Hi all,
There are a number of artistic individuals within our community and with everyone so focused on the latest batch of art to come through I thought I would share some of my workflow and processes when it comes to doing my own art. I decided to choose Guardian of Unaxioas the subject for two reasons. The main one is that there were more techniques and effects used for this piece as compared to Thoughtripper’s Cutlass, and second because Cutlass has gotten plenty of attention and I figure my other piece could use some of that! I was actually asked to do this piece originally for GnEric (one of my guildmates) as a favour, which I gladly took on (it helped with my artist’s block too!).
For all my art I almost exclusively use Photoshop (though sometimes I 3D render basic backgrounds in Lightwave), and I will keep everything on discreet layers (armor, robe, sword blade, sword handle etc). This image had 70 layers in it!
Step 1:
Okay firstly we start with a sketch. Inspiration can strike at any time, when you look at another person’s work (as was the case for Cutlass), an observation in the real world, or simply when you’re mind is wandering at work. Guardian is the product of the latter. This was the original sketch:
The line art never got much more detailed than this, which is odd for me as I prefer very clean lines to work with (it makes blocking out colours so much easier). You’ll notice already a couple of things changed during the work, the blades on the shoulder guards disappeared (pretty much straight away) and the sword was altered.
Step 2:
Anyway the first thing once you have your sketch is to block out base colours. I experimented with green robes before I finally settled on a deep crimson (traditionally a colour depicting wealth and station). I also used a very basic greyscale background to start, with lighting designed to frame the subject:
Step 3:
I’ve learnt long ago that when making art you need to build it up as a whole. Finishing your character/s then making the background behind them afterwards will tend to lead to a “stuck-on” effect, and the two components will not mesh properly. Bearing this in mind a rudimentary background went in as I began to work the image up. You’ll also note that I have set up my light source in the top right corner (If doing complex lighting I recommend a seperate layer that has arrows designating light directions), with a basic highlight on the cowl and shoulder pad.
Step 4:
I slowly keep teasing the image out, building up light and shadows mainly. Lighting will make or break an image, our eyes and minds are extremely attuned to it so even the slightest thing wrong will be noticed, even if we can’t quite put our finger on it. The biggest shift here besides a basic increase in detail is that the sword has been altered significantly, and is now a second light source.
Step 5:
Okay that background is looking mighty boring. In fact the whole image is a bit devoid of colour at this point so it’s time to bring that up. As opposed to completely reworking the background I used a series of layers of varying gradients and colours, set to Overlay which allows the layers to “mix”, which left me with this:
Step 6:
There’s still not enough colour on the Guardian himself however, so I decided that the armor embellishments should match the colour of his shield edging, and they became gold (using a mix of Photo Filters and the Hue/Saturation tool). I placed a gem in his bracer, similar to the one on his sword guard, and added the embers flying around him. Having things like the embers and the slightly out of focus rocks in front of the subject helps draw the viewer into the image and helps being it all together. It’s known as a vignette, and you’ll see it used extensively. I did significant work cleaning up the bracers as well.
I then really went to work on the shadows and highlights. I intentionally pushed them to extremes here, making him look pristine, almost glowing. Perfectly fitting for a holy warrior.
Step 7:
Now that’s a pretty solid image there, but solid wasn’t enough. I really wanted this thing to “pop”, so I added some extra fractal patterns around his body to further emphasise the magical aspect of this warrior, and added some sharp lightning running up his sword. I also cleaned up some of the proportions (those discreet layers I mentioned earlier make this much easier) and put the little wing thingies on his back to bulk him up a bit, because if the alt art for the CotC heroes has taught us anything, it’s that wings are cool. After that it was a matter of fixing the contrast and tone to bring the image together.
Done!
And there you have it! I haven’t gone too far into the actual methods here because to understand it all requires a significant knowledge of Photoshop and all the tricks contained wherein. I’m still learning how to use that program, even after a decade of experience. But I will share with you...
Birdie’s Top Photoshop Tips
EXPERIMENT!: This isn’t a sheet of paper, what is done can easily be undone. The Step Backwards and Forwards functions are your best friends and will allow you to undo mistakes (and even compare things) with ease.
Custom brushes: Get as many as you can. There are so many free brushes on the web it’s insane, and they will give your art the extra oomph it needs.
Mark out Lighting: I didn’t do that with this image (Naughty bird!) but this will help you improve your lighting and subsequently your art significantly. On a seperate layer, use coloured arrows to denote direction and light colour. I use three dimensional arrows, as it allows me to portray the light depth as well. Many artists also use circles to note down the intensity falloff (or how big an area the light influences).
References: Use them. They will help take your art to the next level, especially in regards to your postures and lighting. I will generally use anywhere from 4-10 different references for each piece, some can be for lighting, some for material (for example light bouncing off chromed metal), some for background architecture, and almost always some for anatomy. When drawing people, a muscle anatomy chart is a brilliant thing to have. Any decent artist will use references, and there are dozens of websites and DeviantArt pages dedicated to providing them.
Textures: Good texturing will really help your work. Like references, there are countless sites dedicated to textures. Correct application of textures really relies on a mastery of the different layer blends in Photoshop, as well as the Skew and Warp transformation tools (to wrap a texture around a cylinder for example). Do it right and your work will look great, do it wrong and it’ll look flat and lifeless.
And there we have it! Hope you enjoyed reading
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Originally Posted by dranjo
), movement etc. I taught myself Photoshop and Lightwave. 
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