Transcripts
1. Adding Texture to Digital Illustrations: Have you ever wondered
how you can add more wonderful texture to
your digital illustrations? Well, I'm here to show you
how to play with textures. I'm Lisa, a free
lance illustrator who loves sharing
tips on illustration. In this class, I'm going to show you some of
the methods that I use to add wonderful levels of depth and texture to my work. This is all about creative exploration and showing you how you can add a whole new
visual appeal to your art. We'll talk about blend modes and procreate non destructive
methods for adding texture and ways you can take your own photos to create
a texture library. All you'll need is an ipad
to procreate and an pencil. Are you ready to fall
in love with texture? Then join me in class.
2. The Basic Idea: I just love the way
texture creates so much more appeal in
digital illustrations. And I can't wait to share all
of these things with you. Just remember two things, blend modes and clipping masks. Let's compare how
these two things work. On the left is an illustration
and on the right is the same illustration but
with a blend mode applied. How did I do this?
It's a photograph of a texture that's applied above the layer of
the illustration. Another way left illustration
is done completed, but it needed a
little more oomph. So the one on the right has
a clipping mask applied. What did I do for that? Well, on that clipping mask, I painted a texture with a pattern brush and then
applied a blend layer. By doing either one or
both of these techniques, you can create some
wonderful effects. Almost all my illustrations
have texture in them. That was how I worked when I
was completely traditional. And that's what I want to bring when I'm working digitally. When I am working
on an illustration, I use a balance of texture, brushes, blend modes, and
clipping masks altogether. They've now become part
of my digital style. It just looks hand crafted. A really slick
digital illustration just doesn't appeal to me. It's, I don't gravitate
towards that. There's nothing wrong
with it. We all know art is subjective. But when I want it to have
a very hand look to it, I like to mimic
digitally how I work. Traditionally, I find the
best way I can do that is with this variety of
wonderful brushes and blend modes and papers procreate has some wonderful brushes
that you can access, but I will also be using some of my own brushes in this class
to demonstrate through different techniques how you can achieve similar
textures in your art.
3. Blend Modes: Let's start talking
about blend modes and all the great effects
they bring to your art. Blend modes can be
adjusted on your layer. It's the little
letter that's right next to the box where you can
turn your layer on and off. When you select this, you can choose the blend
layer you want. You can also choose the opacity, the strength of that
effect that you selected. A quick tip, if
you're in a layer, you can just double
tap on that layer and an opacity slider bar
will appear at the top of your canvas per create has made creating in their application even
more fun and flexible. By offering all these
different blend modes, the best way is to play
around and experiment with them to see
which appeals to you. Here are a few samples
using an illustration. And this orange circle, you can see by applying
these different effects, whether it's the multiply
mode, screen mode, or soft light mode, how it changes the illustration. Some additional
blend mode samples you can play around
with or color burn, which mimics the burn tool. If you ever took a
photography class overlay, which is a mash up of
screen and multiply, and one of my absolute
favorites and hue. You can see with the green here, how that transforms
this little blue bird into more of a little
mossy green bird. All right, so let's
walk through a few of these using these
navy blue circles. And we're going to do a variety of colors on top so that you can see the overall effects that the blend modes have when you're using a
variety of colors. We're going to do
a white, a deeper, darker color, and a
midtone on this layer. I did turn the clipping
mask on just to keep it neater so we're focused on what's happening
inside the circle. Blend modes always start with
normal, that's the default. You still can adjust
the opacity layer. On the normal setting, it will affect what's
happening in the layer. Now again, above normal
are the darker blend modes below normal are the lighter,
starting with darken. You can see immediately
what happens. We don't see those midtones. The darken, it reaches it a
bit and white disappears. When we go to multiply again, this makes the light
colors more opaque. It multiplies the colors
of the blending layer and the base layer and
gives it a darker color. You can see what happens here. I'm just going to place
these color swatches beneath so you can remember as we go through what
we started with. All right, so now let's
change this again. Well, first here,
just to show you a pacity slider,
what happens now? Let's go through and try a
lighter, a lighter shade. Just so you can see
what this happens, how the deeper colors
disappear with screen, it's the exact opposite
effect of multiply. It divides the colors
with the ones below. Screen and multiply
are very easy to recall because they have the exact opposite effect with the lighter color. Again, you can see because this is a lightning blend mode, we don't have the richness
of the dark colors. Now with overlay, it's like a combination of
screen and multiply. It's a wonderful mash up. It's honestly one
of my favorites. I use it almost all the
time because I think it's just, it's
the perfect blend. My opinion, it's the
perfect blend of a blend. Mode, soft light is like a more subtle
version of overlay. Hard light, again,
same as overlay, but it's more intense. Differ, I really don't find
these, it's more of a funky, I consider them more of the funky blend modes and I really don't
go to them a lot, but you might find
it different in your own art and luminosity. It's pretty much
human saturation. It takes human saturation with
the underlying layers and it bumps up the luminosity
of that selected layer.
