last revision : February 2010

Painting tutorials
two painting projects discussed step by step

Polishing your artworks

using ArtRage for producing finished and detailed artworks

Tips and ideas

a collection of tips about speed painting with ArtRage
CONTENTS

02 INTRODUCTION
This is a collection of some (hopefully useful) tips about speed
painting in general and using ArtRage for this purpose in
INDEX & INTRODUCTION
particular. It’s not a manual for that software nor a complete
workshop about speed painting : I don’t think I am an expert of
digital painting nor of ArtRage software and I don’t think I have
awesome secrets to share — I’m just passionate about learning

03 and about sharing what I learn, and that’s why I’m writing and
publishing this little article. I hope it’ll be a interesting lecture!
I’ll start with some misc tips and concepts and then I’ll go through
MISC NOTES ABOUT ARTRAGE two small projects. Enough with the introduction, let’s start
introducing what speed painting more or less is.

09 SPEED PAINTING
A speed painting is a painting where you try to define the
GUNS & FINISHED LOOK main concepts as quickly and effectively as possible. This is
my personal definition of speed painting and of course I don’t
pretend it to be valid for everyone, but it’ll be the starting point of
this article. I always thought of speed painting as a kind of
impressionistic approach — though with the painter attention

14 aiming not only to the light behaviour but also to the core of the
design we are wanting to portray. The result of speed painting can
be a bunch of little thumbnails, an autonomous picture or maybe a
PAINTING “GARAGE INC.” sketch that will be used for further improvements and eventually
turn to be a finished piece.

What I’d like to point out is that a speed painting is not

18
necessarily looking rough and unfinished; the look is
secondary to the two parameters defining what a speed painting
is : effectiveness of communication and speed of realization. The
jump from a speed painting to a finished one lays on the amount
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
of time spent for bringing the painting one step further, after the
first goal (effectiveness of communication) is reached. Some
artists are actually spending a lot of time to make their paintings
have that unfinished raw feel!

19 In next pages I’ll write about some ideas and tips and illustrate
some painting process steps. I’m not saying they are the best tips,
AUTHOR’S GALLERY processes and ideas, but they work good for me.

2
ARTRAGE
Let’s start saying something that could dynamics that Photoshop offers, or for release, that brings many features that
sound pretty obvious : ArtRage is not the ones that are doing all their shading were missing (like selections).
Photoshop nor Painter. Digital artists using burn and dodge tools; ArtRage
are often jumping from a software to Pro 3 includes a new tool called Spending some time to learn the way
another one and expecting them to Stickers which can be used for ArtRage works will hopefully convince
behave the same and have the same simulating some of Photoshop’s you that it can indeed be used for
feature set. I think every software custom brushes, but the experience will producing all quality levels of 2D
should be learned and used at its best, still remain quite different. Wanting to artworks.
keeping in mind its main purpose. use ArtRage requires that we accept
ArtRage is a natural painting software those differences and we try to get the A last word about the tools we use for
that aims to reproducing a set of real best out of what ArtRage can do. creating : while this article is all about
life instruments; the premise is similar ArtRage, you should feel encouraged
to Corel Painter’s one, though ArtRage A common myth is that ArtRage can to use the right tool for the right
is also driven by a different and great be used only for rough sketches, task. Being a purist is just a loss of
user experience concept. paint-overs and more generally time and what matters in the end is
hobbyist stuff : this is quite wrong and how well you achieve the results you
That being said, wanting to work on on the net we can find a lot of need or want to achieve. There are all
illustrations using ArtRage means examples of advanced artists that are kinds of software; understanding which
wishing to use the particular tools it using ArtRage for producing high one is better for what we need is a
offers and adapting to its workflow and quality artworks. ArtRage is also used great thing. Putting all of your preferred
its way of getting things done. This can as a concept sketching tool by many software and tools together will create
be quite a shock for artists that are leading artists in the game and movie your personal pipeline and will
used to paint using mainly custom industry, and it’s becoming more and contribute to developing your skills and
brushes and the advanced brush more popular, especially with its latest your own style.

