Painting Process: The Thumbnail

Okay so I'm bored and decided that the blog is probably my only source of entertainment. Sad really. Maybe I should play a video game... Or exercise...*cough*

Anyways, this little tutorial (not really a tutorial...) will just show my process of rendering a thumbnail. Now I was a bit lazy with this and I didn't really focus so much on design. I just wanted to render something. So don't take this as a guide to designing or anything. I'll also explain the tools I use for this.

The program is Painter 12.

The initial silhouette.

Okay so Step 1 is a silhouette (a word that I will probably need to use spell check on for the rest of my life) and during this stage I purely scribble or blotch down my digital paint. I want a figure. That is all I know. Once the blotch is the right kind of blotchy-ness I start putting down white lines to see if I can make some inside designs. I usually just end up adding more blotch to it afterwards and mix white into it a bit more. This is all just about playing around until you get something. But I suppose if you're working for someone it is best to get this part done a little quickly. However as much as you want this to be fast I think this is the most important part of a design.

TOOLS and TECH STUFF:

Now as for what kind of brush I am using I prefer using the Wet Oily Brush or the Wet Oily Brush Blender. Another important fact is that I use the Painter 12 "Mirror" mode. Which allows me to quickly get a symmetrical figure going. The paper I'm using is water colour with extra contrast to make it more gritty. The reason for this is because I have a theory that it'll allow for me to make a more rough metal look to my character. Although not important at this stage. Another thing to point out that I did (which is wrong) is that I used my brush to erase stuff. Which you shouldn't. You should use an eraser tool for that. Mainly because if you want to add more then one character to a page then you don't have to worry about overlapping. Which is why instead of using my white for the white lines, I probably should have used my eraser tool as well to make sure that no white goes off from my character. But hell I'm lazy.

The detail to get it working.

Step 2. This part is the frustrating part. It's getting a for realzy design that can make your silhouette look awesome. Now as you can tell the design changes a little. Especially the inside. Which is to be expected to be honest. So don't be to hard on yourself about that. I, however, do try to make sure that my outside silhouette does not change that much. I really try to keep it looking almost the same. Really. I also try to make it look like that this robot sci fi thing can operate in real life.

IMPORTANT DECISION:

This is where I decide whether or not I want this to be a thumb thumb or a real character design with colour. I decided just to make this a grey scale because it was late and I was tired... So the process for colour would be something like: rough in a few more details, get a new layer over it (a 'colour' type layer) splash colour over it and make another layer (a 'default' type layer) over it. Then start painting with real colour and rendering it from there. - However I am a lazy bastard here.

TOOLS and TECH STUFF:

If you are wondering yes I'm still using my same brushes and same paper. But I'm using Wet Oily Blender more because it's easier to render with it. And yes you should be using the eraser tool on the outside of the character but I still don't because I'm a lazy bastard. And I'm also not making more than one character (lazy bastard is me). 

The semi-final render that you can choose whether or not you want to continue.

The easy step: Step 3.  I did play around with the legs a bit before getting something I liked. And the insides a bit more. But for the most part this is just render until it is pretty. Which is the easiest part. Now I stopped it here. I could probably continue it and make it even more well rendered and add some more small details buuut it looks pretty neat right now and it would probably be presentable to a person if they hired you. I think. I never have been hired before. Which begs the question as to why you are reading this tutorial anyways. - However in my defence I am just a student still.

TOOLS and TECH STUFF: 

 Still using the same old brushes with the same old paper. I think the paper gave the armour a bit more of a rough metal look but I could just be hallucinating that up like I usually do. Which still begs the question of why you are reading this.

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THE END

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Well then, that's it for the most part. Hopefully it wasn't to murky of a tutorial/process. And I suppose it is a tutorial since I explain the tools a tad. But still it feels more like just a process to me.

*Final Notes* 

-Sorry about the watermark.

-You don't have to use blotches, you can use pure lines. Like how I only used a little bit of line in the beginning. