Transcripts
1. Introduction: Have you always wanted to create unique character
illustrations and bring fictional
characters to life? Hi, I'm Gabriele Shell, and today I will teach
you how to paint your own character
portrait illustration. Ever since I was a small child, I love to create
different characters and bring them to life. I was very fortunate to make this passion my career and I've been working as a professional
illustrator since 2014. Since then, I've
worked on a variety of projects in video games, creating character
illustrations for games such as Star Trek, and work with many writers on their book covers in
book illustrations. I'm super passionate
about creating beautiful fantasy illustrations with expressive characters. I get a lot of
inspiration from reading different books and
traveling to new countries. Since 2020, I'm living a location-independent
lifestyle, which allows me to get
inspiration on my travels, which I can apply to my art. In this class, I will guide you through the
process of creating your own character portrait illustration from
start to finish. You will learn some basic
character design principles and how to plan
your illustration, which you'll be able to apply to a variety of different
illustration techniques. You will also learn
where to find good reference photos and how to create a reference board. This will help to make
the illustration process more organized and easy to do. I will guide you through
my illustration process, which I divided into
easy-to-follow steps, which you can later apply to your own character for
the class project. Lastly, I'll show you some
tips and tricks on how to add some finishing touches to your character illustration and how to make the final
image stand out. I'm super excited to teach this class today because
bringing characters to life is so much fun and I'm very happy to share
my knowledge with you. Can't wait to see
all your beautiful character illustrations
in the class project. When you're ready,
let's get started.
2. Class Orientation: [MUSIC] When painting a
character illustration, there are oftentimes lots of things to consider
at the same time. In this class, I will help you to break
it down into a few, very clear steps that will help you to apply to your
own character painting. For the class project, we will create a character
portrait illustration. Portraits are a lot
of fun to paint, and being able to create
your own character from imagination opens the doors
to a variety of uses. Character paintings
like these are often being used in video games, in publishing, in magazines,
or as book covers. Painting a portrait gives us a unique way of expressing
who that character is without having to create
a full body illustration or adding unnecessary
complexity. At the same time,
since we only have up to the chest to
visualize a character, we have to be much more
precise in what elements we include in the painting to
express who that character is. For the class project, I encourage you to choose
a fictional character to illustrate such as a famous fairy tale
character from old stories. Everyone is probably
familiar with specific fairy
tale characters as they have been depicted
countless of times and have very characteristic
visual traits. We associate white skin, dark hair, and red
apples with Snow White, a red hood with forest
or hot environments with the Red Riding
Hood, and so on. Fairy tale characters are
a good choice to start, if it's your first time creating a character illustration. At the same time,
choosing a character from a fairy tale can be
easier than choosing a character from
an existing movie as a character isn't bound
to a specific actor. That gives us much
more flexibility and freedom when we create. That way, we can make
our character as young, old, good, or evil as we want. I really like playing
with that as it gives a new perspective to
well-known characters. Some of my suggested fairy
tale characters for you to illustrate are
Red Riding Hood, oftentimes associated
with a red hat or cold forest
environments, wolves, hats, and baskets; Peter Pan with green clothing, elfish ears, red hair, and magical elements; Snow White with very light skin, red lips, dark hair,
and red apples. You're also welcome to choose your own character or a character from a book
or comic you like. I recommend choosing
characters with very specific visual
traits as it will make it easier to
visualize in a portrait. For the demo, I will be
painting Red Riding Hood. I decided to take
a new approach to the famous character and instead of recreating the young, innocent girl bringing a
basket to her grandma, create a strong
femme fatale with the symbolism we usually
associate with Red Riding Hood. Prepare your tablet and your
digital painting software, Gravity, and let's dive into some fundamentals of
character design. [MUSIC]
3. Character Design Intro: [MUSIC] Before we
dive into painting, let's take some time
to think about what actually matters when
creating our characters. Before we continue with
looking for references, it's important to ask yourself several questions about the character you're
illustrating. As artists, especially when
creating character portraits, we only have one picture to
describe that character. Therefore, we must use
as many visual cues as we can to describe the
character to the viewer. For that, we have to define
who our character is. Is he or she good or bad? Or maybe it's a morally
