How to Paint Conan with Photoshop CS4

Have you seen the 2011 Conan movie yet?  I'd like to.  (I say so, because obviously the title of this tutorial greatly obscures that fact for all but the most Sherlockian minds out there.) 

For this painting, I used a reference image from the movie, but I am not a professional artist.  In fact, I got brave enough to use color for the first time only about 6 months ago.  Mainly, I sketch portraits in graphite, which I have been doing for a couple of years.  You can see an example of a Stephen King sketch I did here.  Everything I know is self-taught from the Web. 

In addition to Photoshop, I am using a 6" Bamboo tablet and stylus.  I just don't have the dexterity to paint with a mouse.  A mouse works great for photo editing, creating vector images, and stealing cheddar, but most digital painters refuse to use anything but a stylus.

I usually start with a gray background.  There are a couple of reasons for this.  First, it allows me to say, "Look Honey, I started a painting!"  But also, since gray is neutral, it keeps the colors in the foreground from growing too bright or too dull, since a color looks different depending on the values surrounding it.  For example, put a yellow circle on an orange background and it will feel warm without being terribly dramatic.  Put the same yellow on a blue background, and the contrast will almost hurt your eyes.  

On a new layer above the gray, I draw a line.  The line is important, because, once it is done,  I immediately say, "Hey Honey, can you come back and tell me what you think so far?"  It also is the same color blue that real comic book artists use.  There is a part of my brain that thinks that is extremely cool.  And, it has these hairy looking tick marks growing out at specific intervals.  Actually, this is the vertical center line that goes down through the middle of the figure, helping me to see it in 3D.  The tick marks are evenly spaced, marking the brow, the nose, bottom of the chin, collar bones, rib cage, etc.

  See?

Remember two things throughout this tutorial:  Anything can be fixed.  And, you start simple, then keep adding layer upon layer until it looks dense and realistic.  The more detail, the more realistic it looks.  At first, expect a lot of color banding and for the image to look rough.

 

On a layer between the line drawing and the gray background, add color.  For the thrill seekers out there, you can pick whatever colors you want.  It doesn't matter.  In fact, it's fun to glob on something off-the-wall, like teal or chartreuse, and whenever someone walks by to stare, you tell them that it looks just like them. Usually, however, I look for medium skin and hair tones.  Some artists start with the brightest highlights or darkest shadows.  Go with whatever makes you feel most comfortable.  You'll end up at the same place.  Then use the line drawing to start adding some basic shading and highlights.  Don't try to be precise.  That comes later.  We are just pushing around color now.

Hiding the line drawing layer allows you to see that the painting already has begun to take form.  Turn it off or on periodically to keep your bearings, but you will soon see that you don't need it anymore.

At this point, all paintings should vaguely resemble Gene Simmons from Kiss.  I don't care if you are painting Gandhi or a 1971 Chevy Nova.  Trust me, all paintings will look like Gene Simmons at some point.

 

But then Gene will get lost in the details.

The fact that nothing in real life is a single color is probably one of the most complicated steps in painting.  Take Conan's hair for example.  It is supposed to be dark brown, maybe black.  But for it to look realistic, there are many colors in his hair.  I'm not talking about how people may have a few brown hairs, some blond, and a red or two in the same clump.  In this image are black, a dark brick red, beige, gray, white, and even purple (sometimes on the same strand).  In reality, highlights blending into shadow will create these effects, but also most objects reflect everything around them to one degree or another.  His hair is going to reflect his skin tone.  And vice versa.  This is part of what gives an object a 3D illusion.  Also, the lighter the highlight, the more shiny it is.  (His hair is slightly wet.) 

Don't stress over drawing each individual hair, either.  See sections as individual shapes with highlights and shading.  The same is true throughout the image, which is why you can turn it upside down and still paint it accurately.

Smoothing.  The colors may not be blending well yet, especially if you have been painting with the opacity set to 100%.  To eliminate the striping and make the different colors look like a continuous gradient, turn down the opacity of the brush.  The exact percentage will depend on the color combination.  Typically, I will set mine from 10%-15%.  If you are, for example, trying to shade with pure black, though, that might be too high.  You might have to turn it down to 2%-6%.  Experiment.  If it takes too many strokes to see the color show up, increase the opacity.

I try to render a section completely before moving to the next.  That's my personal preference. Different people paint different ways.  Just depends on the artist.  It is a good idea, however, when there are two similar objects, like the eyes, to paint them simultaneously.  Otherwise, your Conan might look like his plastic surgeon was having a bad day.

Zoom in on sections and try to paint everything in detail.  A piece of leather will be as distinctive as a fingerprint, and you should be just as meticulous with it as you are the face.  Some artists tell you not to waste your time with these details.  This is true when a deadline is involved.  But if you are painting without a time constraint, this attention to detail will make a difference.

The last step.  The background only took a few minutes.  I simply took all the colors that were in Conan and arranged them so that the lighter colors were closer to him and darkest fell near the edges.  Then, I used burgundy (which is the darkest shadow in the scarlet cloth at his waist) and made a glaze.  I created a blank layer above all the others and filled it with the burgundy, then turned the layer opacity down to 27%.

Near the middle of the painting, my son came into my office.  I expected him to say something along the lines, "Dad, that is really cool!"  He looked at my computer screen.  I waited.  Finally, he said, "The mouth isn't right." 

What? 

I had been working on it for about two days at this point.  I was crushed.  Then, I reminded myself that my son is six.  Also, he occasionally forgets to use eating utensils, even when foods practically scream for them, like macaroni and cheese or Jello.  This, of course, only made me feel a little better.

Over the next several days, however, I think I made a lot of people uncomfortable when they realized I was staring at their mouths.