Transcripts
1. Presentation: This course is ideal
for those who want to learn how to shade and
bland colors Ippriate, and wish to paint
with confidence. Hello. My name is
Maurice De Angelis, and I'm a professional
illustrator based in London. My background is in traditional
oil painting and drawing, as well as scientific
illustration. I worked in the film and publishing industry
for a very long time, and now I'd like to share with
you what I learned so far. This class is a
powerful and easy way to learn the basics
of digital painting. Will involve
painting directly on a libretto from Puccini
is Madame A Pater fly, with the goal to produce a narrative illustration that portrays the main
character of the opera. You can download the
drawing from the resources, and start painting with me as we build up the
underpainting, establishing the main volume, as well as lights and shadows, and then start adding
the relevant details by increasing the level of
description throughout. This workshop is
intended for those who wish to improve
the painting skill. So if you are one of
them, feel free to join.
2. Setting up the canvas: Okay. Now that you downloaded the relevant file
from the resources, you have this composition here. But before we dive into
a painting session, we need to understand what the narrative of this lesson is. This is a libretto or libretto
with an Italian accent, which is essentially
a booklet that contains the text of
an opera or musical. In this case, we have the libretto of Jacopi,
Madama Butterfly, who is widely regarded as the greatest and most
successful composer of Italian opera,
maybe after verdict. And as you can see, this is an old libretto that
belonged maybe to your grandparents and
has probably been forgotten in the Attic for
the last 80 years or so, and we want to
imagine the phase of Madama Butterfly
overimposing the cover. So let's take a look
at what we've got. We have the libretto cover. Then the drawing as usual. We also have this layer here. There is the text
of the libretto, there is detached
from the cover, and I'll show you later
how we're going to use it and de palette
for this artwork. I've numbered the
individual colors and also added a hex code. So if you pick a color and
the switch to the value tab, you can see there is a relevant
hex code reflecting that. We'll be using the
soft pastel brush from the sketching
library for this piece. We can access the settings
and reset all brush settings, making these the default brush. If I go to grain, I can now click on edit to
change the grain of the paper. If you then click Import, we want to import that file, so we navigate to
the download folder and select grain from pastor. So we have something
like this now. We can change the
paper scale to 45%, which is just a touch, and then scroll down to reduce
the brightness to -48%. And the contrast to plus 35% before clicking done
to approve the changes. Now that we are on a new
layer that we made earlier, we can test the brush. Obviously, this is a
little is too big, so I'm going to reduce the
brush size to about 3%, which is closer to the
scale of this artwork, and then reduce the
opacity to about 80%. Now that we are ready to begin, I'll delete this layer here. In the next lesson, we're going to make the skin under painting.
3. Skin Underpainting: We only concentrate on the area around the
eye in this class because we don't have
enough time to paint the entire phase
using this technique. I' m going to make a new layer and rename it under painting. I'm going to choose
color number five, which would be used to define the darker areas of the eye. I'm going to reduce
the brush size to 3% and the opacity to 80%
and begin painting. Then, I'd like to repeat the
process in this other area. Now I want to switch to a
lighter color number four. With this color, I want to start shading by adding
some brush strokes. I'm not applying a
lot of pressure. On the contrary, I want to be able to build up
the desired shades. For this reason, I want to lower the opacity even
more to about 50%, and this is less aggressive, and you can paint over and over the same spot with a
slow build up in tons. Now I'd like to start
defining the pd. Keeping in mind that is a round part and that we want the light to
interact with it. I'm thinking of
inverting the color of the pencil to make it less
intive and destructive. But that's entirely up to you. Maybe you prefer it white. I want to reselect the
appropriate layer, and then highlight this area
with color number three. I also want to make
it bright around this area to emphasize
the orbital bone. I'll reselect color number four and blend these two shades. Then I'll continue down
towards the zygomatic process. Maybe we can reduce the opacity of the drawing so
it's less visible, and we can focus more
on the painting itself. Something a 40% works for me. T. Then I can move
on to number three. We call this layer under painting because that's
what we wanted to achieve, a solid base of paint from
which we can begin to build up a series of glazing or
layers of paint and details. For the time being,
we only want to define the main areas
of shadow and light, as well as the volumes, and then we'll go through another round of
subsequent details. Now I can reselect
number five and define just under the browse
where you would expect to see some cast shadows. As well as a little
bit above the brow. Just a hint of color. So I can select number four
and continue in this manner. And I join in with
the other side using color number three. At this point, I'd like
to define the prow and I'd like to use
a fairly dark color. Perhaps number seven. And first and foremost, I'd like to make a base
color with this tint. Something similar to this. I'm going to reduce
the brush size to 2% and then define this corner. I can now select number six and gently ease off the brown
and the skin next to it. I'd like to do the same
for the upper margin. Then I'd like to
use the same color to define the upper
eyelid crease. As well as this long
hair, the actual lead. Then I can fill in this
area with this color, as well as the other side, and using the same
concept as before, we want to give the impression
of a spherical look because this very fin layer of skin wraps around the eyeball, creating apherical
shape, so we want to shape from darker tones
to brighter ones. Keeping in mind that Madama
Butterfly is wearing makeup, which may be stronger
around the eyes. Then with number three, I can add the area
with the most light, also known as high lights. Now I want to define
and shade this area. I'll select number four and increase the brush size to 3%. Then add this color to the mix while following the
existing curvature. And also on the foreheads. Then I choose number
five and reduce the opacity of the
brush to about 30%. It can be a little more or less. It doesn't have to
be exactly the same. Then I want to extend
the darker shades, because the opacity
is lower than before, I may want to create additional
shades here and there. It's now time to paint
the area beneath the eye, just above the cheekbone. I define the lower
eyelid margin, we color number four. Then we color number five. I want to define
this part even more. Then, number four again,
enjoy these parts. You can see they is
slowly taking shape. Then as I previously did, I can increase the size to 3%, and merge the upper
and lower parts. Using number five, I can continue shading and
modeling the lower portion. Now with color number three, I'd like to reduce
the brush to 2% in color ds area where I would expect to see some
bright spots of light. I would also like to add some lights along
the rim of the eye, then closer to the c near
the corner of the eye. Then switch to number six, I want to better
define this part. And painting upside down. I also want to emphasize
these area and increase the level of
dramatic light and treatment. Then I can connect these parts under the eye with number four. As is usual with this color, I want to begin breaking up
the uniformity of the color. I've applied by adding some softer brush strucks and creating some
additional shades. I'd like to break
up the consistency around these area as well. When it comes time to blend all of these brush
strucks together, you will see that the treatment we're doing now will
be quite useful. I'll keep doing this. The final element
before blending is this line here with
color number seven, so I can reduce the
brush size to 1%, and then I want to
define this line. Because we also achieved
a good description, we can hide the drawing, so we can see clearly where we are in the
painting process. Getting closer to the
corner of the eye, and then define the lower lead. This is why I reduced
the brush sizes. I wanted to be
particularly precise here. A bit on the upper
crees, as well. Now, again towards
the lower lead. Now, I feel I want to
better define the prow. It's really a gap feeling
to say, I want to fix this, or I want to fix that, or I want to better define or the element. Obviously, there is
a process to follow, but within this process, there's a lot of
freedom and choices. And back again to the uppers. Now in number five, I feel the need to add some
smaller details throughout, especially to break up the
uniformity of some areas, there are little to
consistent and flat. I'm going to do it this way with a very light pressure so I can create a variety of shades. In the next lesson, we're going
to blame dander painting.
4. Blending the Underpainting: Now comes the blending tool, which Photoshop calls
this matching tool, but it's essentially
the same tool for mixing and blending
colors together. We can use the same brush
that we use for painting, so the soft pastor, without changing the
grain as we did before, because appropriate we'll keep the same settings for the
blending tool as well. But what we want to
change is the brush size, which could be set to 3%, and the opacity, which
can be set to 35% because I don't
want the tools to have a strong effect in general. With the blending
tool, we want to start painting
over the painting. These two, we start mixing
these colors together, which may not be obvious
on camera because the effect isn't strong as
we set the opacity down. I'm going to speed up the videos lightly so it will
be more visible. But essentially, you want to follow the surface
of the skin as the blending tool
will drag the color towards the direction
of your brush. Also, you don't want to
apply pressure to the iPad. Instead, simply
pass over and over the same spot until you see
the colors fusing together. It's also a very satisfying
process that I fully enjoy, so let's blade
what we have here. Meanwhile, let me summarize
Madame A Butterfly story, so we can better understand both the character
and the story. Shosho San is a
young Japanese woman from a humble background. She comes from a family
or noble lineage, but has fallen on hard times, leading her to become a
Geisha to support herself. Despite her difficult
circumstances, she retains a sense
of dignity and grace. The central plot of the
opera revolves around Choho San's marriage
to Lieutenant Pinkton, an American of officer
station in Japan. Day marriage is a marriage of convenience from
Pinkerton's perspective, as he views it as a temporary arrangement
during his stay in Japan. However, Chocho San
takes the marriage very seriously and genuinely falls
in love with Pinkerton. Church San's character undergoes
a transformation as she converts to Christianity and renounces her family's
traditional religion, a way of life for the sake
of a marriage to Pinkerton. She makes this sacrifice
in the hope of creating a stable and
loving home for day son, who she names trouble. The emotional core of
Choha San's character is revealed when Pinkington leaves Japan, promising to return. She waits faithfully for him, believing in his
love and waiting for his return for
three long years. Her unshakable faith and affection are vital
to her personality. When Pinkington does return, it's with his
American wife, Kate, and Shosho San's walk
comes crashing down. This betrayal leads to the devastating
climax of the opera. As Shosho Sand realizes the truth about
Pinkington's return, she is shattered emotionally. The character stragic arc
reaches its climax as she makes the
heartbreaking decision to commit ritual suicide, choosing death over a
life without Pinkington. She does this by using a ceremonial Japanese knife
called a Katana and dies, believing that Pinkingon
will take care of the San. Socio San's character
is a symbol of love, sacrifice, and the
clash of culture. And that was the story
of this tragic opera. The process is now complete. We will duplicate this layer, so with wipe left
and heat duplicate, and as you might expect the paint will
become more filled, more present, and I'll be
able to merge them together. Now they have been merged. I can keep blending and fixing what I think
it needs to be fixed. When it comes to blending
the outer brush strokes, I can increase the brush
size to ease them off, and I feel like I want to slightly blend over
the painting again. And I think this is a good. Is a good starting point, as well as a solid for
building out layers on top of. In the next lesson, we're
going to paint the I.