gray character. What are the most remarkable
traits this character has? Maybe it's a specific
clothing style or accessory, or maybe it's a pet, or the colors he or she wears. What about the post? Even though we're going to
focus mostly on the portrait, there's a great amount
of information you can transmit by slightly changing the post or the
position of the head. Your character can be depicted
with shoulder straight, looking challengingly
into the frame, or maybe she is
standing in a 10 stance ready to defend herself
with a weapon in her hand. The facial expression also plays an important role when bringing
your character to life. A character portrait can be a frozen moment from
the character's life. Therefore, the moment
you choose to depict would tell a great deal
about who that character is. Think about the era the
character is living in. What kind of world is it? Are you painting a
fantasy character set in a medieval town? Or is your character
a citizen of a megapolis on a
different planet? What does his or her background
story and motivation? You don't have to plan
a true in detail, but having a rough understanding
of those questions will help you create a believable
character illustration. Try to also keep
the overall mood of the illustration in mind, whether you wanted to be colorful and bright
or gradient mystical. Establishing those
things beforehand will allow you to save time when
looking for reference photos. You can also add some additional storytelling elements
by adding moles, scars, dirts, traditional markings, and little imperfections
to your character. Small details like that oftentimes make a more
believable character. When deciding on your
character's clothing, consider the social background, the profession, then
financial status, and the tradition that
could come into play. A wealthy character
will probably use different materials
than a poor one, and have richer decorated
armor and clothing, or use different colors. Think about cultural
elements as well. A character living in a big town will dress differently than a character living in
a small community in a magical forest, for example. The overall design
and the cut of the clothing can also tell
a lot about the character. A sorcerer dressed in a high cut and ornamented
gown will create a very different impression than a witch dressed and
tatters cloth worn by use. Think about the story of the
character needs to tell. Before we move to the next
chapter of the class, take some time to really think
about who that character is you want to depict and what
makes him or her special. Decide on several
fundamental traits you want your character
to have before you start looking for references as it will allow you to save
a lot of time later on. In the resource section, you will find a document with some basic points from
this class section. Before we continue
with selecting reference material
in the next lessons, take a few moments to choose
your character and even write a few points
down about him or her. See you in the
next lesson. [MUSIC]
4. Working with References: [MUSIC] In this
section, we will take a closer look at references. References are an important
part for all artists trying to achieve realistic
or semi-realistic look. There still seems to
be the misconception that using references
is a form of cheating, but this couldn't be
further from the truth. In a professional
environment, for example, in video game development
or in the movie industry, artists have to collect and
use references all the time. It's fundamental to have
a good collection of well-lit and detailed
reference photos to use while you're
creating your character. Spending some time researching the character you
want to create can significantly help to
save you some time later on in the
illustration process. The best thing you
can do is to create your own database of
reference photos. You can visit museums, natural exhibitions, or just take a walk
outside with your phone. The world is full of things
and objects that can serve as reference photos
for your next illustration. Asking your friends to pose for you is another great way to create unique illustrations
adapted to your needs. You can even create
reference photos yourself by using a
tripod and a self-timer. If you plan to sell the artwork
or use it commercially, make sure to only use reference photos marked
for commercial use. Apart from that, there are
many websites where you can buy specifically made
reference photos for artists. Some of those
websites are Gumroad, ArtStation, and DeviantArt. Here's an example of a
great photo reference back from Gumroad by Howardlyon, made specifically for
character artists in mind. You can also use
license-free photo websites, such as Unsplash, Pixabay, or Pexels to find your photos. All photos on those
websites are completely license-free and can be used
in commercial projects, but many photographers
ask to be credited in case of selling or
publishing the artwork. Additionally, you can use
Pinterest to research interesting subjects and create mood boards to be inspired
for your illustration. Please keep in mind
that photos from Pinterest oftentimes aren't allowed to be used commercially, so make sure not to
make an exact copy. Getting inspirations
oftentimes okay though, especially if you're using
Pinterest to look for something specific or
how a detail looks. That being said, if
