The Making of "Fiery Mountains"

Time for another digital painting walkthru, tutorial, how I work, painting method or how to paint a fantasy scene. Whichever one you want to call it is fine by me.

I wanted to do one of those fantasy scenes with the warrior looking properly heroic with the scantily clad woman hanging on his leg. Of course, I wanted to do it with a little twist. My hero wouldn't be the classic hero. He'd be the offspring of a rare union of elf and dwarf. He'd be taller than a dwarf, but much shorter than an elf. He'd be more slender than a dwarf.

This piece is being drawn and painted with Corel Painter 9.5.

After a few sketches, I settled on the poses.

I chose a color scheme for the background and laid it in with a custom brush. I like this brush because of it's ability to pick-up and mix color.

Now, I use a blending brush to blend the colors and remove the texture.

I start to indicate the mountains in the distance. I'm also determining the main direction of the light source. At this point, I'm starting to reconsider the foreground colors and its' shape.

I decide to place the figures on an outcropping. I add pixels to the left and bottom so that image elements won't look crowded. I work in the basic shape for the the new foreground and extend the background.
Next I block in the shadows and lights for the figures. At this point, I think I have all of the main elements in place. The only thing left is the details. Now I'll spend some time in my library, looking at fantasy scenes and characters to help spark some design ideas for my characters garb. I'll also be looking at some mountain references. I'll probably do some sketches and then get back to the painting later in the week when I have a block of time to throw at it.

Using References and the Making of "Assassins"

As I mentioned in the very first post of Digi's Stylings, I use references in most of my work. I've heard the pros and cons of using refs, but I still come down on the side of using them. To me, the idea is not to try to paint a copy of the reference material, but to use elements to enhance my work. Unless I'm painting a portrait of the subject of the reference, my finished work should have quite a bit of distance between it and the original.

In my opinion, we all use reference. Whether it is from a photo, screen grab or observing the world around us, I consider it all "reference." Some references have been internalized and I can rely more on the information in my head. Other things, I need to look at to get them "right."

As for the making of "Assassins:"

This is one of those "accidental" paintings that seem to happen from time to time. I was searching through DeviantArt's Stock Image Library when I came across a pose that I liked. This pose had nothing to do with the original subject of my search, but I decided that I wanted to sketch it. This pose eventually turned into the Marvel character,Elektra.


I decided that she needed an adversary. A quick back story of two assassins tracking each through an abandoned building gave me the theme that I needed begin composing the painting. I decided to use additional refs for the two added elements. The other assassin's pose came from the next ref.

I looked through some industrial photos to create the environment. I used elements of the third ref and some custom brushes to create the atmosphere. Now that the basic elements have been laid in and I can start thinking about color. I'll make the coloring process another blogsclusive.

Here are links to the stock images that I used.

• For Elektra's Pose
• For the other assassin's pose
• Background

Note: I'll notify each stocker that I used their work once I post the finished piece to DA.

Painting a Fantasy Portrait - Final

Step Eight:

I decided that I liked the original dress design better and went back to it. The work that I've done on most of the layers won't be changing so I merge the painting down to 3 layers and save it as a second version, just in case.

I create a new layer and go to work on the leaves. I work with my fingers near the alt key to sample colors from the painting and the palette. I'm also constantly resizing the brush using the bracket [] keys. I'm switching between a hard edge and soft edge brush as I work.

I add veins to the leaves, not really being too precise while I'm doing it. I'm going for creative realism not photo realism. I decide to add the berries to break up some of the green.

Step Nine:

Now to add sunlight on some the leaves. I create a new layer and set it at 42% opacity. I select a lighter version of the sky color and paint the selected leaves with a low opacity brush. I group and collapse the layers that I've added. I use a blending brush and work the foliage. I soften some edges, work more color into the shadows and do a little shaping.

Step Ten:

I work the hair now. I add colors from the skin into the hair, shaping the mass of hair behind the braids. I highlight the hair with blue from the sky. I work on the shell of the ear, adjusting the shapes and colors. I make a few refinements to the face and begin work on the body. I don't go into the same amount of detail as I did with the face. I don't want it to compete for the viewer's attention.

Now I start on the dress. After its complete, I step back and decide if I need to add accessories.

