CGSociety

CGNetworks Reader Project :: Photoshop and Painter
Creating the "MAD SCIENTIST" trading card illustration
By: Roberto Campus :: Page 1 | Page 2 | Page 3

Step 2: Blocking
For the main blocking phase, I continued using Painter. I resized the image to 300 DPI, about 7 inches in size. I switched to the Airbrush tool with a medium sized brush and medium opacity (see "Brushes" image) setting. Usually, I go through this phase as fast as I can, only concentrating on shapes, volume (light and shadow) and color. I try to let the process be automatic, avoiding stopping too often to THINK, rationalize and analyse what I am painting from my imagination. I found out from experience, that by doing so I interfere with whatever process is going on in my head (a bunch of busy neurons in the right hemisphere maybe?) while it is hard at work translating the image in my mind's eye to the hand and then to the screen. I see this as the process that goes on in my mind when I hear a known word: I instantly know its meaning (unless I had one too many glasses of wine), but when I stop and repeat the word over and over, it sounds weird and it begins to lose its connection to the concept linked to it (maybe I have a mental problem?). I think the same mechanism applies to my blocking process, so I just let it flow. I picked a few base colors, I put them in a corner of the image for later reference and then I started filling up all the various areas, right over the original traced sketch (single layer flat image). Nowhere in the blocking process did I add fine details, and for this reason I usually force myself to keep using the same brush size. Then by using the color wheel to pick a lighter or darker color than the base, I painted highlights and shadows. During this stage I used the ALT key often to pick colors while I moved from area to area.

Step 3: Main painting and details
This is the main stage where I refined shapes and added details to the foreground elements. Here I concentrated on reshaping all the forms to their final position and dimensions. I switched to the Painter "Brushes" tool, a medium opacity setting (see "Brushes" image), varying brush sizes, but with regular small and more carefully positioned strokes. I soon realized that in order to achieve a higher level of realism for the face and hands of the main character, I had to rely on some reference material. Using a cheap digital camera (an invaluable tool for the digital artist) I snapped a few pictures of my face (it came out extra ugly) and hands illuminated by a light source coming from below. I imported the low res photos into Painter, de-saturated them and kept them handy (to the left of the actual illustration so I could look at them) while I was finalizing the face and head elements. Using photo reference is really helpful to me, whenever I am dealing with complex or unusual light sources like the one here (coming from below). Photo refs make it easier and less time consuming to achieve a higher level of realism. The rest of the elements were done completely from imagination, as they mostly consist of simple shapes, it was not too difficult to imagine how the light sources would play on them. Notice that at this stage the background and some of the foreground (the cables coming out of the scientist helmet) are not refined yet (see "Step 3" image), I left them for the next phase, when I imported the image to Photoshop. There isn't much else I can say about this part of the process, besides the already mentioned technical notes, because the painting stage mainly involves the artist's subjective ability to render objects. It is a skill that can be learned by simple practice and dedication. A good sense of observation and self criticism are some of the key requirements. I can offer a trick or two though: often while you paint something, flip the canvas horizontally. By doing so, you can instantly see if anything is out of place. Additionally, zoom out until the image is much smaller then the current size you are working on, so that you can see it in its entirety, as this also helps in finding out flaws. Once in a while, is also useful to make a copy of the current state of the artwork, de-saturate it and look at it for a few minutes, to try to discern problems with contrast and volumes.

Above Image: The blocking phase, when the main colors and shapes are painted in.

Brushes: (Left) Airbrush tool with medium sized brush and medium opacity for blocking phase. (Right) More detailed brush for refining and painting details.

Step 3: Almost there. Notice that at this stage the background and some of the foreground (the cables coming out of the scientist helmet) are not refined yet

CGNetworks Reader Project :: Photoshop and Painter
Creating the "MAD SCIENTIST" trading card illustration
By: Roberto Campus :: Page 1 | Page 2 | Page 3

Step 4: Effects and final adjustments
At this point, the REAL FUN began! I imported the image into Photoshop, copied the canvas layer and cut the foreground elements from the background using the eraser tool. Now I had the foreground elements (scientist and the gadgets) separated on a layer called "FG". I then turned off this layer, and proceeded to paint over the background on the canvas layer (that I then renamed "BG"). Using a large simple round brush, set on normal mode, I fixed up the background colors, then refined the Tesla coil’s shape. I added a new layer on top of the BG, this new one called "Sparks", where I painted the electric sparks using a 100% hardness brush, with a pink/bluish color. To add the glowing effect to the sparks, I added an "Outer Glow" effect in the layer blending options. I then merged the BG and Sparks layers together. Now, I turned the FG layer back on to check if the new background would go well with it. Luckily enough it all fit well together. At this point, I added a new layer on top of it all, and painted the cables coming out of the scientist helmet, then I added a soft "Outer Glow" effect to them. At this point, I added the sparks coming out of the tools held by the scientist, using the same technique as the earlier sparks, but this time I used a light yellow color. Now, I flattened the whole image into a new layer and noticed, that the painted highlights were not bright enough, so I switched to one my favorite tools: the Dodge tool (to which I got addicted early on). Anyway, using the Dodge tool set on highlights, I went over all the spots that I felt needed to be brightened up and brought to prominence. I especially like to add back or incidental light sources to elements in my illustrations, so here I splurged and went on Dodging ravenously (there are those who would call this a mortal sin, I know, eh eh) all the edges that were illuminated by the electric sparks in the background as well as the other areas in the foreground that were illuminated by the yellow sparks.

Step 5 Final image
Now the image was 99% done, I just softened it a bit by adding an effect I have been applying to all my artwork as of lately. It goes as follows: I flattened the image to a single layer called "art", I then duplicated the "art" layer and called it "glow". I then applied a "Gaussian Blur" with a large radius effect to the "glow" layer, obtaining a very blurred image. Now, I set the "glow" layer blending option to "Lighten" and lowered its opacity to about 10% or 15%. Now, with the original layer showing through, the image highlights look softer and more natural. Finally, after flattening the whole thing, I applied a few adjustments to its contrast and color balancing using the Curves and Color Balance tools. As a finishing touch, the signature logo was added.

A note from the mad scientist: remember to donate your body to science, I need spare parts!

About Roberto Campus
Originally from Italy, but now living near Boston, Roberto has been in love with CG since the late 80s when he wrote his own painting programs in Basic (around the age of 12). Since then, he has worked on videogame projects, book covers, rpg and comics (Warlands Vol 3, the most recent). He is now available for digital illustration and comic coloring commissions. His favorite subject are fantasy and sci-fi, his style ranges from "anime" to ultra realistic.

Website: http://www.robertocampus.com
Email: bob@robertocampus.com

Dodging: Noticing that the image was not contrasting enough, Roberto used the dodge tool to punch out the highlights.

Sparks: Roberto added the sparks coming out of the tools held by the scientist using a light yellow color and applying an Outer Glow (Photoshop Layer Style).