Workshops

Michael Dashow shows how layer organisation can give a wide variety of options in defining a palette
olour is one of the most essential tools an artist has for setting mood and conveying emotion. Every colour choice you make affects how a viewer interprets your work. In fact, you could render the same illustration with a new palette and get a painting that feels utterly different. I often take this approach when Im testing out colour schemes and its what Im going to demonstrate in this workshop. Rather than diving into one colour scheme, I enjoy experimenting with

several options first. I spend a lot of prep time setting up Photoshops layers to give me the maximum possible versatility in adjusting colours. The reward for this mode of working is that it offers enormous latitude in determining the pieces final palette. Here, Ill share my workflow with you, paying the most attention to how I use layers to compile my palettes. Along the way, Ill discuss colour in general and take a look at the different ways that various hues can be used to help set a mood in a painting. So lets get started

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In depth Colour composition

Michael Dashow
COUNTRY: US A 17-year game industry vet, Mike is now the art director at Meez.com. He spends his spare time creating lighthearted and humorous fantasy and science fiction illustrations both digitally and in good oldfashioned watercolours. www.michaeldashow. com

W Working with thumbnails t

single layer and adjust the colour in it without affecting anything else. I use many layers, so its essential to organise them efficiently with layer names, colours and groups.

I begin with a pile of thumbnail sketches and rough concepts. I cut and paste the sketch fragments together in Photoshop, making liberal use of the Free Transform tool (Ctrl/Cmd+T) to rotate and adjust pieces until they fit. From there I draw over them, refining everything until I have a final composition.

DVD Assets
The files you need are in the Michael Dashow folder in the Workshops section. SOFTWARE: Photoshop CS3, Painter X (demos)

I want two light sources for this image: a main light source coming from the right balanced by a magical light coming from the boys staff on the left. Two light sources round out the shapes well and add more visual interest to a piece. I create a new layer called Side Light. With a single shade of blue, I paint the light that the staff casts on the scene. Because its on a separate layer, I can modify its colour later on. The magic effect itself goes on another layer above the Line Art layer.

Adding a second light

I print the image out and trace it on to 55lb vellum. Scanning the illustration into Photoshop, I clean up the levels. I set this layer to Multiply, so that any layers underneath it will show through the white areas.

Final line art

Using a round, hard-edged brush, I fill in the entire painting with solid colours. I create one new layer for every single item or colour that I use theres one layer for the Trolls skin, one for their fur, another for their cloth, and so on. The separate layers will make it easy to change those colours later on. I can isolate a

Blocking in the colour

I work on my values in a separate file its like rendering a lighting pass on it a 3D model without viewing any of the materials. This lighting will be layered on top of the previous colour pass. Using the same line art, I create a new file. Underneath the Line Art layer, I fill a layer with 50 per cent grey. In greyscale only, I roughly draw in all of the shadows and highlights using a Round brush with 5065 per cent Hardness. This isnt a value study I dont paint elements such as the ground or the leather belts darker because their darker values will come from the colour file. With smaller brushes, I refine the lighting and I use custom brushes of scattered dots for the fur and the kids hair. As I paint, if I need to focus on any particular area, I can load its selection from the colour file that I created earlier.

The lighting pass

T The last colour affecting the scene is the depth perspective. This effect should match the colour of the sky but thats still up in the air, h so to speak. I create a new layer named Depth. I choose a blue and add large, flat, low-opacity areas of colour. The foreground characters are completely left alone. As other characters and objects get closer to the horizon, they are covered with more of this depth colour.

Adding the depth colour

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Workshops
9
Combining the layers t
I drag all of these lighting and depth layers over to the colour file. Now I get to see how these colours interact. Its immediately apparent that my first colour choices were not the best ones pretty blue skies and warm sunny lighting isnt the most gripping setting for a confrontation with trolls. We need more drama, so its time to change the colours!

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Adding detail
Its essential not to get so bogged down in details that you cant see how your paint strokes affect the image as a whole. Whenever Im working on painting details, I open a second window of my image using Window>Arrange> New Window for File. I keep this window zoomed out so that I can simultaneously see the close-up area and the entire painting.

Separating light f from shadows

1 C the Sky the palette 10 Changinglayer and use Adjust Hue/Saturation to shift I select
the sky to pink. The atmospheric haze must match the colour of the sky, so I adjust the Depth layer too. The shadows on their separate layer also need to be warmer. I use Adjust Hue/Saturation because it offers a fine degree of control, enabling me to experiment and stumble upon unexpected colour combinations. I warm up the ground, tweak skin and clothing hues, and create a more complementary magic light. Once finished, Ive adjusted nearly every layer and have a completely different looking piece.

Now I want to separate the shadows and highlights into their own separate layers, so that I can change their hues independently. With just the lighting layer visible, I duplicate the Red channel twice to make two new selection channels, one for highlights and the other for shadows. I adjust the levels on one so that just the highlights are white (selected) while the rest of the image is black (unselected). I do the opposite with the other channel, inverting it so that only the shadows will be selected.

