How do I emulate this digital art style?

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How do I emulate this digital art style?

Postby Warrior 4 Jesus » Tue Nov 30, 2004 8:29 pm

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I love the unique style of the above painting and would love to be able to emulate its looks (obviously with my own subject matter). For those who don't know its a scene taken from a cutscene in the PC/Xbox stealth game: Thief - Deadly Shadows.
All I know is the above painting was done in Photoshop. I was wondering if anyone (trained well) in Photoshop would be able to tell me the steps/process it takes to create a painting like this (brush sizes, tools etc) or be able to point me to a suitable tutorial.

Thankyou!
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Postby Tofu » Wed Dec 01, 2004 2:03 pm

Looks to me like there are any number of ways to get that look. I'd say a lot of the smudge tool, and brush shapes probably around 2px-20px. Most likely this was done with a tablet, as well... though it could be done with a mouse.
I'm sure I've seen various tutorials about with instruction on how to do any number of coloring styles in PS... sadly, I don't know where any of them are now.
I'm sure a Dogpile search would bring up something useful, though.
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Postby Psycho Ann » Wed Dec 01, 2004 8:23 pm

Tofu is correct that the smudge tool was most likely used a lot. Blur seems to be used a bit as well before having the smudge tool coming in to give it a stroke direction. I've seen this kind of style of painting color before, but it's been a while--lovely work. If I were to simulate the style, most likely I would have taken these steps:

1. Draw/color the illustration with a hard edged brush--sizes to your own discretion. (the pencil could even have been used here, since some of the lines are extremely hard edged)

2. Color subtlies, like the green in the skin, is probably colored in this stage. But I personally would wait later and lightly come in with an airbrush at a low opacity.

3. Your illustration should look like a blob of color, squint at it from a distance (or use the nifty navigation view window) and make sure the overall color/gesture is correct.

4. Smudge away! Smooth out the places between color changes (you could even blur the majority of these places first), smooth out places that taper off (edges of hair, etc), and just have it look more smooth and blended with giving the effect of smudged oil.

5. Correct as you go. When you're satisfied with smudging, go back in to emphasis the places you want sharp. Like the glasses here and the fine hairs on his beard. Also, this is when you put in the sharp highlights like on the nose, and the brightest parts of the head cloth.

It isn't hard to do, but what makes it work is the correct colors. I seldom see people pull it off, but this one did nicely (although the glasses and the black clips jump out at me too much, and I would bet the glasses are put on after--there's no cast shadow on the face for the glasses, same goes with the clips) especially having the planes of the face that are furthur back have that green/cool color. It reinforces the the illusion of depth ^^

Well, I hope something I said above helped some... XD XD Or you can just ignore my blathering XD
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Postby Warrior 4 Jesus » Wed Dec 01, 2004 8:36 pm

Well I suck at digital art, mainly because I've never tried it before, but I would love to learn it. I know it may take a long time but you have to have goals. I've also recently got a tablet, only a A5 workspace but thats a good start to digital art). Thankyou so much for your help Tofu (love that name) and especially your help Psycho Ann it is very much appreciated!
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