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FleetingEmber β Fox Step by Step
#animalart #backlight #backlit #fox #green #portrait #stepbystep #tutorial #photoshoppainting
Published: 2018-09-08 09:09:49 +0000 UTC; Views: 19778; Favourites: 914; Downloads: 0
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Description
Summer Days
I need to do more foxes. I enjoyed doing this, although now I look back i seriously could have done better with the lighting!
1 - Laying out background colours with a simple sketch on the layer above.
2 - Messing about with a super fuzzy brush here to lay down colour for the fox. This had absoloutly no impact on the final piece as I just painted over everything, but I really like the texture effect anyway.
3 - Using a standard fur brush, started giving some base texture to the fox using the base colours.
4 - Fox felt too thin so widened it. Texture is far too heavy so start softening it with a pale peach. Basic idea for eye direction & nose detail
5 - Real simple over paint with shadow ideas. It was at this point i decided I wanted a strong back light. Should really have decided this before!
6 - Adding a stronger shadow to emphasize back light. I wanted the light to be behind but above so the tip of the nose would be in the light. I definitely didn't accomplish this effect very well in the end, but it's a start and something I'll experiment with more in future.
7 - Combining all layers and starting to overpaint details.
8 - Continuing to craft details. A few contrast tweaks here.
9 - I felt the background was too wishy washy at the end. For me, adding in those darker, greyish green tones really helped unify the fox to the background, with the lighting enough to seperate them. Eyes are probably a bit too glowy considering they're supposed to be in shade, but I find it really hard to stop myself!
Finished piece -
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Comments: 26
Thanks for making this and adding the details of what you didΒ in the description. This is really helpful seeing just how digital paintings are made.Β
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Thank you! Although, I do tend to change how I do things each time. It's definitely a learning curve, and I'm probably a very disorganized painter haha.
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I use Photoshop and have a Wacom Cintiq
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Finally, a good picture of a animal on Deviant art
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Haha there's far, far better than mine!!
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The eyes are my favorite part! They really show a lot of depth and reflectance. How did you determine the base colors of the fox? I am trying to paint a sandy colored tabby cat right now, and finding the brown tints I need with creams, blacks, and greys scattered through it/over it, is REALLY frustrating!
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Ahh thank you!
So, I try not to think too much regarding base colours as otherwise you can get really bogged down with it, and i tend to tweak and change things later anyway. Main thing is just picking things and going for it!
With this obviously I just picked a nice bright orange and a cream initially for the white parts and then main fur. Then always think, you need darker and lighter shades of these colours, but one of the main tips I can give is remember to vary your saturation. It's incredibly important, and adds visual interest. I kinda decided my shadows here as an after thought though, which i don't really recommend as it can just muddy everything.
With a tabby (I love painting tabby fur!) I'd mostly go with with a desaturated brown, pretty much grey, for the base and then work from there. A really nice idea which works in a lot of situations is to use cools for your shadows and warms for your lights. Also think, you can go over on a seperate layer with the colour mode with a low opacity brush to bring in your colours gradually. Also, I know it's tempting with the stripes but totally avoid complete black!
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Thanks a bunch! I was kind of thinking the same thing, but totally got "really bogged down with it" and part of the problem was, my reference photo already has a really dark shadowy side and an edge lit side, so i think i was going for a too dark base color since it is a better idea to work with the shadowing after.
Well, I will let you know how it turns out. I really love the colors you use for your works. So far I think this one is my favorite piece.
Β
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You're more than welcome! Yes, definitely pick something in a mid shade for your base, I totally forgot to mention that. It can work in some lighting instances, but its much better to start middle-ish so then you have room either side for shadows and highlights.
It's funny you should mention that cat painting, as it's also one of my favourites. I've realised recently that I regularly get way too carried away with contrast. My lights and shadows are too much. It's a habit as I overwork them. That cat was quite interesting as the shadows on the left was slightly darker, but i used colour with the cool blues, rather than an over reliance on darker shades, to portray the shadows. It worked so much better and definitely something I need to keep in mind for future.
I'll look forward to seeing it!
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Haha, yeah I kinda really went a bit mad with the floof
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That's not a bad thing.
Something a fox has that's really fucking cute, and you took it to the next level.
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