This tutorial is a detailed, step by step walkthrough of my process in making a Sci-fi character concept / Illustration. This image was originally an assignment for a PC Gamer cover, which unfortunately never got used. The subject is a sexy Borg female. Since it was a cover assignment, I wanted to have some fun and do a little spoof on the famous Janet Jackson Rolling Stone cover.

This a very long and detailed workshop. It’s a also a Photoshop (PS) tour-de-force. Meaning, I wanted to pull out all the stops and use as much PS “tricks” and fx as possible. This is a special treat for those who want an insider look at how to leverage PS to quickly add a professional looking finish.

I often use this same approach for creating concept art, and the techniques can also be applied to texture mapping. There’s a lot of content here, and we’ve got a lot to talk about, so let’s get right into it.

Step 1: Rough sketch

Since I already had an idea for the pose in mind, I go ahead and start sketching the figure. To draw, I use my trusty hard round brush and a cool 50% gray with a slight green hue. At this stage, I also start to design the areas of machine parts and roughly define machine details.

Step 2: Adding Tone

1. I drop the opacity of the drawing layer to about 75%.

2. I fill a layer beneath the drawing with a middle gray (50% gray) that has a touch of cool green (about 3% saturation).

3. I add a first pass of shadow using a Multiply layer. A 50% gray is enough to give a nice transparent wash of tone.

This approach is similar to using gray markers on paper. Adding a bit of color to the gray tone will help us later on when we start the coloring process.

Step 3: Redefine the drawing

I come back in and re-establish the drawing to give some structure. I also start to add details like facial features and machine parts. This gives me a road map and sets me up nicely for the tonal rendering.

Step 4: Begin Tonal Render

Up to this point, I was working with layers and transparencies, now it’s time to go opaque. First, I want to define the extremities of the value range. I do that by:

1. Taking a dark green-gray mixture (almost going to black) and punching in the darkest areas.

2. I take a cool-green white mixture (almost going to white) and punch in the areas of brightest light and highlights.

I start with the head because I want the head to be the primary focal point. This is generally good practice for character pieces. Having such high contrast areas around the head will really help to draw the eye there. Working this way also gives me a benchmark, or guide for the rest of the tonal render.

Step 5: Tonal Render cont.

Satisfied with the head I work my way down to the body and then the arms. As I work, I’m constantly referring to the head (focal point), to help me add the right balance of detail and polish throughout the piece.

Step 6: Polishing the tonal render

Again, starting with our focal point, I add a final layer of polish to our tonal render:

1. I define the tech around the eyepiece, arms and hands. Since her face is the focal point of the image, the eyes will be the focal point of the face. I also want to follow the old Illustrator’s rule and give the hands extra attention as well.

2. I refine the edges. I generally work with a firm brush first and then come back in with a hard opaque brush to get some nice crisp edges. I use hard edges like values and punch them in to define form and add nice contrast.

My main areas of focus are the edges of her flesh, especially her arms, face and chest. Taking the time to refine edges gives our character a higher level of polish and detail.

Even though I’m using Photoshop, I always come back to my experience with traditional media and solid fundamentals. Fundamentals carry over to any medium, and this an example of how they apply to digital.

Step 7: Tonal Render Final

Once the figure is complete, I address the background. Using a textural brush, I play with the values and add some texture to the background. My focus here is to ground our character and make the overall image cohesive. I also continue to refine edges and define the silhouette of the figure.

I sharpen the edges of the contour and push the contrast to make the figure “pop” off the background. Finally, I make a slight rotation of the image, adjust the canvas size and our tonal render is complete. Now we can move on to color.

A close-up of the finished tonal render.

Step 8: Color

1. I create a palette using a cool green as our primary local color.

2. I take an Overlay layer above our tonal render and fill it with a desaturated mixture of our cool green.

Because our tonal render had a bit of saturation, it will create a mix closer to our intended color. This is one drawback of using blending modes to colorize art. It can be tricky to control how the colors turn out.

Step 9: Color cont.

Having defined our base local color, I start bringing up the saturation. First, I start with the greens. Then, I paint in warm reds for flesh and in areas of the machine parts. I also punch up the saturation in the eyes and face to really draw the eye to the face and give me a nice contrast of color.

I continue to build saturation slowly by adding glazes of color. I add and refine color until I reach a balance of warms and greens; gray and saturated areas.

Step 10: Contrast and background

Satisfied with the color, I want to push the contrast. I add touches of dodge using a desaturated gray-green. I want to give the illusion of a bright spotlight from above so I push the highlights of the planes facing up, especially the forehead, cheek, arms and breasts. I also push the brightness of the negative space around the head.

Next, I make an opaque layer and continue to punch in whites and refine edges. I also continue finesse edges. My goal is to create a nice play between the hard edges of machine parts and softer edges of the flesh.

Step 11: Adjust the canvas and composition

Since this was I cover assignment, I adjust the composition and canvas size to include space for the logo at the top of the page. I also refine details in her arm and eyepiece. Essentially, my color render is complete and I can now begin to add materials.

Step 12: Adding “Bling”

“Bling” is my nickname for material overlays and Photoshop fx. Material overlays give digital pieces a nice touch of polish and it’s really quick and easy to do. If it’s done right, it gives your pieces some nice eye-catching pop (or “bling”) without a lot of effort.

1. First I take a pre-made Borg machine texture and begin to overlay it over the machine parts.

2. Then I take a pre-made vein texture sheet and overlay it over the flesh.

In this case I play with several blending modes until I settle on “Screen” mode. Each blending mode, gives a unique effect, so I always take some time and have fun experimenting.

Detail shots of the first material pass. It’s still very subtle but adds a nice layer of detail. Since materials are so easy to do, it’s easy to get carried away. Materials can add a nice layer of polish, but it comes second to the foundation of the piece, which is solid drawing and good design.

Step 13: Adding “Bling” to the background

Well, it works so nice on the figure, let’s add some bling to the background. For this background, I experimented like crazy. Using another pre-made Borg machine texture, I used several different blending modes and PS fx to get the final result:

1. I adjust the levels and contrast of the texture.

2. I overlay the texture sheet using “negative” mode.

3. I duplicate the same texture layer and overlay it as “linear dodge”.

4. I brush out the areas around the figure using alpha masks.

Since this is a character piece, I don’t want the background to be too busy or noisy. I drop the opacity of the background texture to make it more of a subtle touch. I want to focus to still be on the character and I always believe in giving the viewer’s eyes plenty of space to rest.

Step 14: Dodge

Speaking of rest for the eye, I decide to remove the vein texture overlay and to paint the flesh details by hand. This came from stepping back away from the piece and taking some time to do research on Borg skin. Don’t be afraid to step away from your piece and get a fresh perspective.

1. l also add another layer of dodge and keep pushing the contrast. Again, starting with the head and the planes facing up I use a de-saturated greeny-gray to paint in dodge to really give the illusion of overhead spotlight on our figure. The hotspot created by the dodge was a nice happy accident.

2. Then I add dodge to the cables to give then more depth. I also use dodge to add some subtle red LED like “lights” in her legs, body and arms to help balance the red in her face. Then I push the contrast again of the silhouette.

3. Finally I paint in dots of light on the skin and refine the edges of the highlights. This gives her skin the illusion of being slightly cold, wet, transparent and plastic. Not a good look for normal female skin, but perfect for cyborg skin.

Step 15: Finishing touches

I brush in a combination of dodge and opaque color for the background. I use a more saturated greed and add touches of dodge around the head.Then, I brush in a greenish white using a textural brush to make a compositional cross of light. This marks the end of the rendering process.

Step 16: Final Image

This step was necessary because the piece was created using a Cintiq. From my experience Cintiq displays tend to have much greater contrast and saturation then a normal monitor so I wanted to adjust the image and present it the way I saw it on the Cintiq.

