Digital Painting: Terran Marine
Digital Painting is something I am just begining to grasp, so I hope this step-by-step tutorial gives you some insite into how to develop your own artwork! This painting was done in Photoshop using a Wacom Inuos tablet.
To start I fill the canvas with a neutral color, I never want to work on white beacuse it makes it very difficult to get the right colors when you begin painting. I chose a brown color because I want the image to be dusty/dirty looking, and my main color is going to be orange. Next, I add a new layer, set the layer blending mode to "multiply" and begin sketching a rough image composition. The purpose for the new layer is so that I can keep the sketch untouched once I begin painting, in case I need a reference later on. By setting the layer mode multiply the sketch will add to any layer below it, as if we are drawing on a transparent sheet of paper.
Here I have decided I like my sketch, and have added the shadow shapes... in this case the main shapes. Always use a large brush for these first parts. Just like in my drawing tutorials, you always want to start simple. If the proportions look correct then you can move on to the details. So I blocked in the silhouettes of the two figures, and I added a little bit of color to the canvas as well, to get ready for color later on.
Using the same large brush as I did for the blocking in, I begin to add some basic lighting and color. Again, I am not concerned about any details at this point, just using light to define the forms and shapes that make up the two figures. Also, I don't bother to blend everything quite yet, since things will likely change as I continue to develop the forms.
Here I decided to add some basic details. I wanted the focal point to be the alien attacking the marine, and of course the burst from his rifle, so I added a new layer of light. This will help further define the form, and start adding more color to the painting.
This is were it gets fun... and a little tedious. First I added a drop shadow and some rocks to the foreground. We need this to ground our shapes, so they dont look like they are floating. Next I began to add some details to the marine. Some of the things you will notice are the changes to the lighting on his armor, and of course some lines to show different plates/peices that make up the marines suit. I also look at my light sources (in this case the gun burst and a generic soft light from the top left corner) and use those to further define the edges and shapes of the suit.
I also decided to add some details that I neglected to sketch out, like little details to the suit, divits, and af course the marines face. I also asdded a little bit of blue rim lighting to define the bottom edge of the marine, and throw some reflected light in there to round out the form.
In this image you can see that I continued to add details to the marines suit. I also saw that the leg coming towards the camera wasn't quite right. So I took the opportunity to also re-think the knee-pad design. You will notice the all of his armor is receiving light from 2 sources, the ambient light, and the flare from the rifle burst. I just add the light slowly, and build it up unilt it looks appropriate.
I also continued to add foregraound elements, and also started adding in some background. Using simple block shapes I painted some buildings in the distance. This will really add to the depth of the image. Also, notice how I used lighter colors on the buildings further in the distance. In order for the illusrion of depth to feel real there needs to be some atmosphere to the image. also, less detail is needed in the distnat objects, or any object that isn't a focal point.
Here is the final image. Really these final detail steps are the most time consuming. I just continued adding details to the marine, then slowly worked my way to the Zergling, refining any necesarry details, correcting light, and adding missing details as well. I also made the sky look cloudy/dusty and added some faint dust clouds around the figures. You can't tell by looking at the steps, but I re-paint some things several times, or paint over them until they look right. One good example are the boots, they changed completely from the inicial sketch. But all the hard work payed off. Some other details to notice are the mechanics behind the knee-guards, the alien brain splatter (an awesome band name by the way!), some faint flying aliens and little things like that.
I hope you enjoyed the tutorial, if some of this feels over your head don't worry, just practice doing each part a couple of times and you should start to get it.