3
LAYERS
Machine resources are not infinite; no
matter how powerful your PC or Mac is,
you still need to efficiently manage
resources; each layer you add will
require some more memory and
processing power, and this is the first
reason for learning good layers
management. Note : ArtRage is not
supporting multiple CPUs at the
moment and its meta-data stuffed layer
technology is requiring a lot of power
and memory!

Using only the necessary number of

layers is indeed a good idea : you can
create all the layers you need but it’s
wise to merge them down once you
don’t really need them anymore; this
will free up memory and make your
painting experience smoother.

It’s obviously even wiser to keep layers

separate if they contain elements that
should be isolated, maybe for design editing on our paintings. and are extremely useful for painting in
purposes or for making revisions general and especially for speed
easier. Talking about the strategic part Layers are providing many painting.
of layer management, using groups for management options and blending
keeping layers organized is another methods that’s well worth exploring Some great layer features I use often
great idea; organization is a valuable and testing in different situations; the are the transparency lock, merge
skill and it will save us time and blending methods should be quite group contents, duplicate layer and
increase the chances of future creative familiar to Painter and Photoshop users transform layers contents.

HOTKEYS
ArtRage has some useful features that will make our painting Canvas Rotation : ALT + RMB
more intuitive and easier: one of them is the canvas Canvas Rotation reset : ALT + D
manipulation that allows rotation, zoom and panning. Canvas Zoom : mouse wheel or SHIFT + drag RMB
For such functions and many more there are default Canvas Zoom to 100% : SHIFT + D
hotkeys already set, and using them is a real life-saver and Canvas Panning : drag RMB
will drastically improve your workflow. Undo, redo, cut, past, Canvas lighting toggle : F5
copy are working with usual CTRL based Windows-like Pick colour : ALT + LMB
keyboard shortcuts. Transform tool : SHIFT + T
Select tool : SHIFT + S
On the right I listed some of the hotkeys I use the most while Resize brush : SHIFT + drag LMB
painting (RMB = right mouse button, LMB = left mouse
button):

4
STICKERS
We can say “sticker” is the ArtRage
term for calling custom brushes. A
sticker is composed by a number of
bitmap images and of parameters
associated with them. For a better
understanding of how to create stickers
you can refer to ArtRage help and to
various great tutorials available at
Ambient Design Forums.

But what are stickers good for? A basic

usage consists in repeating objects,
like the bolts and screws I added on the
vehicle in “Garage Inc.” tutorial, for
instance : by defining stickers for
painting repeating details we can both
save time and reach good quality
results — that’s if our stickers are
having a good quality and if we use
them in a correct way of course.

It is important to understand how to

integrate our stickers in the picture,
so that they don’t look fake and
misplaced : a good example are the
standard grass stickers, which can
have some practical usage but can also
produce a too much uniform and
artificial look.

A good trick is to use stickers on

separate layers and play with the layer
blending methods; the Multiply and
the Soft Light blending are often giving custom stickers organized for category Stickers can often be used for different
great results when we use stickers for (misc, structures, nature, and so on), tasks than the ones they were created
adding details. Working on a separate so that we can find them fast and keep for, feel free to experiment and take
layer also gives us the chance of using track of all the variations. note of your discoveries!
the eraser with the stencils for
removing parts of our stickers You can also use stickers for adding In the picture I sketched a bit with some
brushwork and help the overall texture to the painting (better if on a custom stickers I use frequently : even
integration. separate layer which you can then if each one of them was created for a
I highly suggest spending some time manipulate) or for roughly defining precise reason but they proved to be
learning how to create and modify volumes and shapes that we can then useful in other situations too. Some of
stickers, creating the ones we need polish with the eraser or other tools; them are actually adapted from
instead of only using the standards from this last point of view, stickers are Photoshop ones, though as I said
ones (though some standard ones are a good way for exploring shapes if we before the two brush engines are very
actually useful and well done). still don’t have a good idea about the different and many of the dynamics are
design of some elements in our not available in ArtRage.
It’s wise to create named stickers painting.
groups containing all of our saved

5
FLIPPING THE CANVAS
That’s a widely used technique among graphic artists because it allows us to see our images with a fresh eye and easily spot
perspective mistakes. ArtRage has two default shortcuts for taking a fast look at our flipped image : H will flip horizontally, V will flip
vertically. They’re useful but I prefer to use the Transform All Layers function, since it allows me to work on the flipped image instead
of just taking a look at it : go to Edit, then Transform All Layers, then right click on the image and choose the flipping you prefer.

VALUES
CHECKING
A practical and quite fast way for
checking values in our painting is to
use a layer for muting the colours
(as explained in the picture here on
left). In this way we can understand
values better and fix eventual
problems we were not noticing with
the colours distracting our eyes.

MASKED AIRBRUSH
I often use this technique for selectively applying airbrush to a part of the picture without having to set up stencils; the name “masked
airbrush” is not very correct indeed, but it renders the idea. We basically create a new layer over the one where we want to apply the
colour, and we start using the airbrush on it, rotating the canvas so that our flow is going in the correct direction. After that we can
erase the parts of new colour we don’t need anymore, and eventually paint over it to fix places where we didn’t erase good. It’s a very
simple and fast operation but can bring quite useful results.

6
KNOWING WHAT WE WANT TO PAINT
I spent countless hours trying to paint able of painting something we must interesting, but I find it to be one of the
trees, rocks, grass.. and failing quite look at it with a different eye, paying most important things to keep in mind
bad. I could not understand what was attention to the relationships between as artists. Studying nature and
so hard in painting things that I see empty and filled space for instance. We everything we see is absolutely
every day since I was a child; the point need to ask us questions about the valuable.
is that seeing a thing and knowing how functions behind the forms and try to
to draw or paint that thing are sketch copying from live. I know this
drastically different things. For being can sound a trivial advice and not really

PHOTOS
As many greatest artists (like C.Mullins textures : being able of discovering an
and B.Vallejo, just to name two great interesting texture and taking a good
examples of digital and traditional photo of it is a great artistic merit
artists) repeat, using photos in our already. Being able of using that
artworks is not an evil thing at all; material creatively for achieving our
it’s all about the usage we do of them goal is even better.
and the results we need to achieve.
Using photos for improving our
Photo reference is crucial for learning creations is a great thing, and should
how to paint things since we can’t be be not confused with cheap tricks like
in all places of this world and see painting over a photo and going
everything in person! around saying we painted it on our
own, behaving like we’re just like
Photos can also be the base for Sargent : that’s pretty lame indeed,
custom brushes, for stencils, for and ultimately useless and sad.

THE IMPORTANCE OF THUMBNAILS

Sketching a lot of thumbnails is a very good way for learning to speed paint, because it allows the artist to concentrate on painting the
most important things — without caring too much about the look and the quality of the finished piece. A thumbnail is usually a low
resolution image painted or sketched with the goal of setting a mood and a lighting or of defining a base concept : in the one I posted
here for instance, I needed to quickly paint a night scene with the ruins of few huts in the jungle, and a river flowing by. The resulting
image is not good or interesting as a
painting per se but it contains all the
information I needed to include : the
abandoned huts, the jungle
environment, the night mood.
Everything is sketched very roughly
and the whole thumbnail took me less
than 10 minutes, but it allowed me to
explore solutions and synthesize;
once I’m happy with one or two of
those thumbnails and I feel I
established the concepts I can go
further and repaint it paying attention
to perspective, details and so on.