1. I take the finished piece and move to the second monitor.

2. I add adjustment layers and play with the curves and levels until the contrast matches what I saw on the Cintiq.

Details of the Final Image.

Generally if you working on normal tablet and monitor, this step may not be necessary. Adjustment layers are a quick and easy to apply, so it can be a fun way to make some subtle changes.

A slideshow video of the last portrait painting tutorial. Video has text comments on my thought process and general tips on creating beautiful portrait paintings. Cool soundtrack provided by Japanese DJ Group Nujabes, feat. Fat Jon.

A step by step tutorial demonstrating my process in creating a female portrait in Photoshop. The process is similar to traditional painting in oils and acrylics. I rely heavily on solid art fundamentals, especially head drawing. Since drawing is so important, we’ll explore that first.

STEP 1: “Laying-In” the head

A head ‘lay-in’ is the foundation drawing. It is used to describe and lay-in the basic structure of the subject’s head and the placement of the facial features. An accurate and effective lay-in is critical to the success of the portrait.

This particular lay-in drawing is very rough and simplified. At first glance, it looks like a bunch of squiggly, abstract lines. This is only because I have a lot of mileage drawing heads and can lay-in the head and features without a lot of construction lines. There is a lot of great material out there on head drawing, so I won’t go into too much detail here.

For those who want to explore head drawing further in-depth, a good starting point are books by Andrew Loomis. For the purpose of this tutorial, I’ll explain a part of the process in creating a simplified head lay-in.

First, observe the landmarks of the head and face. Once you see and identify the important landmarks, you can then accurately measure their length, width and distance from each other. These measurements gives a portrait it’s likeness and individual character.

The first landmarks I draw are the sides of the cranium and the bottom of the chin. This helps me to measure the width and height of the subject’s head and face.

The next is the centerline. The centerline goes through the center of the head and face at the nose. The centerline is critical for defining the angle of the subjet’s gaze.

Next is the eyebrow ridge. Some artist’s use the center of the eyes, which is fine. It is a matter of preference. I prefer the eyebrow ridge because: 1. the orbital bone is a prominent feature on some faces, especially in profile, 2. it defines the opening of the eye, and 3. casts a shadow over the eye creating a core shadow. Either way, this line defines where the eyes are and more importantly, the tilt of the head.

The establishing oval, centerline (vertical) and eyebrow ridge (horizontal) are the 3 most important marks you will make in a portrait drawing or painting. Take the time to measure here and to place these lines correctly.

Next (Figure 4), is placement of the features, eyes, bottom of nose and center of the mouth. Again, take the time to measure here. These marks are critical for getting a likeness.

Finally, I find the pit of the neck and establish the shoulder line. The shoulder line goes from the points of the shoulder bone through the pit of the neck. These marks anchor your head to the bust (upper torso) when the bust is visible in the piece.

For reference, I’ve created this 5 step diagram of the lay-in process using landmarks as a guide.

Using the lay-in as a guide, we can draw in the features. Because the lay-in was solid, I was able to further define the features and capture a likeness. Now that our drawing is in place we can begin the painting process.

STEP 2: Color

Using big brushes and stepping back away from the canvas (zooming out digitally), I apply big swatches of color. There was a lot of green in the lights and shadows so I made sure to mix in green with the lighter fleshes and put a lot of green in the shadow areas. I try to work very loosely here and with as saturated color as possible. Working this way will maintain a nice color variety throughout the painting process.

STEP 3: Separate light from shadow

Using a dull green and brown mixture, I block in the shadow side. The lighting is high contrast so the core shadows and the border between light and dark is very clear. Personally, I really enjoy this type of high contrast lighting because it creates a lot drama and mood.

STEP 4: Add darkest darks

I take a mixture of dark green and black to define the blacks, or the darkest darks of my value range.

