(Possibly Not Safe For Work!)

Here’s another piece from last year, broken up into steps. In this particular painting, I do side-by-side comparisons of particular sections I worked on.

The things to note here are:

  1. The use of a very limited grayscale palette to learn more about values
  2. Using the tools available in digital media to correct mistakes
  3. Touching up the final image with Photoshop’s excellent image editing tools

Here’s the final image I produced.

The Final Image

Step 1: Start with a rough sketch

Start with a rough outline sketch. Avoid tones/shading.

Start with the outline of the subject. Obviously, I’m working from a reference here.

 

At this point, nail down the proportions and composition on the canvas.

Step 2: Block in the colours

Block up the image with the values you'll be working with. Stick to a limited palette.

Now, I blocked up the image with the shades of colours I’ll be working with. The skin tone is all the one colour but of differing shades of the colour. It is lit so the subject’s skin tone is consistent throughout. If it were lit up multiple light sources of different colours, the skin tone would be made up of different colours that are composed of different shades. Colour is a vast subject that will be the subject of a future post.

 

I won’t have a background for this piece.

Step 3: More detail is added

Detail is added to the torso.

The hard work is done now. From here on in, I just clean up sections at a time. I usually start with the sections that are most interesting, the sections that have the most tonal contrast. Tonal contrast, by my definition, is when shades of a colour do not gradually transition into each other; like when black is next to white. It’s these sections where the eye is drawn to first.

 

I love painting faces (since they have the most tonal contrast) but I prefer to them last because it’s the most satisfying. If I do the faces first, the rest will be a chore.

Step 4: Even more detail is added

Next, more detail is added to the lower half.

Next, I clean up the hips and thighs. The edges are smoothed out and the colours and tonal planes cleaned up.

 

Step 5: Sections are targeted and more details added

Add more detail. The back knee was particularly fun to do because of the different shades.

Next, I clean up the legs and knees.

 

Step 6: More details

The foot is cleaned up.

Hands and, even more so, feet are tricky. Remember to have a good reference and your own hands (maybe not your feet :( ) are always available for referencing.

 

Step 7: Is that leg too short?

Copy and paste the section you want to lengthen and then paint over the "seams".

I always stop after each section to zoom out and assess the work. In this case, upon zooming out, the right leg appears to be too short. I should have nailed this problem during the sketching phase but working in a digital medium is forgiving; I can easily change this.

 

Select a section and copy and paste it as a new layer. Reposition as appropriate. Then, I can easily paint over the seams of the new layer to “blend” it into the image.

Step 8: Finally, the face

Add detail to the face. Use custom brushes for the hair.

As I mentioned, the face is the part I save for last. A lot of work has already been done (as I couldn’t resist myself) but I add further details and clean it up.

 

Hair can be a little tricky but I’ve picked up a few tricks.

  • Hair is like a landscape . It’s got contours and light bounces of it in different ways.
  • Use a custom brush resembling multiple dots.
  • Only use two or three colours. With blonde hair, use brown, black and white

Step 9: Final Touches

Change the Hue, Saturation and Levels.

At this point, just to finish it off I tweak it a little bit to make the figure pop.

 

And there you have it. For a simple image like this with no background, starting with a sketch then blocking in the colours makes for a simple approach. For a more complicated image, the same steps can also be applied.

Comments and feedback are most welcome.

If you like this content, please share your thoughts in the comments below, follow me on Twitter at @jbjose or add me on Google+.