7
A VERSATILE BRUSH
ArtRage offers few but effective options The first stroke is made with a light The second stroke is using a stronger
for tweaking our brushes: my advice is pressure and it’s giving us a great pressure and it’s giving us a rich and
once more to spend some time learning texture thanks to the canvas and the powerful stroke, useful when blocking
how to make the software help us bristle becoming very visible. Changing planes for our volumes and for
achieving our goals. the canvas texture and choosing a sketching; it’s also great for adding
good combination of colour and value finer detail if used with a smaller size,
In the first picture below I posted four can help us adding beautiful texture to though the ink pen is usually better for
examples of strokes made with my our paintings. ArtRage can have that kind of job; it all depends on the
favourite brush; it’s a tweaked oil different textures on different layers look we are going after.
brush that’s proving to be very useful and this is a precious way for building
and quite versatile, so I thought to interesting layered textures without The two progressions of strokes are
share it. resorting to images. showing how this brush allows us to
build heavy textured or less textured
gradients, with very good blending
capabilities. When blending with this
brush it’s important to pick each time
the correct value and colour from our
painting, in a similar fashion to the
popular SAPALO (sample and paint at
low opacity) technique that is very
familiar especially to Photoshop
painters.

I do most of my blending using this

same brush but sometimes I also
integrate a custom palette knife into the
process, usually in the first stages of
the painting.

I sketched the second picture as an

example of what I said about using this
brush with paper textures : everything
on that image is painted using only this
brush and changing the texture
parameters on different layers. As the
image hopefully shows it is possible to
build interesting textures playing only
with ArtRage standard papers and a
very simple oil brush : it’s all about
experimenting and saving presets of
what you find useful, so that you can
access it faster next time you need it.

The brush is available for download

in the same page of my blog where
you downloaded this PDF, together
with 10 more that I use often.

8
WEAPON DESIGN AND FINISHED LOOK
Some people thinks ArtRage is only good for rough
oils and that producing detailed artworks is not
possible. That’s not true since ArtRage provides us
with enough tools for reaching the degree of detail
we prefer. I like to start painting on a canvas sized to
3000x2000 pixels or something close to it and scale
it down when I’m done: working with high
resolutions will allow us to paint finer detail and
more easily. Even if this article is about speed
painting, let’s take a look at some ways for achieving
a more finished look when needed.

I’m not a lover of weapons unless they’re inside a

videogame, but since they’re a good example of
mechanical and detailed objects, let’s fake we’re
designing a weapon for a game and see how to go
from a thumbnail sketch to a more finished artwork.
We’ll fake our creative director gave us the following
description : an assault rifle with a kind of sci-fi look,
used mainly in fast paced action and requiring fire
power more than precision. First of all we’ll have to
do some sketches and choose the one we think is
better fitting the initial concept; I sketched some
and here on right is the one I did choose.

9
 When painting shapes that are repeating it is useful to
create custom stickers on the fly : this way we can
achieve better results and be quite faster (this should be
an article about speed painting after all!). After we
finished with our sticker we can save it as a preset and
use it next time we’ll need, thus slowly building our own
valuable library of components.
The very simple sticker on the left was created while
polishing the rifle’s silhouette, and used for adding
some details on it.

I polished the silhouette of the weapon

improving it where needed and I started
blocking the volumes (using the airbrush
and the ink pen), basically trying to
understand how to organize the shapes that
will visually fill the silhouette. Once the
values and the shapes will be working I’ll
be able of polishing the result and start
rendering the weapon more in depth.

In this stage it’s important to go quite fast

and don’t lose too much time on details that
will only become possible after the overall
concept is working.

For achieving a better control when

blocking the volumes it’s goo to try the
variations on separate layers and only
merge them down when we are sure things
are working; at the same time, try to avoid
having too many layers, or your job will
easily become a mess and ArtRage will
start slowing down.

Remember : search engines are our

friends! We have no excuses for not
knowing how a 40mm grenade looks like
and other stuff we eventually need to paint.
The net is full of references and
information and building an organized
collection of them is truly a good idea.

