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johnsonting — DEFCON 0 - Process walkthrough

Published: 2014-07-24 13:52:21 +0000 UTC; Views: 128978; Favourites: 2653; Downloads: 2063
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Description Hey guys! I got a ton of questions when i posted DEFCON 0 yesterday, the main one was asking how I paint the scratches and metal to match the photo. The secret brush is..

There's absolutely no secrets or shortcuts unfortunately, at least for me, I just take my time and enjoy the process. But i dont usually do this on commercial works, the extra time is not really worth it

So today I went back to the painting, deleted some layers and recorded a footage of me repainting some parts, that's why the exo-skeleton isn't really the same as the final piece, but the point is to show how i paint the metals from nothing, add scratches, decals, water drops, light snow/rain and finishing touches. 

VIDEO: www.youtube.com/watch?v=5q8k3_…

Drop me any questions if you have any and i'll definitely answer them! But here are some answers to some:
1. The visor was the original from the rough stage to near final, but i decided to take it off since I like the expression of the original guy, so I left the visor on for this version

2. I dont have secret brushes, you can see that i have a brush set that seems like i have a lot of fancy brushes, but when it comes to painting i only use a default soft and hard brush. And i got those custom brushes from great artists like Leventep, Dan Luvisi etc. 

3. Video is sped up 7x, real time 1 hour to repaint the parts, and the song is Halo 3 Ost, I didnt know what song to put.. any recommendations? LOL

4. I used a wacom intuos pro, with photoshop cs5. Which doesn't really matter that much :/

5. You can hit the download button to download this version if you want to see the outcome, but you can also check out the final and details below:
 

6. I usually zoom out for a full view every few minutes or when i finish a part, it helps to see if the part you're painting matches the whole thing.

7. This is not the final piece, this is just a repaint of some parts to record the video. 

8. I dont think I'll be able to do a gumroad tutorial because my english vocab and voice sucks

9. To those who keep flaming on artists that "photobash" is a cheat, i'm sure a lot of professional artists has mentioned, it's definitely not. You still gotta have a solid amount of knowledge for lighting, material, shapes, forms, painting techniques, etc to come up with a believable one, accusing that photobashers are cheating is rude. I'm still not very skilled in this but I'm still learning everyday when I paint, it's really not as easy as you think it is. 

Thanks guys!
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Comments: 88

TD-Vice [2014-07-25 07:44:26 +0000 UTC]

Thanks for giving such an explicit insight at your processes!

I myself am just beginning to enter the world of photobashing, and it's a technique like no other. For some time I had been an artist who was scoffing upon the heavy use of photographic material, seeing it as "cheating" - I've painted digitally by hand most of the time. But then, due to work circumstances, it came about so that in order to continue this hobby (I am no pro), it was either start drawing MUCH FASTER, or drop painting at all. And at that point' I've set a high enough bar in quality for my works - but since they took months at times, it became unsustainable. Then, conversing with friends, watching awesome artwork done by industry leaders, I've picked up a crucial piece of advice: "it doesn't matter how you do it, it's the result, how good it looks in the end, what matters". And I've seen how photobashing conserves time, while giving the same, if not better, visuals.

So, I've just started, and such a glimpse is an immense help for me. On one hand, it made me realize that generally, what I was doing intuitively, was done right. But the devil is in the details! Your method of placing scratches and achieving hard edges is very effecient, while scant, but what impressed me most were the waterdrops. That, I gotta say, is a thing you can pick up only from a walkthrough like this - not in a thousand years I'd realize it could be done this way and with such flair.

Overall, I think such a technique is indeed working best for near-future/cyberpunkish concept art and illustration, because the photo gives that familiarity, grounding of the fantastic element in reality, that this genre benefits from.

So, one again, thanks for advise and inspiration!

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OmnicronEtheogen77 [2014-07-25 05:34:23 +0000 UTC]

dude this is f*cking amazing.....its like im looking into a window of future soldiers 

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whitefoxdesigns In reply to ??? [2014-07-25 03:22:03 +0000 UTC]

Amazing work as always man! The details are breathtaking

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Jeffy-cu In reply to ??? [2014-07-24 22:28:54 +0000 UTC]

You missed the left hand

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johnsonting In reply to Jeffy-cu [2014-07-25 02:59:22 +0000 UTC]

This is not the final piece though, i used an older psd to repaint some areas just to record the video. The final piece is up in the description. Thanks mate!

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CODxFather [2014-07-24 22:26:48 +0000 UTC]

YOU ARE GOD! End of story...

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johnsonting In reply to CODxFather [2014-07-25 02:58:30 +0000 UTC]

Morgan freeman is the GOD! haha, no way mate, there are tons of great artists out there, and they inspire me everyday! Hope the video helps!

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Wobbb [2014-07-24 20:06:23 +0000 UTC]

This is a matte painting, rightt?

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johnsonting In reply to Wobbb [2014-07-25 02:57:42 +0000 UTC]

Matte paintings are environment pieces used in films and games, but if you're refering to use of photo/photo manipulation. Then yes because it's painted over a very great photo

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rOEN911 [2014-07-24 19:15:02 +0000 UTC]

nice job i like the video

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johnsonting In reply to rOEN911 [2014-07-25 02:56:31 +0000 UTC]

Glad you like it man! Thanks a lot!

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RgDraw [2014-07-24 16:22:18 +0000 UTC]

thank you for this awesome video ! this is quite impressive, thanks again !

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johnsonting In reply to RgDraw [2014-07-25 02:56:16 +0000 UTC]

You're very welcome my friend! Thank you and glad you like it! Hope it inspires something!

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RgDraw In reply to johnsonting [2014-07-25 08:53:50 +0000 UTC]

you inspire me to work more ! so it's something !

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FlamingBreeze [2014-07-24 15:51:21 +0000 UTC]

Thanks for that walk-through, it was really enjoyable and interesting.

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johnsonting In reply to FlamingBreeze [2014-07-25 02:55:50 +0000 UTC]

Thank you and you're very welcome! Glad you like it

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FlamingBreeze In reply to johnsonting [2014-07-25 03:09:50 +0000 UTC]

I'm applying it to a (very big) sketch I'm doing right now, and I really like how it looks. It makes the metal so much more convincing.

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johnsonting In reply to FlamingBreeze [2014-07-25 03:35:23 +0000 UTC]

Yes definitely, in the industry we always use cuffs and scratches to bring out the material on metals, it's one of the faster way to make it stand out, so when people see it the first thing they know is that its metal. Some slight bounce light on the metal helps too!

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FlamingBreeze In reply to johnsonting [2014-07-25 22:35:06 +0000 UTC]

I will say that it's very effective.

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JZ5U [2014-07-24 15:44:14 +0000 UTC]

Wow that's great! Seeing that this is heavily inspired/derived from the Air Assault, 343 should hire you to make armour for halo 5!

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johnsonting In reply to JZ5U [2014-07-25 02:55:36 +0000 UTC]

Halo is the besttt! Haha, thank you so much man, appreciate the compliment!

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TheSTHMC [2014-07-24 15:04:21 +0000 UTC]

Reminds me of the ODSTs

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johnsonting In reply to TheSTHMC [2014-07-25 02:55:10 +0000 UTC]

Haha, it started as a halo x advanced warfare exercise, and from start to finish i've been playing Halo OST to accompany me.

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TheSTHMC In reply to johnsonting [2014-07-25 10:05:57 +0000 UTC]

Oh, well that explains it all XD It looks really nice c:

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BeignetBison [2014-07-24 14:34:42 +0000 UTC]

You should make more tutto and maybe some streaming where people can follow your process.
Should be great.

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johnsonting In reply to BeignetBison [2014-07-25 02:54:23 +0000 UTC]

I would really love too but i'm pretty afraid to stream and make tutorial videos, cause my english vocab is pretty bad and i get nervous :/ I would have to overcome this someday!

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BeignetBison In reply to johnsonting [2014-07-25 07:42:15 +0000 UTC]

Ho I understand.
Instead of live-streaming, pre-registered tutto can be nice and a first step overcome your nervousity.

One thing is sure, you're a great artist on of my top favourite ^^

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froggywoggy11 [2014-07-24 14:33:48 +0000 UTC]

Wonderful work. It looks like a 3D model!

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johnsonting In reply to froggywoggy11 [2014-07-25 02:53:33 +0000 UTC]

Thank you so much!

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froggywoggy11 In reply to johnsonting [2014-07-25 08:08:32 +0000 UTC]

You're most welcome!

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Kreba [2014-07-24 14:12:59 +0000 UTC]

this is a painting? my god it looks so real, well done. very impressive

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johnsonting In reply to Kreba [2014-07-25 02:53:28 +0000 UTC]

I've used a photo plate but the rest are all painted after that, the helmet and suit Thanks a lot!

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AstroAnemone In reply to ??? [2014-07-24 13:57:20 +0000 UTC]

Man, I love the details of his suit. It's so hard to believe this is a painting. D: 

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johnsonting In reply to AstroAnemone [2014-07-25 02:52:40 +0000 UTC]

Thank you so much! Well the base is still a photo, i just use the painted part to compliment with the amazing photo! Glad you like it!

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Wisp-on-Paper In reply to AstroAnemone [2014-07-25 01:08:11 +0000 UTC]

Indeed!

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johnsonting In reply to Wisp-on-Paper [2014-07-25 02:52:45 +0000 UTC]

Thank you!

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Wisp-on-Paper In reply to johnsonting [2014-07-25 22:29:59 +0000 UTC]

Welcome!

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