STEP 5: Add lightest lights

I mix a cool green and warm white and paint in the whites or the lightest value of my value range. Because of the high contrast lighting and the angle of the light source, nearly half of her face almost goes to white. I made a conscious decision here to drop the value of the lights. I did this strategically, so that I could still use white to ‘pop out’ the hotspots where I want to draw the viewer’s eye which you will see in later steps.

STEP 6: Redefine the drawing

Since I loosely blocked in the shadow and light side, I go back in to redefine the drawing. For me it’s always a back and forth process. Stepping back, making marks and designing the image; then zooming back in to define where I want the viewer to look. In this case I start to define the eyes, silhouette and redefine some of the structure of the head and face that was lost during the painting. Don’t be afraid to come back and draw over your painting. Drawing is key.

Now that my drawing and value range is established, I can begin the rendering process.

STEP 7: Begin the Render

First, I redraw the eyes and adjust their distance apart. I then finesse the core shadows in the shoulders and bust and start to experiment with the values of the background.

STEP 8: Adjusting the hues

The image was starting to look a liittle too green so I introduce some reds back into the piece. I especially want to ‘warm up’ her flesh tones. I also add browns into the shadow area and continue to experiment with the background.

STEP 9: Modeling the Face

Since the eyes are such a focal point in this piece, I render them first. Next, I finesse the core shadows in her face. Just like in the figure, edgework is critical in making forms turn in space and be believable. However, in portraiture, there is less margin for error.

Not only do I consider the edges of the core shadow, but their color and especially their value. I make the decision to go back to a red cloth on her shoulder. I also continue to add reds to her face, especially in the cheeks and lips which we will render in the next step.

Step 10: Continue to finesse edges

I wanted to create a compositional triangle of interest between the eyes and lips, so the lips had to get special attention. I used a warm red and warm black mixture to define the darks of the lips. To make the lips pop out, I use a mixture of green and white in the highlights, paying attention to their edge and shape. I also clean up the passage of light on the bust and begin to define the light side of the hair.

STEP 11: Final Image

To make the eyes pop, I go back in and add crisp edges on the eyes. and finess the edges on the eyelids. I clean up the edges on her neck and bust. I adjust the value and hues of the greens in the bounce light. I add a green white mixture around her neck to make the silhouette pop. I also add some reds in the upper corner to balance the composition.

A detail of the rendering of final image.

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If you read the last tutorial on How to paint a sexy female figure, you can see my process for creating this piece was exactly the same. The only major difference was the greater attention to head drawing and construction.

If you paint in traditional mediums, you will know that this method is nothing new. It is a synthesis of what was taught to me by my Fine Art teachers and what many painters teach their students. Working this way forces me to not rely so much on the software, but on fundamentals.

If you like the look of this piece, and want to try it yourself, you can download the brush set used in creating this piece. I Hope it inspires you to get out there and paint. Remember, if you get stuck on trying to get the “painted look” in Photoshop, the best thing to do is get away from the computer.

Get familiar with traditional painting mediums first. Don’t spend time trying to mimic the painted look using the computer. Spend time painting WITH traditional mediums and use the computer to mimic the experience.

A step by step tutorial on how to paint a sexy female figure in Photoshop. You can also see my workflow, thought process and general tips on creating beautiful figurative art.

STEP 0: Setting up the workspace

I generally keep my workspace very minimal. I keep my canvas zoomed out and have my pre-made color palette in a separate window. I treat this window like a traditional oil palette and mix and pick my colors from this window. My main monitor, a Cintiq, was also my tablet. My reference image is on the second monitor.

STEP 1-A: The Drawing

I keep the drawing really loose, focusing on good gesture and rhythms. This gives the figure life and dynamism. I also begin to establish placement of the figure here.

Step 1-B: Drawing cont.

I further refine the drawing. Now I can focus on correct proportions and anatomy. Because I stayed loose in the gesture, I was able to retain the movement and fluidity of the pose. Satisfied with the drawing, I can now commit to a placement and composition.

