Jack Gallows, on 31 March 2013 - 09:06 PM, said:
Ironhawk, might I inquire how you pull off the gold highlights? I'm still fumbling around with some of the more advanced techniques.
Alright, here goes, and I'll keep generic to match both Gimp and Photoshop:
- prerequisite: pressure sensitive pen tablet (Wacom) is a must
- create a layer for your gold base, still within clipping mask of your base paint (multiply mode layer)
- then you can choose 1 of 2 possible techniques to establish your metal paint base (I tried both): base color plus effect layers or gradient
1- if you elect to go with a gradient, then you must set up a nice gold gradient by selecting your palette carefully (you can google for gold gradient patterns but they all end up being the same somewhat, going from shade to intense yellow-tan to shade for horizon to tan for sky then to light tan.) This technique can be interesting but has limitations. The idea here is to select the areas you want to paint and then apply the gradient in the direction that makes your gradient realistic (lighter shades should not be in the bottom). Tricky part is though parallel surfaces should display the horizon in the same line so it may require some tweaking. This technique is fun for some metal paint here and there since you can get a nice metallic feel in one shot. Careful to respect angled shapes though as the gradient should shift accordingly or else you lose realism.
2- second technique delivers the best results I find but requires a bit more practice.
- For your gold base, just use a yellow-tan color that you feel represents the desired shade of gold (which will depend upon environment and the actual type of gold) and lay it down on your selected areas.
- once finished, select all the gold-base painted areas (I usually Select All then toggle up and down with the arrow keys)
- Then above this layer, create a new layer (still as a clipping mask) and label it metal shade.
- While keeping your areas selected, set up an airbrush with a decent width (I'd say 65+) and use black paint at 70-80% opacity. You can still tweak the layer opacity afterwards so no worries. The idea here is to use your brush on the areas of shade and horizon reflexion to create a gradient like effect.
- Then repeat the same step with a white brush to create the highlights. For this one you need to decide where you put the light source(s). For an outdoors image, this should be the sun but you still have to be consistent as to what position it is supposed to have. On areas most exposed to the sun, you can pass twice for greater brightness. You can tweak the layer opacity afterwards to obtain the desires highlight effect.
- Since you are still in clipping mask mode, you can't get glare effects from this last layer. So the trick here is to create yet another layer above the others but you have to make sure that one isn't setup with the clipping mask option. You can label that one Glare if you want...
- Then on that layer, use the airbrush again, but this time with a tighter nozzle setting (13-35 should do it). With it then just spray on key places where you'd expect glare from your light source exposition. Should be limited to a few spots. Too much doesn't make it realistsic.
Voila! Have fun and tell me about it (or show us your exploits!)
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Also, the template is awesome as usual !
