Farewell to Ed, Step-by-Step Digital Painting Process
ISCA recently asked artist Vin Altamore to contribute a step-by-step on his approach to digital painting.
My first task, of course, is finding good reference. I prefer very high-resolution images, since I love getting lost in detail. Sometimes you need to settle though and do the best with what you can scour up. I decided to do a piece on the late Mayor Ed Koch and found a few fairly decent images but it seems the one that caught my attention wasn’t as crystal clear as I like.
I will always start with a traditional sketch. It’s just habit. And using a pencil is always more comfortable for me at this stage. I try to get some basic shapes and have a fair amount of likeness with this rough sketch, and if I think it’s something I can work with, I’ll scan it into Photoshop. (images 1 & 2).
My scanner is an Epson V600. It’s fast and pretty reliable. I set the image for grayscale at 400 dpi and the scan goes directly into Photoshop. I will make some of my initial adjustments to the rough, cleaning up the sketch and increasing the canvas size. This stage is probably the only time I’ll add more layers, which allows me to put the line art layer in multiply mode. (images 3, 4, 5, & 6).
Once I have my canvas enlarged, and have changed the line art layer to Multiply, I begin to tighten up the sketch. I’m still really not concerned about the drawing being perfect since I know I can always make adjustments during the painting process. Just another note: I think most of you have seen my more finished pencil renderings. I use this method for creating a sketch that I then print and either use with a light box or under a piece of tracing paper to serve as a starting point for the drawing. (images 7 & 8)
Now that the sketch is at a point where I can start painting, I’ll reduce the size of my document to 300 dpi and change the mode to RGB. (images 9 & 10) This is where I’ll add a color to my background (it will vary with each piece), and at this point I’ll add another layer between the Background and Sketch where I can lay in some initial color.
I’ve included an image of the brush I work with since I always get questions about that. You’ll see number 56. That particular brush was included in a Digital Painting Tutorial book authored by Don Seegmiller entitled “Character Design & Painting / The Photoshop CS Edition.” I use it for my block-ins and my refining and texture work. Well, it’s the only one I use actually…so thank you, Don Seegmiller! (image 11) After I’ve washed in some color in the middle layer, I’ll flatten my document. (image 12) At this point I treat the digital painting as if I were using a traditional medium. I work in an Alla Prima method at this stage and because my reference photo doesn’t have the detail I prefer it will most probably stay that way.
My palette comes from my reference photo, continually sampling the image but also not locking myself into it. Since I’ve never had any real formal training, I look extensively at the paintings of many traditional realist painters working today (and of course Old Masters) attempting to teach myself how they use color in their figure and portrait work. (images 13, 14, & 15) So basically that’s it. From this point on, I’m just painting, building layers, adding texture and still making adjustments in the original drawing.
As always, all the best... you’re all an inspiration!
Vin Altamore’s earliest memories of drawing go back to 3 years old making images of fish in crayon under his parents furniture...and although the mediums have changed, he hasn’t lost his enthusiasm for the pure joy of making art. He now lives and freelances in Northern New Jersey along with two beautiful females, one with a lot of fur and one without. His work can be found at http://vincentaltamore.blogspot.com, http://vincentaltamoreillustration.tumblr.com and numerous shady Russian sites that offer links to download his “beautiful artwork.” He can be reached at caricature@altamore.com .
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