you need to find reference photos for a
specific type of clothing, make sure to find
several photos of them. That way, you don't
copy the design to match and the
design stays unique. I recommend finding
one main photo for the pose and the face of your character that will serve as the base for
your illustration. I am using Unsplash to find the main photo of
the pose and face. I chose this particular
one for her face, because I really like the
expression and the lighting. Additionally to the main
character reference, I was looking for some photo
of her coat and her hat. All the photos you choose for your reference board should
all have similar lighting. Otherwise, you might have very different
lighting situations in your illustration,
which can look weird. Make sure the
photos are well-lit and in high enough resolution. Don't worry if you don't have all the needed references
from the beginning, you could always look for
them during the process if you get an idea for some
additional things to add. Lastly, don't forget to consider the overall mood of
the illustration. Oftentimes when I know I want my character to be in a
grim, natural setting, I would look for photos of
moody forest clearings and also download or
screenshoot them to put them on my
reference board. That way, I can keep
the whole mood in mind when looking for specific
character references. Now that you have an idea of where to find some
good reference photos, take some time to browse
the mentioned websites and find good reference
photos for your character. You can download your
reference photos, save them to Pinterest, or even just screenshot them. I use a little software
called VizRef on my iPad to have all my
photos in one place. But you can create a
little photo board in the digital software
of your choice. In the next section, I will show you how to create
a reference board. Feel free to share
your reference photos in the class project. [MUSIC]
5. Creating a Reference Board: [MUSIC] Now that you already
have some reference photos, I will show you my
favorite practice to work comfortably with
references we found. In this section, I will
show you how I create a photo reference board when
I'm not using this ref. For that, I open a new file in the digital painting software
I'm currently using, in this case, Artstudio Pro. Usually, 2,500 to 3,000
pixels is a good format, but you can always
change that later on, should that one be too small. The DPI doesn't matter as we
won't be printing anything. After opening the file, start either pulling
in new photos which you previously saved to your desktop or looking for them via the photo input
option of your software. In case of having many
reference photos, you can also create a
bigger canvas size. I like to arrange my references in a way that will
help me to stay organized but since I'm not working with too
many references here, I'm going to keep it simple. After you've finished adding all of your reference photos, just import your file as a JPEG. Most digital painting softwares nowadays have the function
of reference panel. In Artstudio Pro, you can go to the reference
panel tab and just input the recently saved reference board photo into that window. That way, you will always have your reference
floating next to your painting and can zoom in and out whenever you need it. Save your references
and create the board. In the next class section, we're going to be
setting up our canvas. Don't forget to share
your references in the class section. [MUSIC]
6. Setting up the Canvas: [MUSIC] Now that you have
your reference board, it's time to set up the
Canvas for painting. Canvas size is usually dependent on the needs
of the illustration. For mobile game art, I usually work in a
2,500-3,000 pixel resolution with a DPI of
72 for smaller file sizes. For printing, I would
recommend choosing standard printing sizes
and a DPI of 300. DPI is important for printing. If you're unsure
whether you would like to print your artwork, I recommend choosing
a DPI of 300. You can also just use
a standard paper size. For this class, I
will be working in 2,500-3,000 pixel and
300 DPI RGB mode. I create a new Canvas
with those dimensions and pay attention of
having two layers sets, one for the background
layer and one for the sketch layer as you really don't want to paint the whole illustration only
on the background layer. Go ahead and set up the
Canvas so we can dive right into the sketching
process in the next class. [MUSIC]
7. Rough Sketch: [MUSIC] In this part, we start with the first rough
sketch of our character. Sketching is a very
important step in the illustration
process as it allows you to quickly establish the whole composition and
try things out easily. We already have our Canvas setup and our reference is ready. I have my references floating in the reference window
next to the Canvas. This is super handy
because we can see everything in the glance
and work more efficiently. It is important that you
have an empty layer above the background layer so that you don't draw directly
on the background. I choose a darker red
tone for the color. You might know this from
traditional painting where the underpainting is done
with a reddish tone. I use my favorite brush, which is basically
a chalk brush. It has a little texture
and it also allows me to draw and very softly without
applying too much color. I start by drawing in the face
and torso of my character. I start very roughly