10
The picture above shows the roughly Another good practice is to become
rendered weapon in the middle of the familiar with rotating and panning the
detailing phase : this is the part of this canvas when using the various
walkthrough that deals with tools : in this way for instance we can
approaching a more finished look, and get the correct flow from the airbrush
for achieving it we’ll keep using the and we can draw better curves with the
selections and the eraser on separated ink pen.
layers but also increase the usage of
the ink pen, changing the smoothing ArtRage can paint straight lines if we
settings according to our needing; keep CTRL pressed and we click on
becoming familiar with the smoothing the starting and ending point of the
factor is quite important. line : this can be extremely useful when
working on projects that are requiring a
Using the transparency lock is also lot of shapes with straight edges. As I
pretty handy, especially if together with said before, it’s really valuable to learn
a simple trick : duplicate the layer that which tool and which feature are
you want to work on, lock the working better for us in a certain
transparency and do all your painting situation and how can we take
work. When you finished you can take advantage of the software power.
the eraser and get rid of what you don’t
want (remember to turn on the I changed the background from white to
transparency before doing it!) and the gray because it helps me to better read
original layer will show below the new the values. Talking about values : this
one. Using this technique you can work is a kind of “product showcase” so the
very fast and try all kind of edits on lighting is quite diffused and
your image in an efficient way. omnipresent, though I’m trying to give it
a directional component too.

11
Before going on to the final step of our kind of details I wanted to add, I started use often consists on using selections
project I’d like to spend some words thinking on how to add them fast — for creating simple shapes , combining
about the detailing phase. thus staying faithful to the time them for getting more complex ones,
constraints of the speed painting and then using various tools for making
From my point of view detailing has process. The point is that we could those new shapes to look like the ones
basically two goals : making the actually spend days on our artworks I’m needing.
concept more interesting by filling it painting everything using only oils and
with things that please the eye, and achieving great and sharp results, but ArtRage makes this quite simple and
then making the concept more we are wanting to do it in less time so fast, thanks to intuitive selections, good
believable. For our weapon the that we can create more variations if layers management and the priceless
detailing starts with the observation of needed, and face deadlines if we are transparency lock.
real weapons; as I said before the net having them.
is full of articles, photos and videos In the next two pictures I illustrate the
about everything, so it’s relatively easy I said already that it is a good idea to basic steps for creating the three thin
to get familiar with the things we’ve to create custom stickers for painting cavities in the front of the weapon.
paint or draw. After I established the repeating details. Another workflow I

The first step is about creating

the shape; there are many
ways but I like to do it using
selections. You could use
stencils instead for instance.
I’m creating many layers and
giving names to them so that
it’s easier to show what’s going
on, but all this work is actually
done in a single layer while
painting a real life project; the
result can then be duplicated,
rotated, and so on. It’s good
to create the details in an
higher resolution than the
needed one, so resampling
won’t kill its sharpness.

The second steps shows an

example of simple detailing for
the shape : I used the airbrush
for creating the illusion of a very
little depth and then I used the
ink pen for drawing a simple
inner bevel. This is only a
cheap example by the way :
you could go on and study a
better lighting, increase the
bevel, add some texture, and
so on. It all depends on the
goals you have.
My advice is to save all of your
components on a file from
where you can import them
when needed.