4. Texture Play: I'm going to demonstrate
a few of the ways you can play what textures in
procreate with clipping masks. They're my favorite way to work. I hardly ever use Alpha Ok. I always use the clipping mask
because it's just a safer, non destructive way to add
texture to your artwork. We're going to begin with
just a very simple on. I'm going to use this as a base and I want to
show you what you can do by inserting
a photograph. So up to actions. And you want to insert a photo. And I've already
taken some pictures here that you can see. So literally there, it's
like wood from my house. A granite countertop. We're going to use this granite
countertop as a sample. Just bring that in
to your artwork. It should be on the
layer above the art. Adjust it so it fills your page. Now, we can't have
it be in color. We're going to just go
to the adjustments panel and select hue saturation. And brightness drop
saturation down low. And then you can play
with the brightness. You want to have
some variation in contrast here, you can
play around with this. I want a little bit of
grittiness of the texture and some of those darks and
lights to shine through. All right. I'm pretty
happy with that. Now we're just going to go back to our layer that it's on. Make sure it's at the top. You want it above
any of your artwork. Now we'll just toggle through all these blend modes and
see all the cool effects that a granite countertop is providing as
texture to this lemon. I encourage you to walk around your house, snap some photos, and have fun seeing
the different types of textures you can create with. All right, let's
walk through that again and insert a photo. This time I'm going to select a paper texture, same as before. I'm just going to increase
it to make sure it fills out the size of my page. I'm going to go to my layers, make sure again that it's
on and up at the top and start going through
to see the type of variation I can
get in this lemon. Some are going to be subtle, some are going to be very vivid. I'm keeping the
capacity right now on Max so you guys
can really see the differences,
the paper textures. It's just that grain, the grain of the
paper which we'll really add a handmade
look to your artwork. Okay, let's try with the
screen blend mode on. And we're going to
lower the opacity down and see how this looks. Really can see it up here
on the leaf overlay. Of course my favor really
brings out that texture. It's a flecked paper and
it just looks pretty. I want to share how I work
with layers in procreate so you guys can get a feel like a little
behind the scenes. Look at an illustration, You can see this
is a shadow layer. I usually keep the capacity down low with my
shadow layers anywhere 15-20% my sketch layers up
at the top set to multiply, that's usually set very low. It's really just to
give me a guide as I'm working and I don't always keep it turned on when I finish. Let's bring in another photo and play a bit with textures. Again, I'm going to use this one just
because I really want you guys to
be able to see it. I think it'll go well
with the grain of the wood that the
squirrel is perched on. When you bring in your photo, you don't have to be married
to how it sits on the page. You can adjust it
like I did there. I wanted it a little bit bigger because I really wanted
to look like the wood, the wood on that stump. You can see the difference with the overlay.
It's really dark. So let's push down
that opacity already. It just really adds that great
grit that bark would have. But I don't like
how it's looking on the squirrel as you can move it around
because that's the. Lovely thing about having
it on its own layer. Getting it just right. Move across the illustration,
see how you like it. Don't like it in the
squirrel though. So I'll show you what you can
do if you want texture in a certain area of your
art and not in another, like I don't want it
on the mushrooms. Either. Grab a brush and I'll show you
two ways to do this. First, you can just
go in and erase right on that layer,
the texture layer. This would be considered
a destructive way of editing that layer. Because unless I hit undo, unless I double tap to undo, I can't fix what I erase. Or you can actually
work on a layer mask. A layer mask works
using white and black. If you paint on your layer
mask in white, it adds to it, and if you paint using black, it subtracts from it. Let me zoom in a bit here so you can see a little bit better. There we go, See how it's
removing the texture. And if we go back
to white, like, let's say I didn't like
that, I can add it back in. It's totally up to
you. Some people prefer one format
over the other. All right, now let's work with some stamp brushes
because this is another great way to add texture quickly to your illustration. So you can see, I'm going to play around with this for a little bit just to find the placement and
size that I like the best. I don't like how it's dividing
the trunk right there. Think more? Yeah, like more
in this area will work. Well, I think that looks
really nice. What's happening? And I'm going to switch
this up because I love to layer for interesting
combinations. Oh, I do love adding
little splotches, especially on these mushrooms. Look how cute that's going
to be? That's adorable. See, we have a nice
effect here where I've built up using a variety of stamp brushes and now I'm
going to select overlay. And you can see it, I turned off that underlying
texture that we had put in, because I want you to
really be able to see just the difference of having
just a few stamp brushes, but applied in unique
ways to make it your own can add such
interesting effects. How darling are these mushrooms? I just love them with the
little spots and flex on them. Stamps are great to add to a
layer for lettering as well, to give it a little more
added texture and spunk. I just think it looks so fun, these little splatters
and the word boo, all these are in my
Creative Bliss collection. But you can easily make your
own stamp brushes as well to fit your style
and techniques. Now let's insert another photo. We're actually going to
use this watercolor paper which is a free
down load in class. If you want you
can try this out. It's a coal press
watercolor paper, so it has a nice
