el coro
March 7th, 2004, 02:36 PM
hey conceptorgians! are we all ready for amsterdam. lord knows i am. i've been teaching a nightly workshop at my job to get in practice and get my teaching skillz sharp again. here is a step by step of a sketchbook page. in this demo i will take it to a level of finish traditionally, then take it a step further using the computer. this is an interesting way to work, as you get the best of both worlds, that being nice easy organic brushstrokes and textures that traditional medial lends itself so well for, and the finishing/color correcting power of the computer. i find the trick to using both on a piece is finding the balance between the two, so you get that"how';d he do that?" type reaction. so without further ado, i will start dis byotch off with a pencil drawing, just a light sketch to gat the underpinnings down:
http://www.coro36ink.com/updates/cg%20demo/demo1step1.jpg
itsa really alot lighter than this, i use a hb pencil for this stage, but i bumped up the levels so you can see it.nothing special here. just a simple sketch. once i'm fairly happy with how it looks, i'm ready for the inks. i use pilot hitec c's and a brush pen for this stage.
http://www.coro36ink.com/updates/cg%20demo/demo1step2.jpg
i noodled alot on this part, i was having fun puttin gin the decorative elements. i am really only concerned with the lineweight around the figure, for which i use the brush pen, i use a hi tec c .3 for the costume details. as soon as i have everything penned in, i'm ready for the inkwash:
http://www.coro36ink.com/updates/cg%20demo/demo1step3.jpg
i used a light blue, a grey8, a warm brown and a little green for this stage. i use a broad watercolor brush and lay in the base colors. its dark, but thats okay. its easier to build up the forms that way. you want to go dark, but not so dark you can no longer see whats underneath. i will use fairly middle toned inks, and sometimes apply them twice, as its better than coming with a dark ass wash right off the bat, as you could lose too much of your drawing that way. now its time for colored pencils:
http://www.coro36ink.com/updates/cg%20demo/demo1step4.jpg
now we are beginning to build up the forms and lay in local colors. i also like the scumbling effect the give, as i am careful not to press to hard because i dont want the surface to become too waxy. this stage is great for softer gradations, to turn the form of a leg, for instance, but i refrain from getting into too much detail in this stage as thats what the gouache is for:
http://www.coro36ink.com/updates/cg%20demo/demo1step5.jpg
i use the gouache for details, sharp edges, and for building up where i left off with the colored pencil. i apply the gouache thinly, using a small flat brush, and hit only the parts that either need more detial or a smoother surface, for hard to soft edges, i use a damp clean brush and gently drag the gouache wherever i want it. gouache is nice for its reworkability, you can always reactivate it with a damp brush. make sure its not too wet, though, as you could damage the grain of your paper. at this point, i have all the forms and values laind in to where they at least read like how i want them. so now i scan it, and take it into photoshop: once in ps, i'lll duplicate the layer a couple of times, hue shift/saturate or desatureate the layers individually, and use the add layer mask feture to push and pull whatever areas i want from each layer. as an example, i wanted the area behind her head to be warmer, and just generally wanted to tweak the colors all around:http://www.coro36ink.com/updates/cg%20demo/demo1step6.jpg
in addition, i lengthened her lower legs a bit as they were bugging me. the thing that makes the digital reworking really easy is that all the values and local colors are already there, so all thats left is esablishing focal points, and kinda emballishing on what you already have.in addition, all the marks are there already i dont really do mush digital brushwork on these, as there is no need to. now i'l take it into painter for a minute, and apply speculars on the armor withthe scratchboard tool, and used the glow tool to cool off the color of her skin. as a finishing touch, i went back intop photoshop, duplicated the layer again, made it a multiply layer and add layer masked it, keeping only the darker edges to further push the focal points, i used a custom brush made to look like spraypaint for this, to give it that stippled effect:
http://www.coro36ink.com/updates/cg%20demo/demo1step7.jpg
so i look forward to doing a live demo of this technique in amsterdam, cant wait to meet y'all. oh- here are some full red detail shots of the armor:
http://www.coro36ink.com/updates/cg%20demo/detail01.jpg
http://www.coro36ink.com/updates/cg%20demo/detail02.jpg
notce that its not any one step that makes the difference, more its all of the steps working together. all in all, this probablty took me about 4-5 hours to complete. the black line inking took the longest, as i got cought up having too much fun with it,,.they normally dont take quite that long...again, i look forward to this amsterdam workshop and really hope you all can make it-c36
http://www.coro36ink.com/updates/cg%20demo/demo1step1.jpg
itsa really alot lighter than this, i use a hb pencil for this stage, but i bumped up the levels so you can see it.nothing special here. just a simple sketch. once i'm fairly happy with how it looks, i'm ready for the inks. i use pilot hitec c's and a brush pen for this stage.
