer. The same procedure for the top part as well. We should get
something like this:
For a better understanding:
Now, Again: Images > Apply Image, then I made a selection of the upper part of the image
(the sky), SHIFT+Command/Ctrl+I, clicked 'backspace' on the keyboard to erase the part
of images that are of no use to me, 쉯ຸip the layer vertical, go to Edit > Transform... and
transform it with the Perspective and Distort tools until I get something like the image
below:
In order to understand slightly better what I said, check the image below. Basically, you
can see that I used parts of the sky in the ground.
Step 6 - Our hero!

Now, main character! This is the idea that I had once I sat back again at the computer and
gave me the inspiration to 돸爅nish the piece. As I said earlier, I am unable to paint and draw
people. I never did it, so I have no idea how to do it. But this painting is also about learning,
right? The human 돸爅gure in this painting, even in the 돸爅nished image, is not perfect. People
more quali돸爅ed than me in anatomy can spot at least half-dozen of mistakes, but I'm
learning, so mistakes are still allowed!
In the following image I painted (on a separate layer, obviously) a poorly painted silhouette
of a man with a big coat on his shoulders. Obviously it is always recommended to use
references when painting or drawing, it's not cheating, just 'remembering how something
is'. There is a very nice journal written by neofox with a lot of links to sites where you can
is'. There is a very nice journal written by neofox with a lot of links to sites where you can
돸爅nd all sort of references. Recently I've also bought for 6$ one of those wooden human
mannequin for drawings, which is incredibly helpful!
And then a poorly painted sword.
Note that, below the character layer, I painted a soft orange 'halo'. I did it because, without
it, there is the risk to confuse the shapes of the character with the ground, so when I have
to separate two things I often use this trick!
I've also painted some rocks to improve composition; good composition (in landscapes in
particular) is one of the fundamental of a good painting. I always reccomend to read an
incredibly useful, long and well-written article by Johannes Vloothuis: "Landscape
Composition Rules". It's a must for everyone who wants to paint, in my opinion.
Step 7 - The Ground and The Fire

The ground wasn't looking great, too simple and a bit boring, maybe. So, as always:
experimenting! I took a part of the painting (check the image below!), copy-pasted on the
ground, used the perspective and distort controls and then set the layer on the blending
mode "Color Dodge".
mode "Color Dodge".
Same thing as before, but this time with a different part of the painting and a different
blending mode: "Overlay".
Again, set on "Color Dodge".
One more time, on "Soft Light".
Now here's an image to show you how I painted the 돸爅re coming from the mouth of the
monster. Number 4 is how it looked when the image was 돸爅nished. You can also see from
there how I made some of the details in the painting.
And, 돸爅nally, some adjustments to the anatomy of the character. Still very bad, but that's ok.
During the lapse of time between me actually painting this piece and me writing this
tutorial I studied anatomy and worked on some characters and now I'd probably paint it 10
times better but, as I said, that's ok! There's nothing bad in imperfection.
Step 8 - The mountains

Google is full of images to get references from, we already established it earlier. This time,
as well, I searched for more photographs to learn from. I couldn't 돸爅nd any image of a sky
during sunset that completely satis돸爅ed me, so I just looked at different images and tried to
learn something from those. These are the results:
In image #4 you can see a close-up and see the details. As you can notice, the brush
strokes are not perfect at all. This is because of two main reasons: 돸爅rst, it takes much
longer. Second, better brush strokes would have been useless. Once it get resized for the
web, those big brush strokes you see in #4 will be just very small details.
I've also detailed a bit more the other mountains in the background.
Step 9 - More details on the monster

At this point of the piece it really is all about details. Words are of little use for you
anymore, all you need to do is watch what I did. In this step I will be adding textures (and
so details) on the monster, in order to make it pop out more in the picture.
In the image below I added a big and blue/cyan soft round brush set on blending mode
Overlay.
Now, with the small hard round brush I painted all the small details. Below there are two
images, the second one shows the details at around 90% of the original sizes.
Again, more soft brush strokes to make more 'shiny'.
And more details, again.
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Step 10 - The sky

Until this point I wasn't satis돸爅ed at all of the sky and it was pretty much all was left to do in
order to call this piece done. So let's get into it.
order to call this piece done. So let's
8/9/2016
get into it.
Create a Colorful Fantasy Digital Painting in Photoshop
This is how, more or less, it was before this step.
I had the feeling that it wasn't working, so I removed the right part of the clouds and it
immediately felt much better. More breathing space, more depth.
I had to make some kind of sky, though. But, instead of painting it, this time I used a
shortcut and went straight to my own photo collection and looked for a nice and simple
sky. This one:
In the tutorial assets you can 돸爅nd a small pack of 5 sky photos, including this one, made
by me. Feel free to download and use them any way you want! :)
So as I was saying, I wanted to use a photo for the sky. So I took it, opened it into
Photoshop, imported into the painting document, rotate it and then set it on Soft light.
Filled the 'holes' left by the photo..
Now, with a cloud brush (Dan LuVisi has some nice ones) I merged clouds and sky better.
Final Image

Create A Colorful Fantasy Digital Painting in Photoshop

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8/9/2016 Create a Colorful Fantasy Digital Painting in Photoshop

Step 1 - Before starting

Step 2 - Let's start!

Step 3 - Colors, colors, colors

which is why now there'll be more experimenting!

Step 4 - More details, more story

For a better understanding:

Step 6 - Our hero!

And then a poorly painted sword.

Step 7 - The Ground and The Fire

Again, set on "Color Dodge".

One more time, on "Soft Light".

Step 8 - The mountains

Step 9 - More details on the monster

Again, more soft brush strokes to make more 'shiny'.

And more details, again.

Step 10 - The sky

This is how, more or less, it was before this step.

Filled the 'holes' left by the photo..

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