I decide that accessories are needed. I do a image search on Google and look at several pieces of jewelry. I then make up a pattern for the jewelry and paint it onto the figure. I think that they do a fair job of framing the face and drawing the eye.

Finally, I use a custom watercolor brush to add some texture to the face. This completes the painting.


Hopefully, you found something that you can use in your own work. Feel free to leave a question or comment.

Thanks for sharing the ride!

Painting a Fantasy Portrait - Part 4

Step Seven:

I continue to fill in the background and refine the figure. I spend the bulk of my time working on the face and hair. I concentrate on modeling the facial features using direct and reflected light. I carefully blend the colors at the edges where two colors meet. I work the hair, taking care to shape the braid design around the head.

I figure that I've got a few more hours of painting until I can call this one done.

I'm considering adding some type of ornamentation to the figure to provide a little more contrast. I'm also thinking of placing red berries under some of the leaves for the same reason.

Painting a Fantasy Portrait - Part 3

When I paint, I usually don't work on one section at a time. I move all around the canvas, painting above and below layers. That's how I continued with this painting.

Step Six:

I created a new layer above the sketch layer and start working on the foliage. I finish a few leaves to get a feel of how the rest will look when I complete them. I take a break from the leaves and create another layer and start to define the hair. I restate some of the facial features and do some work on the eyes, while sometimes bouncing back to the leaves.

I made some adjustments along the way: I make the jaw line a little fuller and adjust the nose, hairline and eyebrows.

Painting a Fantasy Portrait - Part 2

Before I get started painting, I go out to the backyard and take a look at the trees and bushes for a few minutes. Photo refs are okay, but its always good to take some time to study the real thing when you can.

Since so much of the painting will be green, I know that I'm going to need plenty of variation of the color to create the illusion of depth. I select Painter's mixing palette and mix some yellows, greens and blues.

I'm going to continue working beneath the sketch layer for the rest of this section.

Step Three:

I create a new layer and paint in the sky and tree shapes. Next, I create another layer and begin painting the foliage, working mainly from dark (blues) to light (greens). I use yellows for highlights. Later, when I'm refining the leaves, some areas will get erased out, revealing parts of the trees. That's why I used separate layers.

Step Four:

Now I create another layer and start to work on the figure. Early into the process, I decide to move the figure layer behind the foliage layer. I get my base colors down and work in light reflecting from the foliage and the sky. I use the blues for the darker shadows on the figure. I'm working at nearly 100 percent opacity, using my pen's sensitivity to control the coverage.

Note: The image that I'm using to illustrate this part is a re-paint. I got into a flow and before I knew it, I had painted past this part without taking a screen cap. I did a quick re-creation for continuity.

Step Five:

I reduce the opacity to 10 percent and begin lightly glazing the skin, mainly with the base (mid-tone) color. I glaze with the light and dark to a lesser extent. I glaze the blue shadows with the dark. This all helps to unify the painting.

I usually work with a restricted palette. Its easier to control and it forces me to really think about my color choices and how to best apply them.

We'll be working above the sketch layer the rest of the way.

Painting a Fantasy Portrait - Part 1

A lot of what I've learned about digital painting has come from artists sharing tips and techniques on the web. I try to keep up the tradition by doing the same.

My plan is to take this piece from sketch to finish, showing the process on this blog in a series of posts. The finished piece will probably get posted to a couple of sites, under my tag "digistyle," but the creation process will be a blogsclusive, only being posted here.

Step One:

I do some scribbling to get warmed up and then I'm ready to get started. I've decided to do a fantasy portrait. I look over some of the references that I've collected and choose three. Two are figures that have some of the elements that I want. The other is for background reference. After a few tries, I get a sketch down that I'm satisfied with. The sketch itself is just a reference for the painting, so it doesn't need to be perfect.

I should mention that I'm working in Corel Painter 9.5 and that the sketch and the gray foundation are on separate layers. This becomes more important as the painting progresses.

Step Two:

Next, I begin working on light and shadow. I decide on the direction of my light source and begin working from dark to light.

I work out the values in shades of gray, one layer for the figure, another for the foliage. These two layers are between the sketch layer and the solid gray layer. This becomes my road map for the painting. Its not as detailed as some other studies that I've seen, but stopping here works for me. I have enough values and "clues" to begin adding color.