Steampunk mechanic concept
Originally done as an assignment for a group I run on deviantArt.
1. Sketch
I quickly scribble some sketches to get the steampunk stuff down. I already know I want an older guy with the classical hat of an engine-driver, and come up with a pressured strength-enhancing arm, jumping boots, the inevitable goggles, and a lot of tools, including a pocket watch.
I sketch in Painter 12 with the Real 6B Pencil on an A4-sized canvas. I usually use a different color than grey to sketch for a more lively effect.
2. Clean drawing
I use Poser Pro to set up a view of the character and indicate lighting (which I will later ignore, but it inspires me for the right lighting conditions) and export the render as a png. I make a cleaner drawing over it, again in Painter.
3. Colour flats
For the first colour blocking, I often use Painter, because the colour wheel beats Photoshops colour picker hands down. But here, I use a technique I learned from the youtube videos from Feng Zhu Design School: I collage photos that have the right colours and pick them from that, eventually covering the photos entirely. That I do in Photoshop (CS5). I also indicate a background with rafters and add some grungy paper textures. I use heavily textured brushes to achieve the worn, dirty look suitable for an engineer.
4. Detailing
I add details until I can delete the sketch layer and everything is clear. I create simple lighting like this by adding a new layer as a clipping mask above the character and using low-opacity gradients set to overlay or multiply.
The background gets a treatment with gaussian blur and median filter to be just recognizable.
5. Clearing the silhouette
The character is about done, but he doesn't stand out from the background because of the contrast, so with a large airbrush and soft, textured brushes, I add smoke and steam. At the end of a quick painting, I use a lot of adjustment layers like brightness and contrast, color balance, levels, and photo filter.
Adding a small border is easy in Painter: I choose a colour, go to Canvas> Set Paper Color, and under Canvas> Canvas Size, add the amount of border I want.
1. Sketch
I quickly scribble some sketches to get the steampunk stuff down. I already know I want an older guy with the classical hat of an engine-driver, and come up with a pressured strength-enhancing arm, jumping boots, the inevitable goggles, and a lot of tools, including a pocket watch.
I sketch in Painter 12 with the Real 6B Pencil on an A4-sized canvas. I usually use a different color than grey to sketch for a more lively effect.
2. Clean drawing
I use Poser Pro to set up a view of the character and indicate lighting (which I will later ignore, but it inspires me for the right lighting conditions) and export the render as a png. I make a cleaner drawing over it, again in Painter.
3. Colour flats
For the first colour blocking, I often use Painter, because the colour wheel beats Photoshops colour picker hands down. But here, I use a technique I learned from the youtube videos from Feng Zhu Design School: I collage photos that have the right colours and pick them from that, eventually covering the photos entirely. That I do in Photoshop (CS5). I also indicate a background with rafters and add some grungy paper textures. I use heavily textured brushes to achieve the worn, dirty look suitable for an engineer.
4. Detailing
I add details until I can delete the sketch layer and everything is clear. I create simple lighting like this by adding a new layer as a clipping mask above the character and using low-opacity gradients set to overlay or multiply.
The background gets a treatment with gaussian blur and median filter to be just recognizable.
5. Clearing the silhouette
The character is about done, but he doesn't stand out from the background because of the contrast, so with a large airbrush and soft, textured brushes, I add smoke and steam. At the end of a quick painting, I use a lot of adjustment layers like brightness and contrast, color balance, levels, and photo filter.
Adding a small border is easy in Painter: I choose a colour, go to Canvas> Set Paper Color, and under Canvas> Canvas Size, add the amount of border I want.
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