Ooh look, an image dump! Well, really what this is meant to be is a 'how-to' for anyone (hi, Vince!) interested. I start off with a pencil sketch. So far, I just can't loosen up as much digitally as I can with a pencil and paper. I scan that, bring it into Illustrator and set it to the top layer and drop the opacity to about 50%. Then I draw in shapes the figure below it. Once that was done, I selected all the parts of the figure and pasted them atop the figure on a layer above. I melded those pieces into one silhouette, colored it orange and dropped its opacity to about 50%. At this point, I noticed that, as usual, while the orange layer affected the one below it, it flattened out the contrast as well. I figured I'd have to assemble this all in PS, which is fine. It must means an extra step.
After this, I did the same thing I did with the orange layer, but used it to make a shadow layer that I placed atop everything else. Then I went about cutting holes where I felt the light would be hitting the figure. This was probably the longest step of the whole process.
After this was done, I poked at things like the background, added a few very transparent clouds by using the same gradient as the background but reversing the flow of dark to light and dropping the opacity to about 10%. I wanted them to barely be there.
With all of this done, I had to export the image in three pieces; the main image with no lighting or shadows, then the lighting (orange) layer all alone and finally the shadow layer all alone. I opened the main image in Photoshop then each of the other layers separately. I selected everything in the orange layer, pasted it on the main one, erased out all the parts that weren't orange then did the same thing with the shadow layer. I had to play about with the opacity and layer settings, finally deciding on 'multiply' for the orange layer and 'illuminate' for the shadow layer. This way, the details all remain visible and the colors are deeper and richer. I wish layers worked this way in Illustrator so I wouldn't have to lose quality but I can always make another version of this at any DPI I want.
There, a little 'tutorial,' like I'm one to teach. Thing is, I rarely meet other artists that use Illustrator and some folks are just afraid of it. I admit, it does have a steep learning curve. Vectors, though, are SO useful and highly used in the animation industry for good reason.
4 comments:
this looks AMAZING! Your process is a lot more complex than mine when I draw but I usually just have a sketch and then ink over it either digitally or on paper and then I'm done! This has sort of a glowing sunset/lit look to it.
Thanks, Vince! This was more complex than usual because I really wanted depth to the highlights and shadows and I can't do that with Illustrator alone. I might as well get used to it as this is the approach I want to take with Ghiroy.
I also just found out from a friend who knows a LOT more about Illustrator than I do that you CAN change the layer opacity options. It's very not obvious and I don't think I like the results quite as much but now I know I could do this without PS mostly.
I was a little shocked that illustrator didn't have the same layer options as photoshop. I use it mostly for logos and the occasional illustration but nothin as complex as your stuff. If Ghiroy is going to look like this drawing it's going to be incredible to look at. Does the affinity design software have layer options like photoshop? I have been disappointed in the final released photo software they came with, it's buggy and doesn't support the plugins that the beta version I tested did!
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