combining digital and traditional tutorial

Workshops

June 200674

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odern computer programs such as Photoshop and Painter, and accessories like Wacom tablets, have made

the world of digital art near boundless. However, there are certain limits even to these powerful tools. Although most techniques and textures can be effectively replicated digitally, the process of creating them is sometimes artificial, forced, and often unnecessarily time consuming when we consider that they are inherent and natural traits of the traditional materials. It is these natural traits that I strive to preserve in my own art while combining them with the limitless choices of digital colours. The digital tools also offer the luxury of experimenting without the fear of ruining precious artwork.

In this tutorial I will explain the technique which has, over many years

Learn how to combine traditional pencil and ink on paper techniques with the vast abilities of digital tools. By Adi Granov

COMBINING DIGITALAND TRADITIONAL

of trial and error, evolved into a very effective method for creating painted illustrations through the digital colouring of traditional artwork. This technique preserves all the textures and analogue feel of the original artwork.

I like to keep my technique simple and straightforward and rely on my skills and artistic choices, rather than tools, to dictate the outcome. As you will see from the tutorial, I tend to stay away from most of the advanced options of Photoshop and stick with the more basic features. This not only keeps the process streamlined, but it also sets certain limitations on the tools that preserve the purity and spontaneity which can often be lost in overworking.

While the technique is advanced and requires strong understanding of light, shadow and colour, it only requires moderate knowledge of Photoshop.

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Adi GranovCOUNTRY: USCLIENTS: Marvel, Humanoids Group, Nintendo Software Tech, Wizards of the Coast

Best known for his comic book work on the acclaimed Iron Man:

Extremis series, Adi used to be a concept artist for Nintendo. www.adigranov.net

DVD AssetsThe files you need are on the DVD

FILES: clouds.jpg, IFXilloFinal.psd, IFXilloLayers.psd, IFXillosketch.jpgFOLDERS:Full screenshotsSOFTWARE:Photoshop CS2 (Demo)

1 The conceptWith most illustration work, there are certain requirements ranging from thematic to technical, from the very idea to the physical size of the artwork. Its essential to take all of these requirements into consideration from the very start and build your concept around them. As an illustration assignment this piece is a simple one. The brief is to create an

original character in the vein of my comic book work in a heroic flying pose. When designing a new character I usually do many variations from different angles and with different layouts. But since this is a one-off character on a simple background and were examining the technique, I focused on designing a character using an array of textures.

I draw my sketches in Photoshop because it enables me to edit, rework, and experiment with the designs and shapes without having to redraw everything if I change my mind. I create the canvas in scale based on the assignment requirements but keep it small so I can focus more on the overall shapes rather than any minute details. Once I have a satisfactory sketch I resize it to the physical print size needed, in this case 14 inches tall, and print it out.

2 The lightboxI use a lightbox to lightly trace the design from the printout on to my work surface. The lightbox is just a box with a light inside it and a glass cover, which is used predominantly in animation to trace images from one paper to another. A window could be used for the same effect.

3 Traditional toolsI use high quality 100 per cent

cotton watercolour paper because its very sturdy, and HB pencils because they are soft, without smudging, and light. Occasionally, I also use H pencils, usually only for shading skin which requires delicacy. I use regular India ink for pure black inking as well as ink washes. For the washes I dilute the ink with water and create a few different shades, from a very light to a couple of darker ones.

Photoshop

Switching

foreground and

background colours

[X] (PC and Mac)

Easily switch between

two colours very useful

when painting.

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4 Refining the designOnce I have the sketch transferred on to the paper, I start refining the design and the style. I always start with overall shapes and tighten as I go, focusing on larger areas first and leaving the details for last. Putting too much focus on the details early on usually results in a disjointed-looking drawing.

5 The ink stageWhen Im absolutely satisfied with the drawing in its pencil form, I start filling the darkest areas with black ink. I try to balance these areas with the lighting of the scene. Since our hero is flying through fairly well-lit clouds, there is a lot of reflective light around him so the very dark areas would be limited. These dark areas give me a great point of reference on which to base my range of shading, the paper itself being my lightest and the ink my darkest shade with the whole spectrum in between them.

6 Rendering the greyscaleHaving established my light and shadow extremes, I then slowly start to model the shapes with shades of inkwash and pencil. I cover larger areas with the diluted inks and refine them with pencils. At this stage I pay particular attention to the textures and reflective qualities of desired materials. More reflective materials have sharper highlights, while the less reflective ones are softer.

I use pure ink last to ink the linework, which helps bring out the shapes and give the image a more graphic look.

7 Turning digitalWhen I have taken the greyscale rendering as far as it should go, I scan it into Photoshop. Depending on the requirement of an assignment I scan at least at the required resolution, in this case 300 DPI. Since I work on paper much larger than the required print size, I then resize the image down to the right measurements. No need to struggle with needlessly giant files.

