Arithmetical Canvas

In class, I followed along under my instructor's direction and attempted my first digital painting. Here are the steps I took along this grayscale brick road.

STEP ONE: Find a good portrait to draw. One with nice, rich shadows and crisp highlights (this is where I needed to reconsider my choice LOL). Unlock the background image, make a copy, remove/fill the original with white and set it underneath the copy. Rename the background copy as “reference”

STEP TWO: MAKE sure your image is 1600 pixels wide or less. Make sure your image is 300 ppi. Bring your image into Make any image changes in Photoshop.

STEP THREE: SAVE your image now and several times during the digital painting process. If you’re using a colour image, then reduce the saturation to 0%.

STEP FOUR: LINE DRAWING on the new layer. Using a thing brush with a thin pencil-like stroke outline the image. Play with the brushes and settings to get the stroke you want. A textured brush gives a more realistic feel.

STEP FIVE: GROUND is the next layer to create. Using a large textured brush makes big swash waves across the artboard in an 18% gray shade. I used a large, dry brush.

STEP SIX: VALUES is the next layer to create. With a dark colour, but not full black (not natural) fill in the darker values as we learned when we studied Drew Struzan’s technique.

STEP SEVEN: HIGHLIGHTS is the next layer to create. With a light tone, but not pure white (not natural) bring out the highlights. Refer to the technique we learned through studying David Grove.