HOW I WORK: DIGITAL PAINTING A STEP BY STEP GUIDE

A quick guide to show a step by step progression of the Wedding Groom

STEP ONE: I begin with a pencil sketch that I scan at 300 dpi into the computer save and open Corel Painter IX. In order to start the actual colouring process, I need to be able to colour under the lines of the pencil sketch itself. To do that, click on the canvas and lift the canvas to watercolour layer. Right click the layer and commit, the sketch is now on a transparent gel layer. This sketch is very rough as it’s just to give me an idea, if it was for a client I would produce a more polished version to show.

STEP TWO: I do not like to paint on white canvas, so fill a new layer with a colour and lock it so I cannot accidentally paint on it, keeping in mind a potential client may want to use the image on a white background.
On a new layer I begin to block in colour to get the basic shape.
I tend to work on separate layers for each part of the painting i.e. hand, rose, shirt and jacket, merging layers as I go along , it is also easier to erase any of my mistakes. But that is just a personal preference.

Special note: When working with layers in Painter I usually have the "Pick up underlying colour" selected in the layers palette. With this mode selected when blending with the brushes all the layers beneath the layer I am working on will be included.

STEP THREE: As you can see I have cut in a waistcoat and started to put in more detail, touching up other areas bit by bit. Another habit of mine is I usually duplicate the layer I am working on just in case I mess up; also helps I can switch between the relevant layers to see which layer looks the best.
When I am satisfied I save a copy of the image file before deleting unwanted layers. This helps keeps the open working image file down in size. (My working Files can be large up to and over 100 MB a piece)

STEP FOUR: Moving on to the rose I start to add more definition and depth. To get the mottled colour variation look on the fern and leaves I play around with the colour variability.
To get a similar effect make sure the colour variability is on HSV mode and move the sliders across testing out the brush strokes as you go, you will be surprised at the multitude of colour effects you can achieve.

Special note: If you like a colour combination you have achieved using the HSV mode just save the brush as a variant with the colour's saved box ticked, that way it’s always to hand.

STEP FIVE: With the Rose complete I move on to the waistcoat. The pattern for the waistcoat is loose strokes which you will find in Corel Painters pattern library, using the waistcoat mask and magic wand, I select the pattern pen to apply the pattern.
Duplicating the patterned waistcoat layer I use the Composite Method modes in layers usually set to default. With some tweaking I get the look I am after.

STEP SIX: With everything in place the fun part begins. Adding button detail to the waistcoat I turn my attention to the shading and highlighting. Using Blender brushes and more importantly the dodge and burn tools I put the finishing touches to the image till...

STEP SEVEN:...... It’s finally finished.
A larger version of the image can be viewed
here