indicating the head with an oval and marking the center of the face with two lines, as well as the
position of the eyes. I draw in the collarbone, her shoulders, the chest, and the rotation of the torso. You can move the
figure around later and put her in the picture
better if you want. I want to give her
beautiful curls and draw in the
outline of the hair. At the top, I leave some space for the hat that I
want her to wear. Once I have the rough outline, I start drawing in her face. As a little tip the eyes
sit about halfway down the face and the nose is halfway between the
eyes and the mouth. I used a reference photos
to get cues about light, shadow, and the different tones without painting from
the image directly. When I'm happy with the
face I draw in the fur. For me, the first meant to represent the wolf
from the fairy tales. I roughly draw in the growing direction of the first hairs. The fur usually
has a central line like the crown of the head, where the hairs fall in
different directions. She need something to hold
the fur on her shoulder. For that, I draw the belt that holds the whole
thing together. I draw in the dress showing the direction of
the fabric folds. In the middle, I want to
draw her a little brooch. Just to add some little details. I decided to scale it down a bit so you can see more of her. As you can see, the sketch
remains quite rough and simply so that we can see if she sits well in the picture. I will now give her the cap, for this I again observe
my reference photos. It is important here that
the light sources all match. Otherwise, this can
quickly look funny if the light of the individual
elements is different. Don't be afraid to
try new things. The good thing about digital
painting is that we can try things out easily
and delete them again, if something doesn't fit, I add a few more
hair strands and let that fall softly
over the coat. One thing I like to do is to give the background
a different tone. This serves to get us into the mood of the painting
from the start. Also, it's often
more pleasing to the eyes if you don't draw
on a white background. To do this, I select the bluish gray tone with the bucket tool and color
the background layer. Now we have to figure roughly
sketched in at this point. You can see the
position of the torso, the rough facial
features, some details, and in the next step we move on to cleaning up the sketch. Start by roughly
sketching in the outlines of your character,
redefining the anatomy, the position of your
character's head and arms and any add-ons the
character might have. In the next section we will continue with defining
the sketch. [MUSIC]
8. Detailed Sketch: [MUSIC] Now that I have
my rough sketch with the general shape and the form of the figure in position, it's time to clean it up a
bit and add more details. This part is rather short, but I think it's
just as important. In the second round, I
duplicate the sketch first as a precaution so I
can always go back to my first idea if I
want to start again. I often draw right over
my original sketch, but today I'll add a new
layer for my cleaner sketch. I'll put a rough sketch under my nutrients parent layer and reduce the transparency so I can better see
what I'm drawing. I start by redefining the facial features and
drawing them a little cleaner. I draw in the eyes, nose, lips, eyebrows again, and
define the neck, especially the
muscles of the neck. I've stylized her
neck a bit and drawn it a bit longer than
it is in the photo. That's up to you to
what extent you want to distort reality and how
stylized you want to work. I draw in her hat and start to define her strengths
a little better. I particularly like this
one strand on her face, so I'll refine it a bit better. Additionally, I'll add
some loose strands to it. A good way to draw here is to think of it as a silky ribbon. One part reflects
the light back to your eyes while another
part is in the shadow. Additionally, I add some more loose hair strands to make the whole thing
more realistic. [MUSIC] I again defined her neckline and draw in some fabric folds at
this point as well. I define her face again and
give her a small birthmark. Slowly, I reduced the size of my brush to have finer lines. At the bottom, I roughly
indicate her arm. The biggest detailing I usually do is when I go in with a color, but the drawing
will help me later to see where I need
to put the shadows. I keep both sketches
and merge both layers. It's up to you if
you want to keep just a clean sketch or use
both sketches as a base. I like to erase places
that determine, for example, lines
for perspective, two-ticked strokes,
places that overlap, and generally try to leave
as much room as possible. The purpose of the
sketch is to give us a guide for the color later. So at this point,
I don't care if the sketch works on its
own or it looks pretty. At this point, I'm happy
with the sketch and I'm ready to move on to the
color in the next part. A cleaner sketch can make the whole illustration
process easier later on, but ultimately it depends on your preferences as to how
clean you want to have it. Personally, I like to work with more rough sketches
and prefer to quickly move on to
the color phase, where I then further detail
and define elements there. Ultimately it's up to you
how you want to do it. Once you're happy
with your sketch, we can move on to the next
step. Blocking in the color.
