Create a Fantastic Comic Scene in Photoshop
Making of Drows Vs Goblins by Alexey Zaryuta, Ukraine
Setting the Task - My work on this painting had started from my chief setting me the task. It had to be a marketing painting for our World of Battles gaming progect. The task was to draw a scene of a battle, where goblins flee in panic from drow cavalry which pursues them.
Rough Sketch - Often I start my work on a painting from a small rough sketch on a piece of paper or in Photoshop (in low resolution and without layers). Generally I prefer the paper. It lets you delve into the plot, scene setting and composition deeply, without being distracted by technicalities. The resulting drawing doesn't matter much, what matters is the possibility to think the work out, without details and fine points. You are having a "bird's view" at your future work. Often, this results with drawing some obscure scrawls which are only understood by myself.
Exact Sketch - When I have the plot and scene set, I start the next stage - the Exact Sketch stage. I'm calling it Exact because, as a general rule, I do not change it during the following work. It is a very important stage of my working process. It allows me to completethe plot, scene and setting before detailing colors, shadows, highlights and reflexes during rendering stage.
I only finish the Exact Sketch when I'm fully satisfied with the result. I've made a rule: the fuller and better the exact sketch is, the simpler and easier the following work will go.
I create a white background layer and a transparent layer above, on which I draw the sketch with a pencil tool. The resolution should be set about 2-4 times more than the resulting work needs.
I like Photoshop especially for its Lasso and Free Transform tools. When you have drawn some object or character, it can be scaled, moved or rotated easily, for better composition. I rotated thesketch counterclockwise to make it more dynamic. Here's the result:
Global Color Gamut - It's time to define a color gamut of the whole picture. Usually I just take a big brush and start to paint the background layer. No details, just colors. But this time i've cheated a bit: I happened to find apainting with amazing colors which would ideally work with my painting . So, I took this picture and put it into lower level; then, using Eyedropper tool and a brush, I've dabbed it until all details were painted over, leaving just colors:
After that I've merged the layers in one and started rendering.
Rendering - To motivate myself, I start from rendering the goblins on the foreground. I like the result.
Time to do something with the sky. I never liked drawing scenery, always preferring objects and characters. Thus, I've decided to deal with this stage in a fastest possible way. Found a sunset photo with Google. Removed the small details with Smart Blur tool. Even not detailed it gives the overall impression of what it will be in the end, thus making it easy to estimate the results. For example, my drow rider on a Cold One (riding beast) had blended with the surroundings. So, I’ve marked him out by contrast with bright orange glow at the background:
A little bit of speedpaint. I mean using custom brushes to draw things. I rarely use this technique, but in certain situations it is a "cost-effective" alternative. At the background I've wanted to see some imposing dark object, adding dramatics to the painting. So, I've decided to create it fast and cheap. I draw a sample picture (1). Edit - define brush preset... A bit of brush customizing...(2). Draw a more complex picture (3) and create a brush out of it, too. Define this brush preset the same way as the previous one:
The resulting brush allows me to draw many strange and intricate objects in mere seconds. Now, I use this brush to draw a suitable shape on the background. After that I use normal brush to outline it, add lighting and some interesting details and - voila...
I used Custom Brushes to draw birds, dust on the middle ground and sky, too. The second drow rider was created by copying the first one and then editing.
Here's the finish line. I add goblin silouettes in the dust and make some more minute adjustments. Correct the levels. Sharpen a bit... And it's ready!
Here are the stages:
6. Useful Advices for Beginners
6.1 Considering layers.
Do not pay too much attention to layers. When I was starting my painting career I was literally obsessed by them, putting tens of layers in every painting. It seemed to be handy, but the more layers I created, the more I was dominated by them. Technical manipulations with layers took too much of my time and attention, pushing the creativity aside. On the other hand, just dividing background from foreground is often enough to save you from a lot of troubles later while editing. Nevertheless, even this rule is often neglected by me.
6.2 Light sources
It is important to define where the light sources are, and think of them while drawing. With time you're getting accustomed to keep these light sources in mind and trace them mentally - so-called Brain Powered Raytrace Engine :) One shouldn't forget that lighted and shadowed areas have opposite hues (in color circle). For example, an object highlighted by red light will have a greenish shadow. On open air, the sky is creating an additional light source: in bright sunny day the shadows have a bluish tint because they are illuminated by blue sky.
6.3 Highlights and reflexes
Highlight is when a light source is reflected in an object, while reflex means that object is reflecting its surroundings. Shape and intensity of a highlight tell us a lot about object's substance; reflex, onthe other hand , joins the object to its surroundings. If you want to include an object into its surroundings properly, you shouldn't forget about reflexes (and about lightning, too). I've noticed that paintings of artists who do not pay enough attention to reflexes and highlights seem to be dry and lifeless. Onthe other hand, if reflexes and highlights are drawn with enough attention, the painting becomes rich and tasty.
6.4 Stages
My work is divided on the following stages: 1. Rough Sketch (paper). 2. Exact Sketch, the "framework" (white background, pencil drawing on a transparent layer). 3. Global color gamut (painted on the background layer). 4. Merging the layers and rendering the details. All changes are made on a new layer first; if they seem to be good, this layer is merged with the previous one. 5. Final detailing and polishing. This doesn't mean you should stick to this sequence - just formulate your approach and keep it. And don't forget to experiment.
6.5 Flip horizontal
Assign this function to a hotkey. When you're working on the same painting for a long while, your eye become tired and do not grasp mistakes as easily. Horizontal flip allows you to look at the painting from a new angle.
6.6 Advice from my past experience as graphic designer
If a designer starts his work at his drawing program at the moment the task was set for him... He's a bad designer. Seriously, you should give yourself some time and means to think your task over. Your mind, your imagination work hundred times as fast as your PC. So, you shouldn't limit yourself with its speed. To sketch or mark something, paper is much better. You should have a fully generated idea when you're starting work on your PC. As they say, "look before you leap".
6.7 Final hints
You should avoid parallel lines and objects of similar scale: that's boring. Do not forget about dynamics. And, in general, "basics of a composition" should never be neglected!
P.S.: Here I present the stages of creating my Undead Sea painting:
