Some people have asked for a tutorial from me, but I'm not sure if I can call
this a tutorial, I still have so much to learn myself. So, this is just something
that shows you the steps I took in creating "Tears Won't Fall". I used Photoshop
7 and Painter 8. The full size of this painting is 3000x3600 pixels, or 10"x12"
at 300dpi. This is about the size me and my computer are comfortable working at.
:D
Here is the finished image:
If you like this picture, keep reading and see how it's done! :)
Sketches:
Left: I often draw girl's faces just for fun, and this girl started out as one
of those speedies. I liked her face a lot so I decided to keep it. Later I had
an idea of a painting and I thought this face would work well with it, so that's
what I did.
Centre: I did the face and colour/composition sketch way back in June '04 (yes,
June - this picture was finished in November '04). I duplicated the background
layer twice, one set to Soft Light and one set to Screen mode. I forgot the exact
opacity I set them to... anyway, this bumps up the contrast of the image to a
rich golden colour I'm after. The colour combination of pink and blue was a happy
accident; I was just doodling in the background and the light blue "clicked".
Right: I started with a rough line sketch but never got it finished. The line
sketch here is the finalized version I did just before I started painting. It's
very messy, but you can see how I planned the details out: her pose, the flying
cloth-bits, the flower-like bowl, the direction of clouds in the background. I
had a floral theme going and you can see the detailed pattern I did on the part
covering her abdomen, that I ultimately axed.
You can't paint something if you don't know what it looks like. I don't think
I'm good enough to work entirely without reference, so I shot a few reference
pictures of myself in a similar pose. These are my own chubby hands, holding a DIY lampshade :p The light source is different, but that's okay. Sorry I can't
show the whole picture because I wasn't properly attired ;)
Step 1:
Okay, this is the first painting step. Starting with the face under the line sketch,
I blocked in the bg and her body. Skin area was painted in Painter 8, using the
Acrylic Captured bristle brush. Her skin and some dress details were the only
things done in Painter, everything else was in PS7, the usual hard edged default
brush. I wasn't sure what I want the bg to look like at this stage, so I just
mindlessly put in a bunch of colours. Also the tear catcher and hands are very
rough.
Step 2:
Continue refining the form of the body, designs of the dress and hands. I also
soft-airbrushed the skin to smooth it out a bit, also put in some subtle colour
variations and bounce light. Note the reflected skin colour on her dress, under
her armpit area. All these time my line sketch layer is still above the painting.
More random colours in the bg.
Step 3:
More design elements on the dress, I'm starting to veer away from the line sketch
version, see the pattern is completely different.
Step 4:
Add jewellery. These are on a separate layer.
Step 5:
Slimmed down her waist and modelled her forehead a bit, to the advice of HOON
and Juji <3 I'd been looking at it for so long that her elephant waist completely
escaped me.
Step 6:
Painted hair & hair ornaments on a separate layer, I used the default hard round
brush in PS and custom speckled brushes. Still using the sketch as a guideline.
Erased the bracelets because they look awful. Drew in some strokes to indicate
the flying cloth bits. Also refined some shadows here and there.
Step 7:
I finally decided what to do with the bg. Looking back to the rough colour sketch
I made, I thought the blue would look best so, sampling some colours from the
colour sketch and picking some more myself, I painted in the sky on a layer on
top of the hair layer. It almost covers the original bg completely, but I think
you can still see the base colours showing through. Seems much fresher with the
blue, doesn't it? :D The sky was painted into the hair a little. Finishing the
flying cloth bits and came up with a nice design for the tear bowl.
Step 8:
Added clouds. They still look very rough at this stage.
Finished?
Because the first face I painted was quite small, I had to upscale it for this
full painting. I painted over the facial features (especially the eyes) to sharpen
things up. Added the crystal-like tears. I only painted four, they're tiny but
quite a hassle if I had to paint every single one, since they need lots of tiny
stroke to get the right effect, lots of saturated rainbow colours and spots of
white. I duplicated and moved/transformed the four for the rest of the tears.
Some more hair strands. Refined the clouds, also changed the direction of the
"flow" in the upper right corner. Added birds. While adding these details, I
had to keep in mind of the overall composition for the best arrangement. I now
consider this
finished so I post it in some forums for crits.
Really Finished!
The one thing that people noticed was... her huge nose. ;) It didn't really occur
to me, but the bridge of her nose was way too narrow for the cartilage part, or
vice versa. So, back into PS for some fixing! I fixed some other areas that could
be improved as well. And here's the finished image again:
Finished doesn't mean it's perfect... but I've been spending too much time on
this image (right now, I'm almost sick of writing this too :p) and I have
other things I need to draw, so I call it *really* finished.
Additional notes:
The soft airbrush and burn/dodge tools are not evil. For some effects that I want
to achieve, it's just better if I used these tools. Like I did in step two, I
used the airbrush on the skin to smooth it. I also used it sparingly in parts
of the sky. The metallic highlight on the jewellery was done with the dodge tool
set to "Highlight", if I tried to paint the tiny but strong highlights with the
regular paintbrush it wouldn't look very nice.
The lower rim of the eyes collects moisture so it would have a tiny bit of "sparkle".
Here I exaggerated the wet highlight because her eyes are welling up with tears.
Also I have put multiple wet highlights on the iris, this is due to the tears
too.
Coloured objects influence each other... see how the skin colour is reflected
in the dress. The glass bowl reflects the colour of the hand and vice versa.
This is how I painted the clouds, if you're interested:
© Linda Tso unless otherwise stated. Do not use without permission.