9. Base Color: [MUSIC] Now that your
sketch is ready, let's move on to the next phase. In the next step,
we'll start painting in the base colors
for the illustration. This part is great for
trying out colors and color schemes and quickly deciding on what works
and what doesn't. I oftentimes have a
specific color scheme in mind at the
beginning but realize during the creative process that other hues and colors
might work well too. Don't worry if it's not
perfect right off the bat. Since we work digitally, we can always change the colors. Also later, when you're
done with the illustration, I will show you how to easily adjust the colors of your image. When choosing colors,
you should also think about the background elements
of your illustration. Even though we will be
designing the background later, I still recommend having a rough idea of what
you have in mind as they can affect the
overall color scheme of your character's
illustration. If you're not sure
about the background, you can get some ideas
in the class lesson 11 before you proceed with this color scheme
of your figure. Before I start
blocking the colors, I'll create a blank layer and move it below the sketch layer. This way, we can start painting while our sketch
is on top of it. You can also feel free
to lower the opacity of the sketch layer a bit so you can see the color layer better. For the color under-painting, I always choose the darkest
mid-tone of all elements. I start with her skin and
begin painting in the tone. As you can see, I always
start with the body first, because hair and clothing
always come on top of it. [MUSIC] I create additional layers for the clothes and
repeat the process, painting in the clothing
with a medium red tone. This color under-painting
step is important because it allows us to quickly check if a particular color
scheme is working. If I like the flat colors
we chose for this figure, and if anything
needs to be changed. Although it's tempting, don't add any color variations just yet as this will make the illustration process
much easier later on. You really wanted to focus
on the basic colors here. [MUSIC] I repeat the same with the fur coat she's
wearing and her hair. I choose a bluish-gray
tone for the fur. [MUSIC] It's really
helpful to keep all the color layers
separate at the beginning. That way, you can easily add clipping masks later
on and thus try things out without
fear of painting over other elements
of the illustration. [MUSIC] Occasionally,
I paint everything on one layer when I choose
a painterly process. However, I only recommend this for personal
work and not for client commissions because
if you need to make changes, it can get quite complicated. For the hair, I pick a shade
of brown that tends toward reddish and use it to paint the layer under the hair sketch. [MUSIC] After that, I paint the hat, which is on top of
all the layers. Start applying the flat color. Look closely at your
reference photos and pick the darkest mid-tone
that you will use as the base for the image. You can do this on the same
layer or on separate layers. As I mentioned earlier, I prefer to do this
separately as it's much easier to make changes
if needed that way. Here comes the belt
for which I chose a cooler shade of brown
with lots of gray. If you haven't done it yet, you can still try
different color options for the background layer. If I'm not sure what color I want to use for
the background, I oftentimes just go
with a grayish tone, either light or dark, depending on the mood
I want to achieve. If you're ready,
we can move on to the fun part, at least for me, and work out the
color variations and see our character
come to life. I'll see you in the
next section. [MUSIC]
10. Rendering the Color: [MUSIC] We have finally reached
the point where we start applying more colors on
top of our base color. It's really important
to stay rough at the beginning because we
often tend to work on one particular element
and completely neglect other parts and
get lost in details. I work on the entire
illustration at the same time without finishing one particular
parts before the other. In this way, we
avoid overworking parts while others
are not finished yet. This also allows us to
catch mistakes earlier. To get started, you can create a clipping mask over
each flat color layer. Clipping masks allow you
to create a new layer over a specific layer where you can only paint in the area
of that layer below it. This way you don't
accidentally paint other areas and you can
work cleanly and precisely. As for the color
and the painting, I'll start with the skin. For this, I'll select the newly created
clipping mask layer. We will start by adding
darker tones for the shadows and lighter tones for the areas where
the flight false. I choose a dark brown
for the shadow areas and the rosy base for the
lighter areas of the skin. An easy way to select
shades is to use the color picker again to
select the base shade. I then move the dot on
the color window a little further down to the darker
and saturated tones. I opt for a warmer shadow tone as I want to make the
light source a bit cooler. This contrast isn't a must, but it's a little tip if you're deciding
on a color scheme. If the shadows are
warm then it usually looks good to choose cooler
tones for the lighter areas. I start by painting
in the shadows to define the volume
of the figure. Come on places are facial
contours under the face, on the neck, between
the chest and next to clothing that
cast occlusion shadows. To draw in lighter
areas I again, select the base tone and
move the point up to the left to achieve a
lighter beige tone. I roughly draw in all the
places where the light falls. The forehead, nose, chin, and cheeks catch the most light. I base the on location on
my reference photo and use it as my guide for the light situation in my illustration. I personally prefer to start
