Workshops

BECOME A BETTER ARTIST!

Get to grips with fundamental skills you need to improve your art. 40 unmissable tips on colour, tone, anatomy and lighting
o become a great artist, you need a solid grounding in the basics. Theres no point trying to be a comic artist for instance, if youre knowledge of anatomy isnt all that. Similarly, how could you ever expect to be a concept artist without an understanding of

Artist insight

colour, tonal values and lighting? Learn the basics first and get them right and your opportunities as an artist, both personally and professionally are certain to grow. In order to help you start your artistic journey, or simply refresh your memory, weve enlisted the services of four top

digital painters Rebecca Kimmel, Marta Dahlig, Michael Dashow and Philip Straub. Over the following pages these artists show you some of the basics through snippets of essential advice. Then its up to you to continue your development as an artist

Rebecca Kimmel
COUNTRY: US Rebecca Kimmel runs the Artistic Anatomy and Figurative Art forum on CG Society. Her website has become a valuable resource for artists studying life drawing. Artists of all levels are welcome to take part in workshops. http://forums.cgsociety. org/forumdisplay. php?f=177

92

June 2007

Artist insight Become a better artist!

Michael Dashow
COUNTRY: US Michael Dashow balances his time between illustration for fun and profit and Art Directing at 3D avatar site Meez. com. He loves painting humorous science fiction, fantasy and childrens images. Michael lives in Oakland, California, USA, with his wife and newborn son. michaeldashow.com

Philip Straub
COUNTRY: US Philip Straub is Art Director for games company NCSoft. Hes an expert in colour theory, and has worked with Universal Studios in the past. www.philipstraub.com

Marta Dahlig
COUNTRY: Poland Marta Dahlig was born in 1986. She is a talented artist and freelance illustrator, and is a regular contributor to ImagineFX. www.marta-dahlig.com

June 2007

93

Workshops

TOP TEN COLOUR TIPS

Art Director Michael Dashow shares his favourite tips for effective use of colour in your artwork
1 CONTRAST
Colours on opposite sides of the colour wheel stand out against each other. Use this contrast to call attention to the focus of your painting. Balance intense colour with more muted other colours in the background.

2 COLOUR VARIETY
Objects in nature incorporate a variety of colours. Paint natural objects with many similar colours. Especially keep this in mind when painting skin. Areas where the blood is closer to the surface show more reds. Areas around the eye reveal more purples.

5 DRAMATIC SKIES
To really set a mood for your piece, choose an appropriate colour for the sky. I rarely stick with the traditional blue. Instead, I opt for colours to heighten the drama and emotions that I want the piece to illicit.

7 BOUNCE YOUR LIGHT

Shadows pick up bounced light from the environment. Pull in your ambient colour, such as the colour of your sky. Light bounces off other parts of your scene, too. Grass, for example would add greens into your lower shadows.

The bright, warm colours pop against the cooler, whiter blues and greens.

3 COLOUR MOODS
Choose colours that best convey the mood youre aiming for. Strong reds get the pulse going, and impart a sense of drama or danger. Cool blues and greens have a more calming effect.

Colours on opposite sides of the colour wheel stand out against each other
6 AERIAL PERSPECTIVE
When theres more distance between you and other objects, theres more atmosphere between them. Add more depth to your painting by bringing your atmosphere colour into objects that are further away. Traditionally, this means making them more blue and less saturated.

8 SIDE LIGHTING
Rather than just using a single light source, consider adding more light from a different direction. The additional light helps round out the forms more, and can also have an exciting colour impact.

9 CHECK YOUR VALUES

Its important not to neglect the values while youre working with colour. If your colours are all of a similar tone, your painting will have less impact. Checking the image in greyscale can help you here.

4 ADD A LITTLE MAGIC

Were used to seeing light in warm colours such as red from light cast by the sun. Blues are familiar from light reflected from the sky. That leaves green and purple as colours we dont normally see. Incorporating them can give a painting a mystical air.

The sky is orange so the buildings further back appear more dull orange too.

