Workshops

UNI23.tut_bao 78

7/9/07 07:23:10

In depth Liberate your colours

LIBERATE YOUR R COLOURS

t using every colour in the spectrum as you ur Create a portrait u your sh h palette. Bao Pham shows you how
started out drawing anime then slowly moved to more realistic subjects. By the time I discovered painting it was the summer before college. My first oil painting was a small self-portrait. I remember being very timid with the paint, and was afraid to make any mistakes. By the time I was finished, I was hooked. It wasnt about the paint as much as it was about using colour to create pictures, and the possibilities that opened

Bao Pham
COUNTRY: US Bao is a freelance illustrator currently residing in Iowa, USA. He came from Vietnam to the US 11 years ago at the age of 11, and has been drawing ever since. He just graduated with a BFA in painting from the University of Iowa. http://thienbao. deviantart.com

up. I continued to paint and it wasnt until my last year of college that I began to grasp the concept of colour. I took to colour pretty naturally and have always been comfortable using it. I constantly think in colour and lately it has been the driving force for most of my paintings. Colour is everywhere; if you stop and look you might find a palette already picked out for you. For this workshop, Im going to be using Photoshop and little bit of Painter

to create a portrait using the whole spectrum of colour as my palette. Painting is a back and forth process for me, so dont take the steps too literally. I generally paint everything at once and then keep flitting between steps, refining it until the very end. It takes time to understand colour, and its only through observation and experience will you be able to achieve your desired results. Trust your instincts and experiment as much as you can.

DVD Assets
The files you need are on your DVD in the Bao Pham folder in the Workshops section. SOFTWARE: Photoshop CS3, Painter X (demos)

I start off by sketching to generate some ideas. I know I want butterflies, lots of them. The process eventually leads to a small sketch at the lower corner of my page. Its a girl unravelling into a swarm of butterflies, her tattoo peeling off at the same time. I havent painted tattoos before and the butterflies I know will be a nice challenge. I scan it in, clean it up, and then choose a square format. The drawing is only a guide, so I know I will have to fix the anatomy later. I try to keep in mind what needs to be done, because things can get a bit messy.

Sketching

First taste of colour

I start small, at 1,500px, because it enables me to paint large, broad strokes without the drag of a larger file. The small dimension also prevents me from going into detail early. Choosing a bright yellow as my background, I start laying down all the colours I can think of. I use the Colour Picker in Photoshop as a guide to how colours fade into one another. I use several custom brushes to generate texture, as well as some ideas of what to do with the background. Using a simple Hard Edge Round brush with Spacing set to 15 per cent, I indicate where the shadows and light are on the figure. I add touches of rosy

orange on the nose, lips, and cheeks to warm up the face and add some life to it. Its better to have more information than you need, so I often paint very soft shades of colour anywhere I see fit. Experimenting can really pay off.

November 2007

79

UNI23.tut_bao 79

7/9/07 07:23:17

Workshops
Instant gratification
Dont get discouraged easily if things arent starting off well. Theres a tendency for us to compare our work with better ones out there, and doing this while painting can be very discouraging. Painting takes time and a good amount of work to get it right. Dont expect to put down a few strokes and be happy with it, because you have thousands more to go.

colouring part is complete, and I have things all set to start painting. I enlarge the image to the final size I want it to be: for this painting its at 4,000px.

From this point on, I always work on different layers to further refine the image. Layering is the greatest advantage of working with digital painting programs. It enables me to paint on top of my image without disturbing what I have underneath. It also enables me to layer my colours and textures to give my painting more body and substance. I usually merge the layers when Im satisfied with what I have to keep it neat.

Layering

F For quick indications of the butterflies, I use another custom brush. It is set to Jitter (in Brush Dynamics) between the foreground and background colours. This helps me lay down multiple colours at a time. Its also set to Scatter, and the randomness will help me visualise how to best portray the swarm of butterflies.

Butterflies

B By this point, Ive already merged the sketch with the colour, and I continue to work on the figure to bring out the form. Its important to also follow the shape of the form instead of simply going straight through it. This process not only helps define the form, but it reminds you how you are seeing the form in space. Are you looking up, down, from the right, the left, or straight at it? Asking myself questions about the image keeps me on track with what I want to achieve with it.

Go around

covering up what I already have. To help me I change the brush mode to Soft Light. Depending on the value and saturation, I can make the bright brighter, and the darks darker, while at the same time making the colour richer. Picking dark blues and purples I create a gradient towards the bottom to darken it, and a light yellow with a spackled brush to brighten up the top left.