12
We’re almost at the end of our project : very grunge look and I went quite far mood and more on the volumes (which
the image above shows the weapon with the texturing phase, actually losing is what a 3D modeller would love us to
being already 90% rendered. Few some of the shading I did before. do, since he’ll probably have to model
things need to get fixed and finally I’ll Design decisions must always be the weapon) — a further step toward a
work on a basic presentation (the made for the sake of the concept and very good presentation of the concept
results are visible in the image that not for the “respect” we have for some would be to roughly model it in 3D and
opens this little tutorial). parts of our picture that we like or that then paint over it, which is a quite
maybe required a lot of work. The final common workflow with such subjects.
Comparing this image with the one on result is what matters! In our case we wanted to have our
page 10 we can see that many details project ready and presentable as
were added and they’re making the Texturing is not strictly meaning taking fast as possible; it’s not really a very
weapon more believable and also an image an putting it on top of what fast speed painting, but with a total
giving it a more alive look, as if it was you painted; sometimes you’re lucky work time of 3 hours it’s still pretty fast.
used in many and quite harsh battles. A and it can be enough, but most of times In a day of work we could paint 2 of
lot of the merit of the aged look it’ll only look a poor choice. For this those concepts and that would be quite
depends on texturing, so I’d like to weapon I used the ink pen and good.
spend some words about it. custom stickers for sketching various
scratches and stains on different The final image is almost 3000 pixels in
Textures can be a great help but also layers, erasing stuff here and there, width and this allows us to work more
a quite subtle enemy : they can add playing with blending modes and finally on it and further improve its look and
interest and details to you image but at mixing layers together. It takes some even print it. I kept some elements on
the same time they can cover your hard experimenting but after a while you’ll separate layers so that I can get rid of
work. To avoid this you need to learn to discover you can create interesting them if needed (like the highlights and
apply textures on separate layers and textures even with a basic usage of the the heavy texturing — and of course all
then use the eraser on them to get rid ink pen and the eraser. of the presentation related stuff) : this is
of what is not really needed, or for a good practice since it still leaves
making something slightly less visible. The concept could have been shown room for quite big changes if needed.
In some parts of this image I wanted a better, putting less emphasis on the

13
PAINTING “GARAGE INC.”
While “Garage Inc.” is not having the concerning the painting process and I’ll info. My method can change a lot and
usual look you expect from a speed use them to underline some concepts I the one showed here is not the only
painting (rough strokes, simplified find to be interesting. one I currently use; I think it’s really
shapes, minimal detail and so on) I valuable for an artist to be able of
think it still falls in the category of I’d like to point out that this is by no exploring and changing workflow,
speed painting since it required few means the best or only way of working, continuously integrating new
time and it was completely organized and that my advices could work fine for knowledge and energies into it.
around the main concept, which was to someone and don’t work at all for
represent a futuristic vehicle that is someone else. I’m always very
staying in a dusty hangar, waiting to be interested in learning and taking a look
repaired. at the way other artists are working, for
pure curiosity’s sake, so I thought it
In this tutorial I’ll show you some steps could have been nice to share similar

14
01
I have my concept in mind and I’m ready to start painting : first of
all I want to get rid of the white canvas and have a background
that is in tune with the mood I want to get. I start painting a more
or less uniform background using a mix of oils and custom
stickers. On a new layer I start sketching random shapes using
custom stickers and others tools, looking for an interesting design
concept I could follow. In this step it is important to feel free and
just let things happen and imagination flow without worrying too
much about technical matters and rules.

02
I think I can see the side view of a vehicle in the mess I created
in step one, so I use the eraser to cut the not needed stuff away
and give the vehicle a sharp silhouette. This process is close to
sculpting we can say; the creative usage of the eraser can help
working with the concepts of empty and filled space, which can
give interesting results and definitely improve the way we
approach the creative process. ArtRage is not letting us use
custom stickers as erasers, but we can obtain great results
using the eraser over stencils. In this step it was enough using a
simple hard edged eraser.

03
I create a new layer over the existing two and using one of my
favourite custom stickers I start blocking values. It is important to
understand that values give precious information about the kind
of material is being painted, and that we must keep in mind that
the final value is showing the amount of light the object receives
but also its material it.
A good contrast is important for painting an interesting
picture, so I started working on it using the big dark mass (that
probably covers an engine) and the thin stripes. I still don’t know
what to do with the cockpit, and this insecurity can be spotted in
the messed perspective and the absence of a clear design
direction. We’ll fix that later.

15
04
I decide the time is right for sketching an environment for the
vehicle, so I create a new layer between the vehicle and the
canvas, trying to block a simple hangar. I want a bright and foggy
weather outside but also a good lighting inside, provided by other
entrances that are more distant from our subject. Using oils and
blur effect I also add a quick shadow to help me position the
vehicle in space. I thought the cockpit should be open since the
vehicle is being repaired, and to open it I select it with
polygonal tool, cut it, paste it on a new layer and rotate it. I also
cropped the image to improve the composition.

