Tutorial

• Software: GIMP or Photoshop
• Level: Advanced
• Subject: Glowing Objects - Effects

Earlier, we saw how to paint glowing objects by taking lightning as an example. That technique can be used for other things like sparkles, energy beams and flames - not just for lightning.

In this article, we will discuss how to further integrate these glowing objects with the rest of the painting. We might put in a lot of detail into painting them, but if we do not consider the effect they have on their surroundings, the glowing object will seem to stand out. It would seem like it was just pasted over after doing the rest of the painting.

Here is a quick concept sketch I made of a Fire Sorceress. Notice how I painted the fireball in her hand - I used the same principle as I did with the lightning in the earlier exercise. But it still seems a bit odd, in spite of having the fireball show through her fingers - it is sort of detached.

To fix this, we have to consider how the fireball would effect the rest of the scene. In this case, we need to consider the light hitting the form of her body.
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• Level: Intermediate
• Subject: Phoenix

This is a brief walkthrough on drawing a Phoenix. I will give the download links for XCF and PSD at the end.

Basic Structure

Though Phoenix is a mythical creature, it still pays to study a bit of bird anatomy and work on other birds like peacock. Examine the above concept - though it is a bit complex, it is a bit easy when you break it down to simple structures.

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• Software: GIMP (or Adobe Photoshop)
• Level: Advanced
• Subject: Mecha Dragon - Comic Style

Dragon Workshop: Chinese Dragon | Medieval Dragon | More…

This would be a walkthrough on doinig a comic style illustration and coloring of one of my favourite subjet, dragon. Mecha Dragon or armored dragon to be specific.

Brainstorming And Sketching

I do some brainstorming, directly into GIMP. I want a A4 size colored illustration at 300 dpi at the end of this. Hence, I create a new canvas (GIMP has a preset), and then scale it down by 25%. Then I start off by drawing compositional lines - a spiral composition with the eye at positioned at one of the one third point.

I actually do a couple of these and choose one of the designs that I liked and start detailing it a bit.

Once I am pretty confident with the sketch, I scale up by 400% to bring it back to A4 at 300dpi, and start with a lineart in a new layer.

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• Software: GIMP or Adobe Photoshop
• Level: Intermediate
• Subject: Glowing Objects - Lightning

This tutorial is a short one, but would be explaining an intermediate level of digital painting technique. It is a walkthrough of painting a lightning against a moderately dark plain sky. Once you understand the technique, you should be able to apply the same technique for painting variations in the subject - sparkles, energy beams, or light sabers.

When painting a glowing energy streak - remember to choose a color palette that is contrasting in terms of value. You may want to choose contrasting color too to help in composition of the piece but may not be always possible (it would be weird to draw a blue colored flame).

For this example, I used a moderately dark blue for the sky. It is just not possible to get the right effect of a lightning against a white background.

This step might seem a bit counter-intutive. Use a soft edged round brush, take a color even darker than the background and paint over the area roughly where you would be painting the lightning. Even it the lighting seems to glow, to achieve a bright effect, putting an even darker background helps achieve the contrast.

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