L Lets explore some different extremes before settling on one palette. Ill start by taking the warm colours much further: intense reds can increase the heart rate and are the colour of anger. Reds indicate danger, as with emergency lighting and warning signs, so I try adding an angry red sky and glowing red magic. It certainly has increased the dramatic tension in the painting. My illustration now looks more like the cover of a horror story rather than a childrens book!

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S Spin the colour wheel again

12 A muted way to depict horror is with muted colours, 2 An alternative palette A

as though the life has been drained from the environment. I try a pallid colour set and accent it with a more subtle red this time. This palette conveys seriousness and dread particularly well, giving a spooky feel to the painting. Its certainly more Adjust Hue/ subdued than the last colour comp, Saturation but its still not appropriate for this Ctrl/Cmd+U Adjust your co particular piece. lou

t+Shift+E Ctrl/Cmd+Al ick Handy for qu colour captures of a test.

Merge visible layers into a new layer

13 A cooler choice B Blues and greens are calming

rs with sliders. Click ing Colorise makes everyth ing a single colour.

I create two new layers: Highlights and Shadows. For the Highlights, I load the highlight selection and fill it with a pale yellow. I set this layer to Overlay mode. In the Shadows layer, I fill the shadow selection with a desaturated purple and set this layer to Multiply. Cool shadows and warm light convey outdoor lighting really well.

Creating the coloured lighting

colours. They slow down the heart rate and have a soothing effect on us. Thats why hospitals often rely on cool hues in their colour schemes. I redo the colours to emphasise cool tones. Now the overall feeling is much calmer than it was with the reds Too calm, in fact.

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In depth Colour composition

16 The paintworkto 50 per I set the Line Art layer
cent Opacity and turn off the staffs Magical Glow layer to better see the forms underneath. I refine the brush-work using a Round brush with Hardness set around 65 per cent. I constantly change the paintbrushs Opacity while I work, anything from a subtle 20 per cent to add more cheek colour to 100 per cent for sharp highlights. I use fuzzy-edged brushes for blending. I add more shadows and subtle details to the trolls faces, touch up the armour highlights and incorporate some reflected light. As the protagonists, the kids get the most attention. I spend the most time on their faces, which is what the observer will connect to most.

Tidy layers
Working with this many layers, its vital to keep them well organised. Fortunately, Photoshop has several layer tools to help keep things tidy. Editing your layer names makes sense, so you dont have to hunt for the right one. Changing the colours of your layers via the Layer Options box can help to tell layers apart from each other at a glance. And grouping layers into folders that can be minimised helps reduce on-screen clutter.

19 Incorporating texture I Id like to add some texture to the

armour. I grab a metal texture and desaturate it, and set the new layer to Overlay. To constrain this texture to just the armour, I load the opacity for Troll Metal from my original colour-blocking file. When I click on the Add Layer Mask button, my texture is hidden from all areas except the armour.

14 Working with 4 secondary colours s

I decide to focus on a triadic palette using id the secondary colours. Purple and green are terrific colours for magic because we never see those hues in natural light. I test out several variations before choosing the primarily purple composition. The green magic looks great against the purple, attracting the eye and shaping the forms well. The orange is used sparingly and helps the main characters pop nicely against the cool background.

Decrease/ increase brus h hardness

[+] Use this to ad just brush hardness in inc rements of 25 per cent .

20 Even with my careful depth 20 Adding more colour

selection process at the start, I realise that i adding more blue into the background would give the painting an even greater sense of depth. I load the selection area of the Depth Map. In a new layer, I fill this area with blue and set it to Colour.

17 Adding ground detail floor, I search through T To make the ground look like a forest
free texture websites to find a leafy ground cover. I convert it to greyscale and paste it into a new layer, set to Overlay, above my ground layer (this is why I kept it separate from the rest of the background). I use Free Transform to adjust its perspective and the Fresco filter to remove unnecessary detail. I give this layer a low opacity and merge it down. Then I paint over all of it. I start with large, loose strokes and then refine the details and add roots with smaller brushes.

15 Flatteningtothe layers 5 Its finally time flatten all these I

layers. I flatten all of the kids colourblocking into a single layer. Then I constrain the visibility of the lighting layers to just this layer by Option-clicking between the layers. I use Ctrl/Cmd+Alt/ Option+Shift+E to duplicate the result the kids with all of their lighting on to its own layer. Then I repeat the process with the trolls, the trees and the ground. When Im done, Im down to a handful of workable layers... Its time to paint!

18 Cloudy skiesinaheadI go 8 To paint the clouds theead T sky,

to the bottom-most layer, which I have b kept separate from the rest of the background. I use a custom brush captured from the noise generated by the Render Clouds filter. I refine the clouds using increasingly smaller brushes, but I try not to get too finicky this is backdrop and I dont want to add so much detail that it detracts from the foreground.

Before Im done, I want to shift the colours of the line art to fit the mood better. I select just the line art around the kids and use Adjust Hue/Saturation, clicking on the Colorise check-box. I turn the lines a warm red-orange. I invert the selection to choose the other lines in the scene and colour these a subdued purple. On a layer above the line art, I paint some rim lights, glows and magical embers. I also add a bit of noise over the top of the image. With those last touches, its finished!

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Final touches

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