http://www.coro36ink.com/updates/cg%20demo/demo1step2.jpg
i noodled alot on this part, i was having fun puttin gin the decorative elements. i am really only concerned with the lineweight around the figure, for which i use the brush pen, i use a hi tec c .3 for the costume details. as soon as i have everything penned in, i'm ready for the inkwash:
http://www.coro36ink.com/updates/cg%20demo/demo1step3.jpg
i used a light blue, a grey8, a warm brown and a little green for this stage. i use a broad watercolor brush and lay in the base colors. its dark, but thats okay. its easier to build up the forms that way. you want to go dark, but not so dark you can no longer see whats underneath. i will use fairly middle toned inks, and sometimes apply them twice, as its better than coming with a dark ass wash right off the bat, as you could lose too much of your drawing that way. now its time for colored pencils:
http://www.coro36ink.com/updates/cg%20demo/demo1step4.jpg
now we are beginning to build up the forms and lay in local colors. i also like the scumbling effect the give, as i am careful not to press to hard because i dont want the surface to become too waxy. this stage is great for softer gradations, to turn the form of a leg, for instance, but i refrain from getting into too much detail in this stage as thats what the gouache is for:
http://www.coro36ink.com/updates/cg%20demo/demo1step5.jpg
i use the gouache for details, sharp edges, and for building up where i left off with the colored pencil. i apply the gouache thinly, using a small flat brush, and hit only the parts that either need more detial or a smoother surface, for hard to soft edges, i use a damp clean brush and gently drag the gouache wherever i want it. gouache is nice for its reworkability, you can always reactivate it with a damp brush. make sure its not too wet, though, as you could damage the grain of your paper. at this point, i have all the forms and values laind in to where they at least read like how i want them. so now i scan it, and take it into photoshop: once in ps, i'lll duplicate the layer a couple of times, hue shift/saturate or desatureate the layers individually, and use the add layer mask feture to push and pull whatever areas i want from each layer. as an example, i wanted the area behind her head to be warmer, and just generally wanted to tweak the colors all around:http://www.coro36ink.com/updates/cg%20demo/demo1step6.jpg
in addition, i lengthened her lower legs a bit as they were bugging me. the thing that makes the digital reworking really easy is that all the values and local colors are already there, so all thats left is esablishing focal points, and kinda emballishing on what you already have.in addition, all the marks are there already i dont really do mush digital brushwork on these, as there is no need to. now i'l take it into painter for a minute, and apply speculars on the armor withthe scratchboard tool, and used the glow tool to cool off the color of her skin. as a finishing touch, i went back intop photoshop, duplicated the layer again, made it a multiply layer and add layer masked it, keeping only the darker edges to further push the focal points, i used a custom brush made to look like spraypaint for this, to give it that stippled effect:
http://www.coro36ink.com/updates/cg%20demo/demo1step7.jpg
so i look forward to doing a live demo of this technique in amsterdam, cant wait to meet y'all. oh- here are some full red detail shots of the armor:
http://www.coro36ink.com/updates/cg%20demo/detail01.jpg
http://www.coro36ink.com/updates/cg%20demo/detail02.jpg
notce that its not any one step that makes the difference, more its all of the steps working together. all in all, this probablty took me about 4-5 hours to complete. the black line inking took the longest, as i got cought up having too much fun with it,,.they normally dont take quite that long...again, i look forward to this amsterdam workshop and really hope you all can make it-c36