Process: Fun and Games

A friend once told me that your "style" as an artist develops out of necessity.  Its the product of months and years of tight deadlines, a time when you don't have the luxury of finding yourself.  I found that true of style's close cousin, process.  Early in my professional career, I experimented with a variety of techniques, never quite comfortable with my own painting process.  As work demands required quicker turnarounds, I was forced to focus on the getting the job done in the most efficient way possible.  Through that experience, a process developed on its own that worked perfect for me.  Whether I'm painting a children's magazine spot or a fantasy book cover, the way I work doesn't change much.

Below is a piece I did recently, titled Fun and Games, and a breakdown of how I did it.

1) Sketch... I always start an illustration with a sketch.  Sometimes it's done traditionally, like this one.  But, most of the time, I sketch digitally.

2) Flat local color and block-in... After a sketch is completed, I head to Photoshop.  I set the sketch layer to Multiply mode and reduce opacity to 30-40%.  Using the drawing as my guide, I block in the basic silhouette of the main elements using solid colors on a new normal layer (under the sketch layer).  These colors are used to define the true hue of an object, independent of any lighting.  No shading here.

3) Shadows... Now that the silhouette is defined and the local colors have been chosen, it's time to add shadows.  At this point, I add a new Hard Light layer with Clipping Mask applied.  Many people use Multiply layers for their shadows.  I think Hard Light simulates real light properties better.  If I want to create a rich, saturated shadow, I can get that with Hard Light.  Multiply seems to muddy colors together.  But be careful.  The saturation and value levels of the color you choose can make or break this effect.  Try saturation settings between 4% and 8% and value settings between 30% and 45%.  You'll be surprised at how vibrant the shadows turn out.  The clipping mask option assures that this shadow layer will not break the silhouette of the block-in layer underneath.

4) Lights...  New layer with clipping mask applied.  This time set the blending mode to Vivid Light.  Vivid light works much like Hard light.  Keep your saturation levels very low and the value setting just a bit higher than 50% (55-70% usually works great).

5) Massaging... With the local color figured out and lights and shadows applied, I have a color scheme completely resolved.  At this point, I usually merge all the preliminary layers into one and then just paint away until it's polished and I'm happy.  Truth be told, I usually keep a copy of those prelim layers hidden in a folder within the psd, just in case.  But working with just one layer allows me to chisel away at the edges very conveniently as needed.

6) Final touches... After the painting is all done, I usually tweak things with a couple adjustment layers and maybe a textured Overlay layer.  And then it's done.  Breaking the image into stages makes it so much easier to wrap my brain around it.  I can tackle each stage with confidence, which strengthens the picture as a whole, but also makes things go faster.  I can usually finish a piece like this in under four hours.

Anyway, I hope this peek into my workflow was informative.  If you like it, feel free to pass it along.

Fantasy Artist Magazine Interview...

Last year, I was interviewed by Fantasy Artist Magazine on the topic of painting fantasy armor.  It was nice to reflect on what I'd learned over the years and share some thoughts with others.  I wanted to make sure I posted it here for you to read as well.  Feel free to pass it along, if you find it insightful.

FA: What familiar tropes/clichés are there in fantasy clothing/armour? And how do you use/subvert these?

AB: It’s a very interesting question.  There’s a fair amount of tropes out there in fantasy art.  And there’s good and bad sides to that.  In fantasy art, the clothing/armor that a character wears defines his/her role.  You have your standand classes of characters (mage, warrior, thief, etc.) and each has iconic elements in their costume that make them easy to identify.  In an illustration, where you’re portraying a moment in a story without the help of text, being able to read the moment quickly is an important thing.  Some of these tropes can help with that.  However, if we’re lazy and rely too heavily on those clichés, it leads to bland and shallow characters.  I think a healthy balance is key.  Take those tropes and twist them.  Combine them.  If you’re painting a wizard, giving him a staff will help sell the role quickly.  And that’s o.k.  Embrace the staff, but do something new with it.


FA: How important is it to you to create some new and different?

AB: I’m sure the concept artist side of me is speaking up here, but painting an illustration that isn’t new or different is not very fulfilling to me.  I like to design things.  And I want people to remember my illustrations and the characters in them.  No one’s going to remember something that looks like everything else. 


FA: How do you feel about female armour/clothing (or the lack of it) in fantasy art?

AB: That’s a good one.  We all want the strong women in our illustrations to look attractive.  I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that.  But the longstanding trend in the industry is to create female sex objects, devoid of purpose or depth.  Bikini-clad eye candy.  I’m not sure if it’s artist-driven or audience-driven, but it has always seemed like a lazy, and slightly adolescent, design choice.  I’m of the personal mindset that modest is hot too, so I try to prove that in my illustrations as much as possible.  Fortunately, I’m seeing others try to break the trend as well.



FA: How much time do you spend researching costumes? Do you work more from historical examples or more from your own inspiration?

AB: I’m not an expert in armor or costume design, but I do a lot of reference gathering.  Both historical and fictional.  Even if I’m designing something completely imagined, understanding the principles from real life is crucial.  Centuries of intelligent thought has gone into designing real armor and clothes for real people.  Tapping into that knowledge will make your costume design more intelligent and believable.
    

FA: How much time do you spend thinking about the materials involved?

AB: Not as much as I should, honestly.  Knowing what material your costume is made of and being able to paint it accurately will allow you to convey more info in your illustration and give it more confidence.  It’s something I’m constantly trying to improve. 


FA: How much do you worry about how practical the costume would be?

AB: Maybe not as much as some, but I think about the practicality of the costumes a lot.  I try to educate myself, through research, about what makes sense first.  Then I may choose to embrace that reality or ignore it depending on the content and style of the illustration.  If my illustration is more historically based, then accuracy is more important.  If it’s purely fiction, then I take more liberties. 
    

FA: Aside from actually dressing the character then, how important are clothing/armour in defining the world you are illustrating?

AB: Costume has the potential to define whole kingdoms and worlds, if we allow them to.  Think about Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Ring films.  Every character’s costume is purposely designed to reflect the culture that character came from.  The smooth, organic shapes in Legolas’ clothes and armor are design elements mirrored in everything else Elvish.  Seeing Legolas gives us a glimpse of an entire civilization.  The boxy, geometric patterns of Gimli’s costume do the same for the Dwarvish world.  I try to put this much thought into the costumes I create as well.  



FA: What shortcuts/tricks do you have to creating clothing/armour?

AB: I don’t have many tricks, but Photoshop has some great tools that help in the process.  The use of custom brushes in Photoshop really helps to streamline my work.  I have brushes for chainmail, fur, stitching, brushed metal, leather, as well as others for nature, creatures, and architecture.  Being able to add texture to my painting so easily is a huge asset.  I also composite photos into my work, on occasion.  If I’m able to find the perfect costume element (leather scale armor for example) in a photo, I’ll often grab it, throw it in my piece, and then tweak it so it fits in with the rest of my painting.   


FA: What do you find the hardest elements of the process?

AB: Personally, I think its breaking those clichés.  Whether it’s for a client or for myself, time is always short.  And it’s easy to fall on the same old formulas when you’re in a hurry.  And sometimes you have clients that don’t fully appreciate the value in trying new things.  You have to check yourself and remind yourself that it’s worth the effort.