with the skin and face, but it's up to you
what you started with. I paint in the whites
of the eyes by choosing a grayish white
because the whites of the eyes are never
entirely white. I continue with the clothing by choosing a darker shade of red and start drawing in
the shadows of the dress. Places that are covered by other clothing or
hair will be much darker than places like the chest where the
most light falls. For the lighter tone, I
choose a rosy red shades. If a color doesn't work for you, you can always just change it. [MUSIC] Just try different
colors and see how it looks. You can also use
separate layers for the shadows and highlights
if you prefer that way. Next is the belt. I draw in a more grayish tone here in the lighter areas and leave
the base tone as a shadow. At this point, I
continue with the fir. Here I use a normal
round brush and draw in the shadows in the
direction of the fur. For the lighter tone, I choose a bluish,
light gray tone. You don't necessarily
have to choose the lightest tone because
in the end we will add more tones and highlights so it makes more sense to work
from dark to light. Moving on to the hair, I choose a darker tone and start drawing in
the darker areas. The darkest parts of long hair are often
right next to the hat. I draw in the strengths by placing the brush strokes
in the direction of the hair and defining individual strands and the
spaces between the strands. To select a lighter tone, I proceed in the same way
as for the other parts. I start from the mid tone
and go to the lighter parts, where I want to give
her a blunder tone and therefore go a bit
into the yellowish. Since the hair has
a lot of volume, parts that face the light
will be the lightest. I draw them in with
short brush strokes in the direction of the hair. You define some
new highlights at the same time and it
looks more realistic. Let's continue with the cap. Here I want to choose a
slightly different shade of red so that the difference
from the dress. For the lighter tone, I
choose a more grayish red, since I want to put my character in a gloomy environment later. I occasionally turn off
the sketch layer to see what the image would
look like without lines. As you can see, we need to better define the
facial contours. I merged it clipping masks with the underlying layers to have the colors all on
individual layers. Although I'm starting to
mix the tone slightly now, I still try to leave everything
as rough as possible. I try not to focus too much on one part of the illustration, but quickly move on to other parts like your
clothes and hair. At this point, I'd like to
add more color variation. Remember, the skin is never
just two appreciates, we have an incredible variety of colors in our skin
tones and adding different beige
pinks yellows and even blues and greens can help create a more vibrant portraits. An easy way to add
multiple tones is to use a soft brush and on a new layer, simply paint of reddish tones
on the cheeks for example. I've reduced the visibility
of the sketch a bit because I want to focus on
the colors at this point. I start by defining her face. Faces are my favorite part of the illustration and also the part I spent
the most time on. I aim for mix of realistic
and stylized elements. How realistic or not you want
to make it this up to you. Often, it's enough to work
out certain elements that are most visible to make the image
look completely finished. I start adding smaller
highlights to the face. These immediately make the face look more lifelike. [MUSIC] At this point, I often change brushes from my chalk brush to a round wet brush
that I can use to gently blend the colors
as I paint over them, like a digital oil brush. Alternatively, you can
layer colors on top of each other and select the resulting intermediate tone with
the color picker, and paint over it again, which is very common when
working in Photoshop. Especially if you work on
a PC and use a keyboard, this technique is
very convenient. Another option is
the smudge tool, but use it with caution
as the image can quickly become muddy
and textureless. I painted by roughly drawing in the shadows of the fruit
coat with a texture brush. For this, I use a bluish-gray
and on top of that, I layer some light gray
strands of the fur. The sketch layer can still
be seen at this point. Although I reduce the opacity of the layer so that it wouldn't
interfere with my painting. After I've added all the
shadow and light elements, I usually reduce the opacity of the sketch layer further and
start defining more details. When you're happy
with the result, you can merge the layer with the main layer
you're painting on. Keep layering the colors, even if they don't
look mixed yet. You can always mix later, but it's much harder to regain the overpaint and brush strokes. I also personally think
that some texture looks better than overpolish and
overworked illustrations. When I'm happy with
the main colors, I start working out
the small parts such as defining her eyes, nose, and lips more clearly. The detailing part of the
illustration usually takes the longest and the level of detailing is up to each person. At some point, I turn off the
sketch layer completely so that all we see is the color
layer of the illustration. Even though it's very tempting, try not to go into
very small detail too soon and try to keep
the brush size larger. At this point, I'll continue
with the detailing. The whole process of detailing
took me several hours, which is why I increased
the video speed. [MUSIC] I continue to work on the overall illustration
at the same time, slowly getting
into more details. If I know that something is off, I often use the lasso tool to quickly move the part
of the face into place. [MUSIC] As you can see, I tend to flip the image
from time to time. This is very helpful for spotting mistakes you