grain texture to it. I want to add to this design, to this little koala. And we're just going to go
through and test out some of the backgrounds or some
of these effects for the background and move it. I add it up at the top. I don't want it over the Koala bear. I really just want to add to the texture of that
purple background. See, it's subtle, but it just
adds a lovely feel to it. This would make a cute note
card soft light difference. You can see here how it completely changes at luminosity
is just, it's too pale. I want something a little
more vivid that looks great. Linear burn really seems
to make the Koala pop. This lovely brush
is literally like an old acrylic brush that's
been well loved and it has, I use it all the time. It has such a wonderful
texture to it, It's definitely one
of my favorites. This brush also works
well as an eraser. Usually when I'm
painting with it, I also erase with it
because I feel it keeps that it just has a very
cohesive look to the artwork. If I stay within the
same tool and mark making just a quick tip, you're welcome to
try it and see if you enjoy this as well. As I'm wrapping up, I
like to add a soft layer, usually with a ink
brush or water color, something that I can
just very subtly go in and add some depth
to the character. The serene brush works
really well for this. I'm just going in and just deepening in little corners of the Koala to give him a
little more dimension. Then the nice thing is if I want to change
anything like I want to move the positioning of these little splatter
effects, you can. It's on its own layer and it's a fun way
just to go through. I try to work as non
destructively as possible because I've learned
the hard way that it's better to
work in that fashion. It's nice to have flexibility
when you're creating, especially if you're
creating for a client too. Because if there's a
change that they want, it's a lot easier
to go in and remove a layer or adjust an effect
than have to start all over.
5. Color + Texture Sketch Demo: I work with sketches in
procreate all the time. I want to show you how I
add color to a sketch. First, I have my
sketch in procreate. You could either draw
right in procreate or you could just snap a picture of a sketch from your sketchbook. I have applied a paper texture
underneath that sketch. The reason I do this is
because I want it to look like it is torn
right from a sketchbook. I want it to look authentic. Set your sketch
layer to multiply and reduce the opacity slightly. This way you really see the texture of the
paper shining through. Then make a new layer, and this is where we're
going to add some color. And I want that beneath
the sketch layer, I'm going to use this
inky watercolor pen like hybrid to add some color. But you go ahead and pick
whatever brush you prefer. I think my go to tends to be
a guash or watercolor brush. Just loosely paint in on that layer that's just
below the sketch layer. I'm going to leave the cat, the little kit into the
left, like in the graphite. I'm not going to
add color to it, I'm just going to
focus on this guy so we can compare the difference. Just paint how you normally would if you were
working in procreate. I just love this brush because it just layers
so beautifully. I'm selecting a
blender brush now to just go over and
blend those lines. You don't always
need a blend mode. Sometimes using a
great blender brush can work just as well to apply texture and mimic how water color would
work on a page. I'm going to zoom just, you can see what's
happening right there with these brushes and how the lines of the sketch are still showing through
and how you can adjust, like go through, we can play
on that color layer and just again see how the different
modes affect the water color. The luminosity gave
it this cool vintage feel like it was an older
drawing that we stumbled upon. I liked how that looks. Then if you want to retain more of the
richness of the color, multiply is great for that. Picking a deeper brown here, we're going to go
back in and pick out, I'm going to do a
different brush here because I want
to play up the edges. I liked that vintage idea. I have this old ink Breyer
brush that I use to, you know, just deepen the edges of the page to
give it that old texture. I took a litho class in
college and it reminds me of some of the transference that would happen from
the ink onto the paper. And I like how that looks,
you know, mean speckles. I love adding those droplets
and added speckles. I think any of these
touches just make people question if they're looking
at it, how it was done, and if it's a traditional
painting versus a digital one, I find texture tends to lend itself to making it
feel more authentic. Now add a detail layer.
I love doing this too. I'll add a final
detail layer above my artwork to go in and
add some more touches. And I usually make this
a little more sketchy and feel like the line
has a little more energy. I'll add more darks
there, more highlights. The fun thing about playing
like this digitally, especially if you're
working below your sketch, you
have that freedom. You can go and play. You could make a purple cat. You could do all
sorts of variations on different layers until you
land on what you love most. You can see here with this, it's on a normal setting, but I'm still going to
tap down the opacity just slightly so you can
see that difference. There doesn't have
to be a blend mode applied on every layer. And in fact, there
really shouldn't be. You kind of want to
pick and choose. So the detail layer, I typically keep it in
that normal setting. So here's where we started. I don't know, It
just doesn't it have like a very old feel to it? I love it. I love the whole CPA tones and
the ivory colored paper.
6. Class Project: Well guys, you did it, you completed the class and I am so glad that you joined me. I hope you're feeling
inspired to play with even more
textures in procreate. Our class project is
to get out there and make some art and then
share it with us. We want to see what you do. If you haven't already, be
sure to download some of the resources that
were provided in the projects and
resources section. You'll be able to
find this PDF as well as the watercolor paper
that was used in class. Thank you again and
happy creating.
Lisa Griffin, Illustrator