05
I start working on the engine mass and on the cockpit, trying to
create a new contrast between the big empty surfaces and more
detailed ones. For the whole painting I actually used the same
tools over and over again: a custom oil brush (for 70% of
painting), a bunch of custom stickers (10% of painting), a
custom palette knife, the basic airbrush, ink pen, custom stencils
and the eraser. I suggest you to try all the tools in ArtRage but to
also understand which are the ones that are working better for
you and for the way you create; once you understand this you
can tweak the tools and save them as custom presets.

06
The concept is quite near to what I had in mind at the beginning,
so I can spend few minutes to sketch some foreground and
background elements that can help me reach two goals : make
the hangar more believable and “close” the picture so that the
viewer attention will stay in the centre of the image. You can
spot ArtRage standard chain and cable stickers. The texturing
in last steps was done using custom stencils I created from
some photos I took over the years; always bring a camera with
you and take photos of all the textures and references you find
interesting, photos are really valuable for a concept artist.

16
07
One design decision I was unsure about was about the way the
vehicle was staying suspended in air. I was thinking that a
levitation was not really coherent with the concept of “damaged,
needing repairing” so I decided to add some chains, sketching
them fast with the ArtRage standard chain sticker : this is
producing a too much perfect and uniform result, but I was too
lazy for creating a custom chain sticker at that moment, so I went
for standard one. I also worked a bit on the shadows, trying to
bring the viewer’s attention even closer to the subject.

08
The chains were looking too stiff so I rotated them a bit and
detailed them here and there with eraser and oils. Using some
useful custom stickers I add bolts and screws, while some
stencil and texture work provides more details for giving
character to the image; textures and stencils are coming from
an huge set of photos I took in a military cemetery in Moscow.
The number on the vehicle is helping the viewer interest and
gives more personality to the vehicle.

09
In the final step I work on the atmosphere (adding some dust
with custom stickers) and on the mood of the overall picture; the
green was looking interesting but I decided to play a bit with hue
and I changed to a tone that looks less military and hopefully
more appealing. At this point I only need to resize the picture,
sharpen it (outside of ArtRage since it’s not having an unsharp
mask at the moment), sign it and bring it into this PDF.

17
CONCLUSION USEFUL LINKS
ArtRage offers plenty of features and different ways of ArtRage
accomplishing goals; learning to analyze the problems website of ArtRage software
and to find solutions is a gratifying and useful activity. I http://www.artrage.com
therefore encourage everyone to spend some time
trying to get used to the software and see how to make CGSociety
it work the way we need. society of digital artists
http://www.cgsociety.org
I know it has been said countless times, but I repeat it
once more : a common mistake is to think the tool is deviantART
more important than the artist, rushing to download the huge online art community
latest software and play with its newest feature : we http://www.deviantart.com
should keep in mind art history proves that people can
produce great art even with the simplest tools, like a Conceptart.org
pencil and a piece of paper. The availability of hardware great place for learning
and software is growing and it’s easy to waste time http://www.conceptart.org
trying all kind of software instead of working on
improving ourselves as artists; that time would be Web Gallery Of Art
indeed better spent on studies about colour theory, precious free gallery with masters from the past
values, composition, perspective and especially http://www.wga.hu
observing the reality around us with an analytic eye.

Thanks for reading this little article, I hope it was an

interesting lecture. Have a nice time painting!

About the author

My name is Andrea A. Bianco and I am an illustrator,
concept artist and photographer working between Italy
and Russia. I also have a background as web and
graphic designer, though I am getting more and more
involved with the challenging world of illustration and
concept art. When I’m not painting or sketching I spend
time on my other big passion, composing music and
guitar playing.

18
AUTHOR’ S GALLERY

19
AUTHOR’ S GALLERY

20
AUTHOR’ S GALLERY

21
AUTHOR’ S GALLERY

22
23