might have missed. The more often you
do it, the better. I choose a dark brown for
the shadows of the dress and hat and some light reds
for the lighter parts. [MUSIC] Now that I'm happy with
the figure overall, [MUSIC] I start adding
some additional shadows on the floor area and defining her hair strands more precisely. This is the part of the
illustration process that usually can
take the longest. I like to leave
things painterly so that the different brushstrokes
can still be seen. I define the different
strengths of fur and add a few highlights
now and then define the leather strap
that holds the fur together and start defining
the folds of the dress. A good and easy way to have more color variations to the skin is to take
a soft brush with a very low opacity in the pink tone and painted over her cheeks, lips, and nose. I like to do this on
a separate layer. At this point, I also
add some cool shadows. To do this, I choose
some blue tones and paint them into the
shadow areas of her skin. You can immediately see how this makes the illustration
look more real. I add some highlights
on the face, paint in the light
reflections on the nose, some shadow under her eyelids, and some light on her lips. At some point in illustration, I might even merge all
the drawing layers together and leave only the
background layer separate. That's why you
have the character on one layer and the background separately on another.
This is up to you. If you want to play it safe
and change things later, you can leave all
the elements on separate layers until the end. I also add some room light
on her hut, hair, and fur. Later I want to create a brighter light source behind her back in the background, that highlights and
outlines her silhouette nicely so that she stands out. Whenever I need
additional references to see how light falls
on a specific object, I use the reference websites I mentioned and often Pinterest. At this point, it's
mostly about detail work. But if done well, it can really take the artwork
to another level. Start adding more colors to your illustration and
working out your character. Don't forget to
share your process in the project section. [MUSIC] The next step, we'll look at some
background options.
11. Background: [MUSIC] Now that you're nearly finished with your
character illustration, let's take a look at some
background options we have. You probably already
have an idea of what elements you want to
include in your background. In this class, I will show you some examples of other
artists and what easy ways there are to create
professional-looking backgrounds for your character
portrait illustration. Depending on the type
of illustration I do, I might have a
very clear idea of what background I want for my painting before I
even start sketching. Or I may develop a better idea
during the process itself. Since we are focusing on the portrait itself
in this class, I recommend keeping the
background quite simple. Depending on what you want
to do with illustration, you can add some elements
to make the character stand out or give some additional
cues about him or her. Some simple backgrounds that
you can do and that always look good are some
simple color gradients, gradients of several colors, and some simple textures. You can also go more complex
and add some outlines, for example of trees, leaves, or even some
architectural elements. Since we want to keep the
focus on the protagonist, I wouldn't create an overly complicated background
with too many elements. That being said,
if you want to add other elements to
your background, you can go for a more
detailed background with fully rendered trees, houses, mountains, or even
other characters and animals. Another good way to
create depth and tell a story is to use
natural elements. Fire, rain, snow, and even sparks look great and
create visual interest. Keep in mind the direction of the light and the overall
light situation when choosing a background
as they have to match the overall tone
of your character. From my Red Riding
Hood character, I decided to create a
forest environments, painting some rough
and simple trees and some back light to illuminate the contour of the character. For that, I looked at
some dead trees or trees you can find them in the
winter without any leaves. After I paint them in and fill them with a
dark gray color, I transformed them to
match the perspective of the illustration and also create a better
clearing in the middle. [MUSIC] I added several colors for the clearing section
around her head to create a contrast with her hair
and made the top of the illustration darker while I highlighted the lower part. This will make your
stand out even more. You can do that by using a soft brush on a
different layer, painting in different tones. In the next class,
I will continue working on some details of
the characters. [MUSIC]
12. Details: [MUSIC] In this step, our illustration is
almost finished. Now, it's time to add some
small details and correct things that bother us to make the illustration
even more beautiful. I will speed up the video
significantly at this point. [MUSIC] At this stage, I once again add some
more strength to the rim light marking the
single strands of the fur. I also create a new layer into the fairly light color, paint in some separate hair strands so that they stand out
in front of her hair. I also add some
finishing details, correct what is
still bothering me, and also add some highlights to the eyes and whatever
else needed. [MUSIC] I take this opportunity to correct anything
that still bothers me. Additionally, I add
a few final details. This step is optional, but often I see some
places that need improvement after I'm almost finished with the illustration. In the next section, we'll look at some cool
options that are available to tidy our art work together nicely to
make it stand out.
