Leppy's CG Art Tutorial!

So you wanna see how leppy does cg art with just a wacom and photoshop? then this is the tutorial for you!

well you might not really learn much from this, and you wont learn any simplified character sketching techniques and stick figure modeling or any of that, but this is meant to show how i go about creating an image on the computer...

this tutorial requires:
- a wacom (or really 1337 mouse skillz)
- photoshop
- hands
- eyes
- err.. you get the idea...

(i'm also assuming that you already know how to do brush settings and all that)


ok, first begin sketching out what you want the character to look like in a color other than the one you want to use for your finished lineart (usually not black), making lots of fast lines to get the shape just right.

then, create another layer on top of that one and make the final lineart over the sketch. keep this one nice and clean.

(i added in an extra sword that wasnt in the sketch... just decided it looked better that way after i finished the lineart, but normally you'd want to get all your plans done in the sketch layer)

after you finish drawing your character, you can scrap the sketch layer. then its time to decide what colors you want him to be, and color it all in with the brush tool on a new layer underneath the lineart. (dont use the magic wand! it'll make weird white spots all over!)

and finally, its time to shade and highlight. first create a new layer over the color layer and underneath the lineart layer. then get a dark color and use the brush tool on a low opacity level to go around your art and darken certain areas. dont be afraid to add texture too by using varying brush colors and sizes. then use a white brush to lighten up certain areas. make sure to add some bright white on the lightest areas, to make it really stand out, otherwise the image will look flat.

[i know, step 4 is a huge change from step 3, but it's not nearly as complicated as it looks. just keep throwing on more shades and colors as you see fit, and it'll start to develop a unique form]

and thats it! im not saying its the best way to go about it, i just wanted to show how i do it. if anyone else has other ways of making cg stuff, i'd like to hear about it! :D

Not bad, I think it would of been better if you would of added 1 more step from step 4, shading first then highlights or visa versa....

yeah, that would have been good...

and (what i do) is to make the shadow and the highlight layers seporate, and set the shadows to myultiply and the lights to screen :D

A lot of people don't bother with layers. There's a nice step-by-step at the bottom of this thread:
http://www.conceptart.org/forums/sho...threadid=16547
And an avi tutorial here for hawkprey's unique photoshop method (b&w):
http://www.conceptart.org/forums/sho...threadid=10005
There was a nice photoshop tutorial on this site:
http://www.itchstudios.com/psg/
It's currently being updated though so you might have to take a look later, also a very unique style.

All 3 should work fine in photoshop, however I do think a tablet will help.

Edited because: One of the things that seems to help is to bring out the important elements, through detail and contrast; blending the less important things with the background. .

That's kinda just common logic isn't it leppy?

Isn't the real secret to coloring knowing proper shading method?

I would really rather look at a tut that tells you how to shade a colored drawing by doing it in grey... maybe erwtie knows?

KMK... those links are helpful... and Hawkprey's stuff is awesome.

icbm1987

yaeh pretty much... though this looks like something im doing to help others, i really just did it to help myself so someone would give me tips about how they go about coloring and stuff.... ;)


ill check out those links kmk :D

allright... now i have that tablet, i might be able to make a quick tut.. maybe... just on shading eh>? what kind of shading? flesh? cloth? metal?

flesh... that's the hardest one.

no way.. flesh is easy.

for you...

How bout this... take a picture that incorporates all three parts... and shade it in a tutorial...

I'm still waiting on the tutorial subsection tho... I think X is mad cause I keep spamming her thread... But I never sign my spam posts... I always leave the end blank.

icbm1987

lol... i might.

metal....
I just treat flesh as cloth and it works, tho it doesnt work that way for metal