Another tutorial: sometimes instructional,
other times somewhat rambling, I hope
it will help you in your artistic endeavors.
Some of the techniques used below can
be used for painting all kinds of things
in Photoshop. Like I've said in other
tutorials, I don't claim to be any genius
at this, I'm just trying to pay back a
debt I owe to all the people who've helped
me with their tutorials.
If
you've seen the rest of my site, you
probably would have left already if
nudity bothers you. But you haven't,
so welcome to the tutorial! Of course
we will begin with a nude figure because...
well, (spoken in Pythonesque voice),
we wouldn't be here if she was wearing
any clothes already, would we? Good
luck! Onward...
In
painting the folds in cloth, it helps
to have reference if you need it. Keep
a folder near your computer of reference
material. Or take a look at a few books
out there that specialize in helping
the artist draw cloth.
Note:
All that follows I painted using a pressure-sensitive
pen tablet. If you don't have one, look
under your couch and find the money.
You won't regret it.
Above
you will find the image I've begun with.
I've already set a basic pose in Poser
4, and exported the figure as a wavefront
object, then imported it into Bryce. After
setting a couple lights, getting a comfortable
sky, and texturing the figure, I rendered
a full picture, and then a mask render.
I've made the picture about 2500 pixels
high. The larger the better. You'll be
getting to some details later, and you'll
find them easier if you begin large.
In
Photoshop, I cut and paste the mask
render into a new alpha channel, allowing
me to cleanly select the figure and
place her on her own layer.
Usually
a Poser figure has certain inherent
oddities in the mesh or texture (various
folds, corners, rough areas)... I've
airbrushed these away, made some color
corrections, painted some more here
and there until I was satisfied with
the overall skin tone. I've also enhanced
a few shadows and hilights.
Important
note: Never, ever (and I mean never!)
forget where your light is coming from.
It will effect everything in your scene.
You can't depend on the wonderful lighting
your 3d program provides to bail you
out of what you are about to paint in
only two dimensions.
Undoubtedly,
I will make future changes to the figure.
Depending on the color of the hair and
clothes, I may change it later in order
to create a better overall tonal quality
in the scene. I'm sure I will find areas
where the clothes interact with the
body... and I'll get ready to whip the
virtual paintbrush out again on the
figure.
Moving
to more of a close-up view, I select a
color, a smallish brush, and start painting
an outline of the garment I'd like to
see on her. At this point, it doesn't
matter what color I choose, as long as
it contrasts fairly well with the background;
i.e., as long as I can see it. Remember,
we're in Photoshop now, and we can change
anything later, right?
Think
about your scene... what is happening?
In this scene, not much; but the wind
is blowing, and that will govern everything
I paint in the cloth, and then later
(another tutorial) in her hair.
Anyway...
it seems my mind has conjured up something
perhaps once seen on the cover of a
romance novel.... fairly revealing,
yet hopefully it contains enough material
to get a tutorial out of it on painting
clothing.
