Digital Painting: Photo-Based Digital Layering with Painter 8 and Photoshop by Bobbi Doyle-Maher Text and images © 2003 Bobbi Doyle-Maher Introduction The digital art that I create is strongly influenced by my background as a traditional painter. My style of digital and traditional art comes from the need to express the world around me. I strive to add a personal touch to things that I see everyday. One of the big advantages of working digitally is the ability to accomplish layering with great speed. I compare digital layering with the glazing that the Old Masters did with paint. To gain the luminous look and depth of many of the paintings we admire today, the artist started with a tonal imprimatur, followed by glazes of color, then waited for the glazes to dry before they could proceed. A similar process can be done with a computer, and the results are exciting indeed! I feel strongly about the image I am presenting here ("Homestead"). I took the original 35mm slide in the '70s and only recently decided to scan it. Across the road from where I live was a pond and many acres of pasture. I loved to walk by the cows, and they were as interested in me as I was in them. The lady who owned the land passed away, and the land was sold to developers. Now, there are houses where the cows once grazed. My painting is a dream that I wish to be reality. 1. The source photo (above) was a slide that I scanned and then sized at 2100x1325 pixels, with a resolution of 300 pixels per inch for this tutorial. My normal process is to work at a resolution of 300 PPI and a file size of around 15MB. 2. In Adobe Photoshop, I corrected the scanned file by adjusting levels, curves, and saturation, and also by using the Clone stamp tool to remove scratches and imperfections in the photograph. It's always a good idea to start with a good file on which to paint, even if it will eventually be obliterated by brush strokes and layers. After corrections were made, I saved a duplicate copy of the picture that would remain untouched by further work. 3. The retouched file was opened in Corel Painter 8 software. I opened the Mixer palette (Window menu > Show Mixer - see above) and used the Eyedropper tool on the Main Tool palette (not the Mixer palette) to select various greens and golds from the image. Once I selected a color, I then used the Paint brush in the Mixer palette to paint these colors onto the mixing area. I also selected some colors from the Color bar at the top of the Mixer palette to add to my palette color scheme. By using a light pressure with my Wacom graphics tablet pen, I could mix adjoining colors to create less intensity and also dull a color by adding its complement. The Mixer palette shown contains the three primaries plus some nice grayed-down colors that I can sample from when painting the image. I then used the Eyedropper tool again to sample greens and browns, and I proceeded to paint out the background cows choosing the Oil Brush category and the Round Camel Hair brush set at an opacity of around 60 percent. Brush size was varied as needed. 4. Still using the Mixer palette to sample colors, I began to paint over most of the photo using the Oil Brush category and the brush variant Thick Wet Oils 30. Blues were added to shadow areas and the water along with touches of rust/red in the grass. Purples were added in the grass and to the water. ABOVE: Detail of painted grass ABOVE: Detail of grass, water, and foreground 5. Again sampling colors from the Mixer palette, I painted highlights on the backs of the cows (see above). Also, blues were painted in various places on the cows. I used the Oil Brush category and the Round Camel Hair brush. I set the opacity at 52 percent and the brush size at 6.4. DETAIL ABOVE: To soften the hard edges of the painted highlights, I selected the Blending Brush category and used "Just Add Water" with the opacity set at 66 percent and the size at 14.4. The cow at right shows the highlights unblended, while the center cow shows the highlights after using the Just Add Water brush variant. 6. At this point, I saved the painted file with a different file name so that I would have the untouched original and also the painted version. The new painted version was opened in Painter 8 and set up for cloning. I chose File/Clone, then Select All, and Edit/Clear. Then I clicked the Tracing Paper icon, (see red arrow above) and lastly did Select/None. This setup allows you to see the image in a faded manner for ease in painting the cloned version. I played around with various brushes from the Impasto Brush category. One was Acid Etch, and then I used Distorto Impasto. The image above shows the cloning up to the point where I decided to use the Opaque Bristle Spray Impasto brush. I completed the clone using this brush. The brush was set at 63 percent opacity, and I varied the brush size as needed to work in tight areas. When selecting brushes for cloning, make sure that you click the Rubber Stamp to enable cloning. It is located under Color Info on the Mixer palette. If it is not selected, you will be painting color onto your image rather than cloning from the colors in your original image. This shows the completed clone that was done with the Opaque Bristle Spray Impasto brush. The cloning step is useful to create texture when I begin to assemble the various elements for the painting. After the clone was completed, I saved it with a different file name to be used in layers when Photoshop assembly begins. 