Tips on Landscape Panting

[WutDaHeckMan]

i am becoming a better digital painter now, and have learned to use opacity and layering well. if people hav tips about painting certain parts of a landscape or how to go about planning one out in PS, post here please!
ie. grass, vegetation, skies, clouds, rocks, mountains,water, waterfalls.

also can someone explain or give link to a tut on how to make use of the viewpoint/perspective grid in PS:CS2

[seth1]

Have you ever tryed to paint landscapes traditonal? Or draw them? Well you would go about the same with doing those as in Adobe photoshop/// Heres some tips for general painting of landscapes... http://painting.about.com/od/landscapes/a/landscapetips.htm
http://painting.about.com/od/landscapes/

Hope this helps a bit

[WutDaHeckMan]

yes i do paint/draw landscapes. thanks for the links anyways.:)

[Datameister]

Hmmmm...

Water: I recommend painting the underlying colors first with large brushes, then using smaller brushes to paint foam, waves, etc. In scenes that prominently feature reflections in water, it's generally a good idea to work on a separate layer.

Rocks: Custom brushes are your friend, but don't rely on them too much. Lay down general shapes and shading with smoother brushes and then use custom brushes to layer texture. For rocks in the close foreground, don't be afraid to do the details by hand with smaller brushes.

Vegetation: No easy or quick way. Play with custom brushes for achieving distant plant life, but closer stuff pretty much has to be done petal by petal, stalk by stalk.

Skies: These are my favorite. Yanick Dusseault suggests starting with a sky so you have a mood straight from the start, and I'm inclined to agree with him. Use very large, moderately soft brushes to lay down color gradients (the gradient tool can be used, but it's a little bit less...artistic) and then use smaller brushes to work in the clouds. Reference is your friend. I like to do my sky on the background layer and everything else on one or more new layers.

Perspective: IMO, the best way to lay out perspective in Photoshop goes like this. Create a horizontal guide (click-and-drag from the ruler at the top of the view; if no rulers are present, hit ctrl-R) and use it to represent your horizon line. For one- or two-point perspective, create vertical guides (dragging from the ruler on the left) that intersect the horizon at the appropriate vanishing point(s). These can even be placed outside the document--a VERY handy feature. You can use another horizontal-vertical pair of guides to represent a third vanishing point, if necessary. Once you have your vanishing points set up, create a new layer. Use the line tool (it may be hidden; it's the third tool from the bottom on the right side) to click and drag from the vanishing points at regular-ish intervals. Here's a screenshot (http://img475.imageshack.us/img475/3026/perspdemo0yv.gif) that demonstrates what I mean. You can then turn the layer's opacity down quite low.

Planning: Never be afraid to do an underpainting. Sketch out your composition in one or more colors on a separate layer. When you like what you've got, turn the opacity down (like the perspective grid) and paint on a separate layer.

Good luck! If you have specific questions, don't be afraid to ask. Also, posting your work helps.

[WutDaHeckMan]

hey thanks alot! yeah i havent tried any cutom brushes... iguess i should branch out.