5. Painting the Eye: I'm going to create a new layer beneath the underpainting
and rename it I. First, I'd like to change
to color number seven, reduce the brush size to 1% and begin to define the main
elements of the eye, such as the iris perimeter, lacrimal duct, and pupil
inside the eye disc. I can hide the trawling again. I want to start with the s
and slowly without rushing, I want to define the
structure of the eye. It's not that I
paint randomly bits and pieces and hope
that it comes out nice. No, I want to control the level of details
and description, making a number of
informed decisions. The eye is a wet sphere, so we can be certain
that this Vical object, we also catch some highlights. I'll keep shaping the
s in this manner, but keep the lower part a little brighter
for the time being. Now with number six, I want to indulge around
this part of the eye. This is clearly not a
natural color for an eye, but we are in the realm
of an illustration. Because my goal isn't to make
a realistic illustration, I have the freedom to use a palette that better reflects
the narrative that I. Then I can paint the pupil for the first time with
color number eight, which is almost black. I'd like to use this color to shade the shadow
under the eyelid, as well as the inner
perimeter of the iris. I think it's fine now, but I switch to co number five and paint the
corner of the eye, where the lac is. Then I can use color number six to better define this area. Now we color number three,
which is a light gray, we want to make this clearer, which is the wide
portion of the eye. You can adjust the
brush size as needed. Then I want to paint keeping in mind that the
eyeball is a sphere. I want to roughly
follow the surface while keeping the
spherical aspect in mind. Then I can paint on top
of the red portion here. I feel like I don't have a
darker gray for this area, but that's not a problem because I can quickly choose one. You can choose a similar color, but if you want to match
the one that I've chosen, this is the number. With this new color, quickly and slightly shade. Then to emphasize the shadow, I can switch to black and apply this layer
of color lightly. I also want to add the darker gray along
the base of the eye, so then I can press and hold the color icon to reselect
the previous color, and I want to add this. Now it's time for
some lighter tones, so I switch to color number two. And with this color, I'd like to scatter
the light at. It's more about creating a disruption along the
surface like we did before. And maybe I'll also
reduce the brush size. So let me undo that. And then I'd like to add
this light here on the duct. I'll let it be on
this clearer again. And on the iris. And here, I'd like to continue the
circular movement and add. In the next lesson, we're
going to blend the eye.
6. Blending the Eye: Now that we are ready to blend
these additional strokes. We can switch to
the blending tool and do the same
thing we did before. Gently smudge, mix
and blend all of these colors together until we get something
nice and smooth. However, keep in mind that soft pastel have a
specific texture, so we want to keep
the waxy effect. We don't want to start
with a soft pastel that eventually looks
like an airbrush artwork. We obviously want to maintain the appearance of
this artistic tool. Then as before we can
duplicate the i layer. You can reduce the opacity if you believe it's too strong. In my opinion, this works fine, so I can pinch the
two layers together. Then I'll just
continue blending this a little bit once the
layer is emerged. But overall, I'm pleased with the quality of this
under painting. In the next lesson, we're
going to add some details.