7. Back in Photoshop, I opened the original cow file that was retouched in Step 2. This became my Background layer in the Layers palette (above). Then I opened the painted version of the file that I had saved in Step 6, and this became Layer 1 in the Layers palette. I chose Normal blending mode at an opacity of 87 percent. Next, I opened the cloned version of the file that I had saved most recently. I used Normal blending mode with opacity set at 59 percent. I then added a layer mask, and with the foreground color set to black, I used a large brush set at 88-percent opacity to paint out the cows (and reveal the underlying layer). I left some texture on the cows, but this step allowed me to get detail back in the cows that was lost in the cloning process. I then flattened the layers and adjusted Levels to bring back some contrast in the image. This step was then saved with a different file name. 8. Still in Photoshop, I opened the file I had just saved and then opened a file of a petrified wood image and using the move tool dragged it on top of the cow painting (above). I selected Edit > Transform, and held down the shift key while dragging one corner of the petrified wood image to make it large enough to cover the entire cow painting. Then I pressed Enter to complete the size change. I selected the Soft Light blending mode in the Layers palette at an opacity of 59 percent. I applied a layer mask and with the foreground color set to black painted to reveal underlying detail on the cows. I continued painting to bring back detail such as the highlights on the backs of the cows. I then saved the file with a different file name. 9. I opened the last version of my saved file in Photoshop and then opened a digital painting of some trees I had done previously. Using the move tool, I dragged it onto the cow painting. Then I did Edit > Transform > Rotate 90º CW to turn the new layer on its side (see above). I selected Edit > Transform, and held down the Shift key while dragging one corner of the rotated tree image to completely cover the cow photo. I then chose the Multiply blend mode in the Layers palette with the opacity set at 90 percent. At this point, I applied a layer mask and, using a large brush set at 80-percent opacity, used black as the foreground color to regain the detail on the cows. I then lowered the brush opacity to 48 percent and painted out some areas in the water. I then applied the layer mask and saved the file with a different file name. I adjusted levels and then saved with a different file name. 10. I opened the last saved version of the cow painting in Photoshop and chose a picture of floor tile to drag onto the cows (above). Using the same procedure as in Steps 8 and 9, I sized the new layer to cover the cows completely. I then chose Image > Adjustments > Invert to reverse the colors of the floor tile. Adjusting the layers, I used Soft Light mode at 73-percent opacity on the floor tile and saved the file. 11. At this point, I decided to take out the background cow. In Photoshop, I used the Healing brush to sample areas around the cow (top red circle above) and worked on it until the cow was painted out completely. I then added a new layer, and using a Watercolor brush (#9), I painted some lights back into the water in the lower red circle area. The image above shows the painting after the cow was removed and the lights were painted into the water. I adjusted levels and saved the file. 12. Nearing completion now, I opened the last version of the file and then opened a digital painting I had made of ducks on the water (above left). I used the move tool to drag the duck painting onto the cows in Photoshop. I used Edit > Transform > Flip Vertical to flip the new painting layer upside down. I then chose Screen from the blending modes and set the opacity at 78 percent. I applied a layer mask and painted to reveal the foreground and cows. One nice surprise that resulted from flipping the duck image was that they looked like birds flying behind the cows. I liked the effect and left them untouched. Final "Homestead" Image (above) I want to point out that in working on this image many image files were opened and tested by bringing them in as layers and trying out various blending modes and then discarding them when they didn't work. This takes a great deal of time, but it's the only way to find those images that do work as layers. Hopefully, I have succeeded in painting a digital image that goes beyond the original photograph and thus becomes a different form of art. Bobbi Doyle-Maher began painting in 1974. She is self-taught and works in traditional media as well as digital. Her work can be seen at www.rabbittwilight.com, and she can be reached by e-mail at doyle-maher@rabbittwilight.com. Home | About Us | Advertise | Contact Us News & Reviews | How-To's | Resources © 2002-2005 Harald Johnson Communications. 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