Using several test thumbnails will help you to come up with the correct colours.

Dont expect instant perfection. Just as sketches are important for drawing a finished piece, theyre equally helpful for colour composition. Make some colour thumbnails before jumping into your painting. I try out different palettes by using my paint programs layers to block out areas of colour and shift their hues.

10 TEST IT OUT

94

June 2007

Artist insight Become a better artist

TOP TEN TONAL VALUE TIPS

My editorial illustration, below, is a simple example of the importance of light.

Need some help with tonal values? Philip Straub shares his secrets
1 LIGHT All objects in nature are
made visible to us by some form of light source. The form of all objects in the world simply wouldnt be apparent without light.

6 POSITIVE/NEGATIVE
Positive space is usually defined by the areas of a painting or drawing that are occupied by a form. Negative space is the areas of the painting or drawing that are not occupied by forms. Its important to remember the balance of positive and negative shapes.

2 SHADOW If an illuminated
object is more or less opaque, when the light is obscured by that object, the resulting shadow is a darker version of the objects colour. By virtue of shadow, all objects of nature assume form or shape.

7 UNITY Like contrast, unity is an

element that describes a relationship between two or more elements or objects within a composition. Unlike contrast, however, unity usually describes such relationships within the context of the composition as a whole. Unity can be said to define how any one element or group of elements is related to the rest of the composition.

The consistent visual language used in the shapes and line within the image below shows unity at work.

3 HALFTONES Halftones that utilise texture and colour should be used in the area where light affects the surface of an object and should be made brighter than they appear. Those that describe form should be applied to the shadow area of the object and should be darker. 4 FORM Its possible to have form
without line, and to have line without form, but usually where one exists so does the other. Id argue form truly defines the shape of an object.

8 HIERARCHY Its one of the

most important qualities to consider when dealing with value structure, yet the implications of hierarchy are often forgotten. Put simply, hierarchy answers the question what is important? in a composition. By making his painting hierarchical, a painter places the greatest emphasis on those things that are most important, and the least emphasis on those that are less important.

5 CONTRAST Contrast is derived from a comparison between two or more elements. Most concept artists will create the highest point of value contrast at the focal point, or the place where they want the viewer to look.

9 BACKGROUND, MIDDLE GROUND, FOREGROUND

Thinking of your value structure as three separate plains in space background, middle ground, and foreground will simplify how you deal with your overall value structure.

An example of applying the use of line in unison with your value structure.

10 LINE

Most drawing relies heavily upon line as a means of defining objects. While painting also uses line as a means of definition, it often relies upon it as a sort of infrastructure upon which the rest of the value structure is built. This infrastructure of line may be hidden in the final painting, but its influence dictates what the viewer sees.

June 2007

95

Workshops

6 SHADOWS

Marta Dahlig reveals ten of her favourite pieces of advice on how to tackle lighting in your painting
1 HALO EFFECT
If you want to create an aura behind a character, place the light source behind it. This way, the hair will seem to be glowing. Shading hair like this is different from usual because, aside from the typical shading of the strands in ambient light, you have to take into account the additional light source, making the outer edges of the hair lighter then run over the outer strands with a moderately sized transparent airbrush to add glow.
Placing your light source behind your character helps if you want to achieve a halo effect in your painting.

In general, there are two types of shadows: form and cast. While the form shadow (1) is naturally generated by an object in range of the light source, the cast shadow (2) is created by another object, placed in front of our primary one, blocking the light from the source.

7 STRONG LIGHT SOURCES

While the general, ambient light is a good basis for a picture and it might be enough for simpler portraits, you might sometimes want to spice things up a bit. Theres nothing better than a strong light source to add some drama.

8 GOLD EXPLAINED
A common mistake in painting gold is to only use colours from the yellow palette to render it. Analyse a golden object and youll see hints of grey, brown and green, and remember that metal is reflective.

3 COLOUR CHOICES
While it doesnt matter what basic colour you choose for the skin of your character, its extremely important to pick shadows and highlights correctly. Basically, when you choose shadows and highlights for your midtones, make sure theyre not only of a different brightness, but also a different hue.

