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Lord-FSan β Digital painting tutorial 1
Published: 2008-05-15 05:18:16 +0000 UTC; Views: 35684; Favourites: 227; Downloads: 2630
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Description
WARNING HUGE FILE!!!!Here is my long awaited tutorial about Digital painting/coloring!
This is only the first part, I will make more in time
What it covers
Basic principles about coloring and shading skin and clothes
Basic masking technique
Basic layer management
A few tips and thoughts
What it does NOT cover
Painting hair (this will come later)
Advanced techniques about stuff (you guys have to experiment and try things out by yourself
)This said, I hope you will find it easy to understand, and easy to follow.
You don't need to be an advanced user to use it. The only tools you will use in there are the brush tool, the zoom tool, and the eyedropper (maybe). No fancy brush, no fancy filters, no fancy thing that no one understand.
This tutorial was made on and for photoshop CS3.
BUT! It will will work just as fine on older versions (I'm not sure about before 6.0, I haven't used those in a long time), and could probably be even adapted to other softwares such as Gimp or PainterPro or whatever there is out there.
I personally use a Wacom Intuos2 9x12 tablet, but this tutorial works just fine if you only have a mouse.
I started coloring this way when I was still using a mouse
It might ask a little more patience, but what you gain by using your mouse will be a very valuable asset if you ever upgrade to a tablet one day
And I think that should be all for today.
If you use it, don't hesitate to send me a link to your piece so I can see
This tutorial is delivered with typos and grammatical errors, or else it would be too easy
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Comments: 61
It's only a matter of practice for the strokes themselves. You gotta learn to use your pen if you use a tablet, or how to move your mouse if you paint with that.
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this was sooo helpful! thank you! i'm always afraid to go too dark with the skin shading, but your finished project made me much more confident about it ^^
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Thanks! I'm really glad it helped you
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Trying and trying and trying, but it keeps drawing ON TOP of the lines!! I did everything just the way you told me, but it draws on top, what to do?...
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You need to have a layer for your base colors. Then create a layer on top of it for your lines. Then when you want to start shading, you need to create your next layer between the base layer and the lines layer.
That is if like me, you don't use a "proper" lineart, and you repaint your lines.
If you use a lineart (inked lines, or if you use your sketch as your lines), then make sure that your lineart layer is on top of everything else (it should be the very first layer in the layer window). You also need to set it as "Multiply" so all the white disappears and only the lines show (To set on "Multiply", look in the layer window, where it says "normal". Open the drop box and select "Multiply" from the list.)
I hope that helps. If you still have problems, don't hesitate to ask me.
If you want to see how I do it "in action", you can watch the video I have made about painting the flats before shading, where I explain the flats, show how I draw the lines (with layer positioning) and basic concepts of masking. :thumb210504363: [link]
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Hm... my lienart appears on the background layer. And with the other layers whatever I draw, it appears on top of everything else, I just can't go under the lines... maybe it's because my photoshop is SC2?..
And, yep, watched the video! : ) It helped.
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Ah I see!
Ok, here is what you have to do:
double click your background layer (the ones with the lines). This will "unlock" it and transform it into an actual movable layer (a pop-up message will appear, just click yes)
From there, you can create another layer and move your lines layer above before changing it into "Multiply".
From there, you should be able to follow the process with new layers, folders, and whatever I show in my tutorial here and in my videos.
Tell me if that works for you, or if you have any more trouble
PS: my tutorials work for Photoshop from 7 to CS5, and any version before that, that uses layers (I think down to 4.0 if I remember well..)
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And.. how do I move things from one layer to another?
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You can move layers around by simply dragging them up and down in the layer window.
If you want to move things on the drawing, just use the move tool (ctrl+V) with whichever layer you need to displace, and drag it around.
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Thanks! Usually I understand faster than this, but photoshop is still a really new thing with me. xD Meanwhile, check what I drew with your tutorials! I couldn't save the original lineart, but I think it still worked out. [link]
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You're very welcome
Photoshop can be intimidating at first, I understand. No problem at all. Don't hesitate to ask me if you have any questions
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Okay. Thanks for the help! : )
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Great tutorial! Faved for future reference 
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Thanks a lot! I'm really glad you find it useful
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Thanks for sharing your tutorial ! I'm a beginner on photoshop and it'll help me a lot ! I'm french and I'll have to make a translation of the text so that'll be more practical for me... I can send you the french translation if you want to publish a french version...