Using the Curves tool (Image>Adjustments>Curves) I adjust the image to match my original artwork by holding it up and comparing the two pictures. It might also be necessary to adjust the saturation as well since some scanners saturate the images.

Next, I set my greyscale art as the background layer.

8 Flatting the coloursI create a new layer in Multiply mode (lets call it layer A) and with a Hard-edged brush I proceed to fill all of the separate elements of the image with respective colours. This process is referred to as flatting. I try to choose approximate colours I intend to use right away but they can also be easily manipulated once the whole image is filled by selecting individual areas. This layer is the most important step in the colouring process and will be my main working layer.

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9 Layer hierarchy Having established the basic flat colours, I make two copies of that same layer, B and C. I move layer B to the very top and set to Normal mode. This is my selection layer where I can, by using the Wand tool, select individual colours throughout the rest of my process. A lot of artists use channels for their selections, but I find that having it in a layer is much more visually intuitive.

I then set the remaining layer C to Overlay mode and place under the A and on top of my original art. This colours the greyscale and adjusts its value depending on the colours used. Lighter colours lighten and darker colours darken. I then individually adjust the hue, saturation and lightness of each colour by selecting them and using the Hue/Saturation tool (Image>Adjustments...) based on what I am after. The image should end up having a rather appealing watercolour-like look at this stage. In many applications this could be considered sufficiently coloured, but not here. We are after a lot more.

10 BackgroundIn most cases, backgrounds have more elements such as buildings, cars, spaceships, etc, which are drawn and rendered traditionally, along with the

main elements. But in this case the background is an empty sky, which doesnt contain any solid shapes so it lends itself more to being created digitally. In order to save time, as a starting point I use a Photoshop plug-in, Xenofex (www.alienskin.com) to create a basic cloud texture and then paint and adjust it to suit the image. A photograph of the sky could work as well, but it would require a lot more work to match the desired effect and style of the art.

Multiply layer A. By selecting the individual areas of colour by using the Wand tool in my selection layer, which is otherwise kept invisible, I can focus on individual areas without damaging others. I pick the colours directly from the canvas with the Eyedropper tool and slowly build up shades and hues with the Brush, starting with the larger areas and working towards smaller details. By doing this work in the Multiply layer there is no danger of covering up any of the qualities of the original art.

13 Realistic reflections The level and sharpness of reflections define the surfaces of various materials and are essential to creating believable objects. As mentioned, I have prepared the greyscale painting to reflect what I want the parts of the character to be made of. For instance, the white parts of the suit are a smooth, ceramic, highly reflective material, while the skin on the face is soft and matte and reflects the light in a soft and diffused manner.

In creating the reflections and highlights, I use lighter colours in the Multiply layer A and allow the white from my background to shine through. I switch between light colours picked from the environment, defining reflections and softening them to add volume.

11 Additional textureI have a vast library of found and created textures, which I alter and use to add depth to the colours in order to give them a more organic look to match the scanned art. These textures could be anything from scanned watercolour on paper, to photographs of rough walls, etc.

I create a new layer with the texture covering the entire art and set its mode to Overlay and place it on the top of my colour layers. This gives the entire image a unified, organic feel.

12 Rendering the coloursIts time to start adding more depth to the colours by defining the shapes with stronger shadows and highlights, as well as ambient light and reflections. For this I use the Brush tool on my original

Brush diameter[ or ] (PC and Mac)Use to quickly resize the current brush without having to look away from your work. A great time-saver.

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Avoid the easy route Try not to rely on software to make the choices for you. If something is easy to achieve by clicking a few filters, that means that its just as easy for anyone else and you run the risk of ending up with generic and unremarkable artwork. Use your tools judiciously and creatively to let your own vision come through and you will soon be creating unique and interesting art, no matter what the software might be.

PROSECRETS

14 Adding additional detailsI decide that the helmet needs some additional detail in the form of some abstract markings. In a new Multiply layer just above my layer A, I paint the symbol and then merge it down. I then select the area in my Selection layer and treat it in the same way as described in steps 12 and 13.

15 Enhancing the atmosphereThe image is nearly complete and there are only various effects and details left to do. I create a new layer in Normal mode on top of the Multiply layer A. By choosing the colours from the environment, I add depth to the image by painting over areas further away in perspective, which adds to the atmospheric depth of the image. I also soften some areas where the texture might be too harsh, and add various small hot-spot highlights to give those parts a bit more kick.

16 Special effectsThe only thing left to paint is the fire behind the character coming from his jetpack and reflecting in the surrounding clouds. By using a large custom brush, I paint the fire in layer A starting with the darkest orange and slowly shifting towards the hottest white closest to the source of heat.

17 Final adjustmentsHaving finished with all of the painting I flatten the image. By using the Curves tool, I play with the sliders to add a bit more contrast and visual impact to the image.

18 Adjusting dull sectionsAfter much work, the illustration is done and ready for sending off. As for me I can kick back, relax, and erm, start on the next one.

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