13. Finishing Touches: Now that you're
nearly finished with the main painting part
of your character, let's look at some
final adjustments you can make to make your
illustration look even better. There are still some
small things that bother me in which I
decide to improve. Once again, I will
speed up the video significantly as this process
took me quite a long time. I decided to adjust
slightly the trees. I also add some more texture to the belt holding
her coat together. Adding some little details
such as little cuts and rough edges of pleasure can add to the feeling of realism. I also paint in a little scar
above her eyebrow and you find some
birthmarks in her face. For the hat, I use a
soft texture brush to make the hat appear
soft and fluffy. Once I'm satisfied
with the illustration, I merge all layers, leaving only the character and the background
on separate layers. When working with layers, always try out different
layer profiles as they can greatly enhance the look of your illustration. In my Red Riding
Hood illustration, I add some soft fog
behind and around her. That way I achieve two things. I make the background
softer and I make her blend in better
with the environment. You can use specific
fog brushes for that, which are easily available in ABR formats or even use a soft brush with
lower transparency. Another thing I love to do is add in some particles
and sparks. Depending on how magical
your illustration is, you can go for very
witchy-looking sparks or just simple dust particles. For that, I use some dust
and particle brushes. Plenty are available freely on different platforms for
your software of choice. Now when I'm happy
with the illustration, I move to the part where
I add some filters. As filters work only
on one single layer, you have two options here. You can either
compact all layers to create the whole painting
on one single one, or my favorite option, to export the finished
illustration as a PNG and import it right back on the Canvas on top of all layers. Two of my favorite
filters to use are the noise filter and the
chromatic aberration. Noise creates a soft texture which is very
pleasing to the eye. It makes very flat-looking
color patches look interesting and texturized. I use anything
between 2 percent and 5 percent and play around
between gray tone and color. You can find the noise filter in most of the digital
painting softwares. Another filter I love using
is chromatic aberration. In Photoshop, RStudio Pro, and Procreate, you
can find them in the filter area of the software. I recommend first using
the noise filter, as it will give the
chromatic aberration filter more texture
to interact with. Chromatic aberration is a
color distortion often found in photography and cinema and makes the illustration
look more real. There are usually two forms
of filter of that type you can use;
circular and linear. The circular will
act as a lens and distort the edges of the artwork stronger than the middle, while the linear will
separate the colors equally. I use a very small amount of that just enough to
give a feeling of depth but without making it hard to recognize the
details of the face. Personally, I first use the circular chromatic
aberration to create a bit of distortion and then
use the linear one to add some more colors in
the middle of the image. The best thing you can do is
to try it out and play with it until you find the
option that suits you best. Once I'm satisfied with the overall look of
my illustration, one thing I always do is play around with different
color settings. In RStudio Pro and Photoshop, you can create
adjustment layers, such as curves to enhance the overall look of
your illustration. I tend to try different
options for hue saturation, color balance, and temperature. For that, I create an
adjustment layer on top of the illustration and play around with the setting to
see what looks good. Well, in this part, I consider my illustration
to be done. I'm super excited to see your illustrations in
the class project. So don't forget to share
them with me and also feel free to ask me any
questions you might have.
14. Conclusion: [MUSIC] Congratulations
on finishing this class. You can be really proud
of yourself because painting characters can be
quite challenging at times. But with those clearly
divided steps, I hope I was able
to make it easier for you to create
your own character. We learned some basic
character design skills, learned where to find
good reference photos, and how to divide
the illustration process into simple steps. We also learned how to use some details to really bring
the character to life, and how to use effects and adjustment layers to
edit the final image. I hope that the knowledge
of this class helped you. You can tackle any character illustration you set your mind upon and create a world full of beautiful character
illustrations. The most important thing though is to remember to have fun. Don't forget to share
your illustration in the class project section. Ask me any questions you might have so I can give you feedback. [MUSIC] Thank you for
joining me on this journey. I hope you had fun.
Happy painting.
Gabriela Shel, Illustrator and Concept Artist