Always, always, always take the time to make a solid drawing. Think of the drawing as the base, the foundation of the painting. It must be solid, working and well established for the image to hold up during the painting process. This is especially true in figurative work.

STEP 2: Color

I use my palette window to mix the colors in a traditional way. Limiting my palette and mixing this way will produce more ‘natural’ looking colors, ie. colors that exist in nature or that you get from tube paints.

Using a big brush, I apply color very loosely. This gives nice color variety in the skin tones and overall image.

STEP 3: Seperate the Lights from the Darks

I take a middle value of a color and block in the shadow pattern. This also establishes the light source and direction.

STEP 4: Define core shadows

Further separation of the light side and dark side. Pay attention to your edges. Generally core shadows on a figure have a firm edge. This the first step in ‘modeling’ the form.

Modeling means to turn the form in space. Lights bring form towards you. Darks push the form back. Edges define how the form turns in space.

STEP 5: Add darkest darks

Add the darkest darks. Go almost to black. This establishes the darkest value of your value range.

STEP 6: Lightest lights

Using a warm white mixture, I add the lightest light value. This will generally be the highlights. Go almost to white. The will define the the lightest value of your range. Defining the extremities of the value range will guide you in selecting values during the rendering stages.

STEP 7: Addressing the background

Well it has to happen sometime. I loosely block in the value, color and texture of the background. Again using big brushes and working loosely.

STEP 8: Modeling the head

Since the head will the be focal point, I begin to model the head. Focusing on accurate values and edges will give the forms of the face dimension, life and believability.

STEP 9: Modeling the figure

I refine the figure, esp. the torso. At this stage I also decide to make the stripes a light, cool blue instead of a dark warm color. Staying loose and flexible allows me to experiment.

STEP 10: Modeling the hands

I begin to model and refine the (right) hand. I also address the value of the arm going into the hand. Again, focus on correct values and edges.

STEP 11: Modeling the hands cont.

Refiining the (left) hand. Because the palm and underside of the fingers are visible, I make sure to use a lot of reds. Edgework is critical in making the small forms of the hand turn in space and be believable.

STEP 12: Final details

I refine the edges in her face. Add highligts in her hair. I also intergrate the hair and figure into the background. I also crop and adjust the composition.

A detail of the hand rendering.

STEP 13: Final image

OK as you can see the image had been flipped. Throughout the process, I constantly flip the image both horizontally and vertically to check for mistakes and make sure the composition works. At the last minute I make the decision to flip the image becaue I felt it worked better and was a stronger composition.

I also went back and refined the color and value in the head. Adding more saturated color and contrast draws the eye to her face. I also add the final details in her clothing and necklace and further refine edges throughout the image.

Detail of the head rendering.

*Post Mortem – my process and general tips on digital painting*

1. Brush Setting

80% of the time I work with the basic hard round brush at these settings:

- 100% opacity
- “Other Dynamics” set to “Pen Pressure” at 0% “Opacity Jitter”

This stroke gives me a lot of variey, control and simulates the oil painted look.

2. Work ‘Zoomed-out’ and stay zoomed-out

I generally work as zoomed out as possible. This simulates standing back away from the painting. This allows me to see the image as whole and focus on good design and composition. This ensures that the image ‘reads’ well at all stages of development.

I also use very big brushes. I try to use a brush that seems too big for the strokes that need to be made. This keeps the painting loose and adds a lot of color variety and life. My intention was to create a work of art with a ‘painterly’ look, so using big brushes and big brush strokes helps create that feel.

Whenever I get in trouble or get stuck during the process, I know it’s becuase I am looking too closely at the image. This is one of the pitfalls with working digitally, the ability to infinitely zoom into an image. If I work too zoomed in, I get lost in the small insignificant details instead of focusing on good design and the overall image.

Whenever I get stuck, I can always correct myself by standing back away (zooming out) from the piece, go back to big brushes, and then coming back in to refine areas where I want the viewer to look.