background painting and design tutorial

[sparth]

originally posted on my humble site, i thought it could have been useful for peeps to have it right in there: this is a simple explanation about the design process i use when i have to paint a background. no previous sketching or drawing of any sorts, just wacom painting in photoshop.
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STEP 01

this is the first sketch i did on the wacom. no other drawings necessary.
major dark blocks. the background cavern is already quite there, but remains voluntarily brighter than the first closer area.
the dark squarish areas on the buildings are just reminders of tones i'd like to obtain later on.
no opacity on the background.
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STEP 02

defining the foreground : adding details, and orange lighting under the main building, hanging cables... docks added on the water.
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STEP 03

defining the background. it is really too dark and too detailed for my taste, but i'll push it away later by adding brightness. i feel logical to paint the background with cold blue tones, not only because of the sky opening, but also in order to keep the action and interest of the picture on the foreground.
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STEP 04

decided to make the background building even more detailed than what i expected. quite dangerous for the image balance, i will have to hide it later on.
i'm beginning to paint the sky and the cavern with more opacity.
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STEP 05

minor step. i just need to reassure myself by adding temporary lights here and there. i'll keep the lights on a layer during all the process.
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STEP 06

this is the "detail" process. concentrating on adding realistic touches here and there. probably the longest and most rewarding step.
i leave the background for now, working on the middle of the image, and leaving the rest for later on.
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STEP 07

the "background" stage. important stage : with the help of color dodge, i try to make the cavern even wider and brighter than it is, in order to separate it from the foreground building. the main idea is to give a realistic distance to the background.
before doing so, i worked on the rocks in order to remove that airbrush feeling that we could perceive on ealier steps, upper right.
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STEP 08

finishing ground and liquids. warm tones, in order to make a link between the building and the lower water. this way, all the foreground becomes warm.
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STEP 09

Painting process is over. the background has been flattened a bit with the use of the linear gradient tool : blue layers that i erase on the foreground.
i'm satisfied now with the difference between the two main areas.
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STEP 10

the very last touches. duplicated the main layer in order to add the "watercolor" filter in some areas. especially in order to force some contrasts. removed the filter effect on all the light halos.

i finished the picture in approximately 7 hours. during a period of two days. a fast drawing indeed, compared to my other works.
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finished high resolution image :
here
hope you found that tut interesting. i'll try to make some more, even though doing these is time consuming, but it's fun.

sparth

[Deth Jester]

Sparth,

Thanks for posting this, I love step by step peices..I deffinitly have to work on my background skills and such... well all my skills but them especially... many thanks.

[Fozzybar]

Thank you, sparth!

It's not usual that an artist like you shares his process of creating images.

You've got a big BONUS...

[espaki]

Yes, thank you!

Please make some more, this helps quite a bit and is very inspiring as well

-Nate

[Kappei]

great stuff sparth !!
thank you for this tut...
:chug:

c
Kappei

[ghūl]

great tut cant wait to get my wacom

[thebluepuppy]

maybe this should get a sticky....if its cool with sparth..

[thebluepuppy]

maybe this should get a sticky....if its cool with sparth..

[Bai Fan]

What is your last name?

[Ink_Monkey]

wicked tut D-A-M. I need to get a jump on my backgrounds, seeing your stuff really inspires me to get on with my background work, right now I only seem to focus on chacters and doing some life drawing. Thanks for taking the time to post.