7. Adding details: As I mentioned before, I will not paint the
rest of the face because it will take a long
time a few hours. There is more about your task if you are willing to do so. But if you decide to do so, you should do the underpainting
for the remaining artwork now because we'll be adding
additional datas later on. If you want, you can finish
the rest of the face with the same level of data
and quality as these, and then you can see
what happens next. Now I'd like to add a new layer, which we can call
refinement or details. Let's go with details. We can probably hide
the drawing as well. I can choose color number six, a brush size if necessary, and then begin painting. The idea behind this
refinement pass is to increase the
level of detail. Because we are on a new layer, there's no interaction
with the layer below, so we want to improve or
even groin what we've done. It's a matter of roughly redoing or replicating
what we did previously. I want to emphasize
the darker area of the illustration with this
darker color in particular. Now that I hid in
the ana painting, you can see the additional
color isn't a lot. It's definitely there,
but it's not a lot. Then I'll go with color number four and add some
tones here and there. Switch back to
color number three and focus on the
brighter parts of the face before
attempting to break up the uniformity of
the surface once more. It is now time for
color number two, which is used for
highlights and to describe the det
of the iris and. I can keep going by adding
this color here and there. Now I can select color
number seven and use it to darken the corner of
the eye under the eye lashes. Then using the darkest
color in our palette, number eight, I'd like to
deform the shape of the brow, making it a little waving, not too much, just a touch, but we'll be more
on the lower side, leaving a nice and crisp
blind for the upper margin. Always with this color, I want to define
the eyelid crease and some extra details. Finally, we color number three. I want to highlight some
hair from the prow. We'll lose these details when we blend the
colors together, but it doesn't really matter because something will
still be visible. In the next lesson,
we're going to blend the dts that we added.
8. Blending Details: Now, for the blending, again, we will not affect the layer. It may be difficult
to understand what is painted and what not
on the carbon layer. But it doesn't really matter. You blend where you believe
it need to be blended. Where you see the brush strokes. Later on, there would be a phase where we merge the
layers together, and we can blend
again at that point. So I'll keep going with
this until I'm satisfied. Now that I'm thinking about it, I think I'd like to
better define the iris, so I'll quickly
switch to the brush to and clean up this area here. And while I'm here, I'd
like to quickly add another round of highlights
and darker tones. We getting close at the
end of this process now that we are blending
these latest additions. In the next lesson, we're going to liquefy what we've done.
9. Adjusting with Liquify: Now that we have the
underpainting and the dits layer, I can reduce the opacity
of the DTs layer, so I will integrate a bit
more and merge them together. At this point, you can also match this layer
with the eye layer. As a result, we only
have one layer. At this point, you can
play with liquefy, which is used to
deform the subject by moving a group
of pixels around. With a very little interaction, you can slightly alter some parts that you believe
need to be changed. I'd like to extend this or push a little further
here, and so on. It's a simple thing, but it can be very effective
most of the time. You can change the brush size to make the eyelid more curved, but that is the
effect in general. In the next lesson, we're going to make some color correction.
10. Colour Correction: For the sake of consistency, we'd like to rename
this layer painting. Only at this point, we can use the text layer to place it
on top of our painting. We adjust opacity and
choose a layer mode. You can choose the one
that you like best. I think I'll go with overlay, adjusting the opacity as well. If you want to
continue exploring, we can duplicate
the layer again, go to hue and saturation. If we want to keep
the bluish tone here, we can cycle through
the colors and choose, for instance, a blue tint. You can also use the
color balance function and then go towards blue. Or can or a bit of magenta,
the choice is yours. Then I can quickly increase the saturation of our
original painting, which appears a litho
dal in comparison. And we can create a mask. Select the soft bland brush from the air brushing library, and hide a portion
of the blue artwork. I feel I want to
keep the eye blue and the surrounding
areas purple. I can choose to increase the saturation of the
papo painting once more. O I can choose an
entirely different color. I think I'll stick with papo, but I can experiment
with color balance, and slightly shift to
red, gentile, yellow. One final step is to
see what happens if I change the color of the blue
parts and see how it looks. Again, I will make
my own decision. But I'm rather pleased
with this result. The same goes for
the color balance. I just want to test things out and eventually
make some changes. But I think this
is a good result. I'm very pleased
with the outcome, and this lesson is now complete. In the next lesson,
there will be a wrap up and a
recap of the class.
11. Recap and Conclusion: Here we are at the
end of this class. We started by setting
up the canvas and doing the first
skin underpainting, learning how to use the blending tool to
smooth out the skin. Then we painted the eye
and blended out again. We made the first round of
details that we blended in. Just the artworks
slightly using liquefy, and finally, played around with some color correction to
finish our illustration. I hope you learn
some valuable lesson that you can apply
to your own art. As I always say in my classes, only constant practice will
make you a better artist, and this applies to everyone from beginnes to
establish artist. Don't panic if you don't
get it right first. Once you get used
to the process, it will become easier. If you like, you can also check my other classes
where I go from watercolor and flowers to medieval ornaments and
all master paintings. I hope you enjoy this class and see you next
time for a new one. Thanks for watching and goodbye.
Maurizio De Angelis, Scientific Illustrator and 3D Modeller
