I honestly thought that I’d put down all the flats and be done, but then I decided to play with shading and highlights on the skin tone. Now it practically begs to give the rest of the character the same treatment. So much for a stopping point, but at least I can play around and maybe end up with a painted work to show off.
Laid down the flat colors for the Goblin Engineer. TUnic and pants are just blocked in with a basic color so I can lock the transparency later and add the real colors.
Comin’ along nicely.
Looks like my ref snuck in there too.
I’ve brought myself to a stopping point with the reference sheet of my friend’s Undead Hunter character from Warcraft.
I’m happy with how the colors work. There might still be a few loose ‘threads’ here and there along some of the edges, but all in all, I’m pleased with the outcome of this one.
I plan to expand this reference sheet with some other visual aids, such as the character’s Saronite talons. Maybe some arrows.
Full-size Images:
Field Colors
Undercity Colors
Base colors finished.
All art forms take discipline, but I think mastering it is about identifying where it is. So far, I’m learning that organization is key in Photoshop mastery. I find myself sometimes losing track of what’s being done in a certain layer, or forgetting to switch to another layer when I’m working on a different part of the piece.
Going to have to revisit this, though. There are some differences I’m noticing on her right arm from the front and back view.
Damn.
The character is finally starting to look truer to her final vision. These are still pretty much ‘base’ colors, but the palate is much closer to what they should be. The leather of the boots and gloves might be a tad too bright, but I might be able to adjust them to something that goes better with the ensemble and lends a sense of stealthiness to the character.
In Warcraft, there is a special material known as Saronite, and this character is essentially a Wolverine whose bones have been replaced with it. Not entirely unlike Wolverine, it shows up as claws– specifically the ends of her fingers. The Undead in Warcraft are basically all skin and bones, which means she has talons of the Saronite in her system. I’m not sure if the full-body shot is enough to demonstrate it, though. This might call for a close-up of one of her hands.
I’ve asked the player to provide weapon references as well.
Almost finished.
I’m establishing the base colors again. This time, I’m using nothing but grouping.
I started out selecting an outline of the linework. Because I went through and emboldened the lines, getting the entire outline at once was relatively painless. After filling that in a solid color (I chose a light blue), I locked the transparency layer. It’s a trick that I learned from my last tutorial. Every separate color is on its own layer for individual parts of the character’s armor, and where the colors meet the outline makes it super easy to fill. It’s where the colors meet one another that requires a bit more attention to detail.
For my Digital Painting course, I decided to do a character reference piece. I had been telling my friend and WoW guild mate for years that I’d do a piece for her, so I decided to create her character for the piece. Reference Images: Layout … Continue reading Final Project – Female Orc Shaman
Matthew l. Neidig 