I take a break to separate myself from the image. Coming back with a fresh h eye helps me see anything that might look off. I decide to redraw the construction lines on another layer and work from that to get the perspective and anatomy fixed up. This is a good way to reinforce your painting when you cant visualise it. During the whole process, I have a goodsized mirror beside me so that I have a live reference to work from.

Reinforcement

By switching the brush mode to Soft Light, I can make the brights brigher and darks darker, and colour richer.

There are times when painting alone cant get me that bright colour or that deep dark shadow I want without

Soft Light

I continue to model the figure and start finding the features of her face. Im nearly to the point where I think the

Resize

S Showing emotion with your ch character can be a difficult thing, and aga the mirror is a great tool. Study your again g own expressions. Pay attention to how subtle shifts of the features can greatly change the emotion youre trying to portray. Sometimes, its necessary to

Expression

80

November 2007

UNI23.tut_bao 80

7/9/07 07:23:23

In depth Liberate your colours

exaggerate certain features to give the expression you want,. For the girl, Im trying for a sad look of acceptance, because although she is fading away, she wont really be gone. Shell just become a part of her surrounding.

13 Custom brush I My butterflies need refining.

create a new document and quickly paint a more recognisable butterfly shape. I set it to the same setting as the previous one and recreate the swarm on a new layer

15 Refine the background The background looks a bit chaotic

Work with several paintings
Have several paintings on the go to take full advantage of your time. Painting can be time consuming and boredom can easily set in. Often, I have to take breaks to get away from a painting; with several paintings already started, I can work on any of them until Im ready to go back to it. By taking that break, I can come back with a fresh perspective and get inspired again.

14 Blend four main brushes that I There are

use to smooth things out. The main thing to remember when blending is keep one finger on [B] and another on [I] to switch between the brush and the Colour Picker. On a new layer, I use the Round brush that Ive been painting with to start on her skin, then a very soft custom brush to refine it. I have a fine Spackle brush that I use to create more texture where I need it. The last brush is textured, which I use as a Smudge tool for the smaller areas where the larger brushes become clumsy.

10 Warp tool CS2 or CS3, 0 If you have Photoshop I

you can use Edit>Transform>Warp. This enables you to manipulate a 2D image in a three dimensional way. Its handy if you have trouble visualising how a flat image would look on a curved surface. I use this tool to make the tattoo look like its curving with the surface of her arm. Working on her arm, I notice its a bit short, so I select the section I want to extend and paste it to a new layer. I adjust it to the right length and paint on top of it to match layer underneath. Once Im happy, I merge the layers together.

right now and the texture is a bit prominent. I want to soften it, but also want to avoid blurring it. I decide to take it into Painter; I use the Loaded Palette Knife to smooth out some of the texture. I like the way the Palette Knife pulls the colours around, kind of like the Smudge tool in Photoshop, but much more natural. I then take it back into Photoshop, softly reapply the textures, and then try to ease the transition of the colours.

swarm 16 Thethe most time consuming I save

part of this painting for last. This is when I start to realise what Ive got myself into, and how much I dont know about various species of butterflies. I decide to collect more references online to study their shapes and patterns. Once Ive filled my head with the hundreds of images that I saved, I go to work. For each of the butterflies, I only paint one of the wings, mirror it, and then transform it to fit the perspective. Some of the patterns are from existing butterflies, while most of them are inspired by references. From time to time, I would duplicate a butterfly or use the existing pattern to make new ones.

I dont always use the eraser to remove what I dont want because I find it can get rid of too much. I usually pick the colours surrounding the area and then paint over it. It might be a habit I developed from painting with oils, but I find it gives a nicer and softer edge. You also create layers of paint in the process. There are times when I just have to erase, usually when there is texture underneath.

11

Add to subtract

Blending is basically picking the surrounding colours and lightly painting with a large, soft brush.

12 Shapes looks a bit empty, so 2 Her shoulder H

I try to play with different shapes to see if it leads me anywhere. I find a brush I had made a while back, and its curving shape really helps accentuate the roundness of her shoulder. Since Im still unsure if it fits, I leave it and continue to other parts of the painting. Later, I come back and decide that its leading the tattoo in a different direction, so I erase it. I move the tattoo up towards the shoulder, which takes the weight off her arm and creates a nice secondary focal point.

17 Final touches I take the Once the swarm is done,

painting into Painter and use the Palette Knife. I lightly paint each butterfly with the colour surrounding them to push them back into space. Back in Photoshop, I flatten the layers, duplicate it, then blur it with Gaussian Blur at about 55px, set the layer mode to Soft Light, and then reduce the Opacity to 15 per cent. This might seem strange, but the process gives the painting a soft glow and unifies it. Now, Im done.

November 2007

81

UNI23.tut_bao 81

7/9/07 07:23:31