9 SKIN TONES MADE EASY

Use Photoshops Colour Balance tool to match skin tones, highlights and shadows if you have characters lit by a boldly coloured, strong light source.

2 LIGHT AND FLESH

When painting a body part thats lit from the back, dont limit yourself to merely adding a white outline around it (0). Remember the light will also beam between all the lit objects, creating rays (1). Furthermore, the light will also shine through the skin and flesh. To depict that, simply make the softer parts of the body part more saturated (2 and 3).

4 CONVEXITY
Sketch an objects most convex places (red lines). After you choose a light source, mark the highlights (white lines). The most convex areas are going to be the most highlighted, and will also create a slight shadow (blue lines).

10 TEXTILES
Different textiles react differently to light. Silk highlights are bold and strongly separated from the shadows with a fast, smooth transition. Linen highlights are much more diffused and the transition is seamless.

5 REFLECTED LIGHTING
One of the crucial things for a painter to remember is that all objects interact with each other by reflecting light rays that fall on them back on to other objects. In practice, you can easily implement this effect by adding some extra coloured shades with a low opacity brush (see arrows below for examples).
Here you can see, by following the arrows, how the dress interacts with the skin and the skin with the dress. This was done by adding some extra shades with a low opacity brush.

To depict rays of light between the lit objects, I ran over the hand with a light transparent airbrush.

96

June 2007

Artist insight Become a better artist!

TOP TEN ANATOMY TIPS

Learning to draw anatomy is a lifelong process. Rebecca Kimmel offers some wise words to get you started
1 BASIC SHAPES
Always think of big, basic shapes instead of anatomy. The major forms of the body the head, neck, torso, pelvis, arms, and legs can be broken down into spheres, cylinders and boxes.

6 SKETCH ANATOMY
Draw large with charcoal to understand whole forms and gesture, but draw in a sketchbook with ballpoint pen or pencil to learn anatomy. Copy drawings from various anatomy book. There is no shortcut to understanding anatomy and drawing: you have to practise .

2 LIFE DRAWING
Its always best to draw from life. Try to spend as much time working in front of live models as you can. If you cant draw from a life model, do a series of selfportraits to ensure you get a grasp of life drawing.

7 MASTER COPIES
A master copy is using a great artists work as reference, doing your best to imitate that artists form and style. Use your eye to develop forms on the page. Studying master work enables you to pick up how artists denoted form and to incorporate this into your own work

3 OUTLINES DONT EXIST

Think across form instead of in terms of a forms outline. Outlines dont exist. Try doing several cross-contour drawings, in which you map the topology of form by drawing what you might think of as an ants tracks across the form. This will give you a better feeling for depth.

8 IMAGINE
Intersperse your drawings from reference with drawings from your imagination. Test yourself by seeing what you know without using any reference but whats in your mind. Youll be surprised at what you know well and what you dont.

9 BUILD A SINGLE VISION

Look at figurative work and build your library of mental imagery. Find the Renaissance masters that you love and analyse what makes drawings and paintings work for you. Figure out what you want to say as much as how you want to say it, and combine your artistic goals into a singular vision over time.

4 STUDY GESTURE

Gesture is the heart of drawing if the gesture has no life, then the drawing wont either. Gesture is about quickly finding the essence of the pose. Its an art form to capture something quickly and accurately.

Test yourself by seeing what you know using only whats in your mind as reference
10 THINK NATURAL
Draw organic forms that arent human, things that twist and have human-like characteristics. I wrote an article for the CGSociety called Opposing Curves, which describes how offset curves interact to create form. Notice how there are rarely in nature curves which are related to one another as parentheses; rather curves in nature are offset in a DNA/ double helix fashion. This perspective will change the way that you draw.

5 TIMED POSES
Draw and paint in timed exercise sets of two, five, ten or 15-minute poses. Usually a rendered drawing turns out to lack the life and vitality that a fast sketch captures. Remember that you are half of the life in a life drawing.

June 2007

97