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Hey there!
Thanks for the support! I'm really glad you like it and that it can help!
Je suis francais mais je vis au Canada depuis environ 4 ans. Etant donne que le site est principalement en anglais, c'est pourquoi mes tutorials et mes commentaires sur mes images sont en anglais. Je n'ai jamais vraiment eu le temps de travailler sur une version en francais, et je suis content que vous pensiez a vous donner la peine de le traduire. Si cela vous dit, vous pouvez me l'envoyer en effet et je le posterai dans ma galerie en vous citant pour la traduction bien entendu
De quel coin de la France etes-vous? Pour ma part, je viens de la region de Bordeaux mais j'ai vecu a Paris pour un bon moment avant d'emigrer ici a Vancouver au Canada.
Ca fait plaisir de trouver des francais dans le coin! Lol
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Merci pour votre rΓ©ponse! Cela me fait bien plaisir aussi de croiser un franΓ§ais ! Mon niveau d'anglais est loin d'Γͺtre irrΓ©prochable lol, j'ai parfois du mal Γ saisir totalement le fonctionnement de ce site, d'ailleurs, je n'ai toujours pas saisi si l'on pouvait envoyer des messages privΓ©s par exemple...
Je vis à Paris près de Bastille mais je suis originaire de l'Ouest... Je vous contacterai si j'ai des difficultés pour la traduction, ce qui ne manquera certainement pas de se produire avec le vocabulaire technique !
Have a nice day or night ( ici, il est cinq heures et la place Blanche a mauvaise mine lalalala)
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This tutorial is great, I'm finding it really useful
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thanks, I'm glad you think so
Thanks for the fav too
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Your tutorial motivated me to try drawing once again, even though I lack talent.
Created [link] thanks to your inspiration and hints.
Far from being perfect - but still, the best one I ever made.
I want to thank you for that.
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Hey there! Sorry for the late reply, I was away for some time.
I'm glad my tutorial inspired you and helped you come up with such a nice piece.
That's a great compliment to me
Keep up the good work
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One day sir, this will help me. One day.
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lol I very hope so ;D
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Thanks Master helped out alot. May the force be with you.
[link]
That is what i got so far
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hey that's looking pretty good
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im using thistutorial to try out a new style and i really found it helpful. ill post you the link when i, all done. i was always an avid user of the magic wand tool and smudgeing but the is alot more simple and effective. :]
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I`m really glad my tutorial could help you
I can`t wait to see what you made
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[link] this is what i've got so far. if you can give me some pointers on fingernails it would be greatly appreciated. and i started the hair with your tutorial on hair as well.
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cool, I'll go check this out
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Different from the way I paint, but is good to know other styles. Thanks.
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indeed, I love looking at other ways as well
even if not following the same way, there always is something to pick up here and there
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Thank you so much for making this tutorial!! I really learned how to use layers in photoshop a lot better than how I've been using them in the past--I've always wondered what the little squareish-icon at the bottom with the circle in the middle was for.....now I know!!
After reading your tutorial I decided to try it out for myself, and it worked! Thank you so so much!!! **praises**
I'm definately going to fav this. ^__^
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thanks, I'm very glad my tutorial could help you
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Wow, I suck at photoshop! Imma try this out!
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haha that's why it's here
don't hesitate to show me what you did with it
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Whenever I get the time to sit down, I definitely will
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What if my Photoshop doesn't look like yours? Am I SOL???? 
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but nah, not really...
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YOU LIE! I have no chain link!
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GASP
this exactly what ive been looking for!!!
sniperyan showed me it!
im going to try this out!!
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cool!
I hope it can help, don't hesitate to show me the result
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okay!
but i havent started yet!
too much work to be done
T-T
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This is a good tutorial. NOW I KNOW YOUR SECRET TECHNIQUE!!
Why not try the pentool for erasing the excess colors? It's easier than the eraser.
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hehe, have you read the tutorial closely ?
I never ever use the eraser tool
the pen tool would be a good idea I guess, but it would make things a bit too neat, at least for me.. lol
Thanks :hugs:
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LOOOOOOOOOOOLLLLL You caught me there...I didn't read everything, I just browsed it
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hahaha it's ok, I tend to do that as well
I'm glad you took the time to look at it
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i'm faving this and I will try it out sometime! Thanks for making it ^^
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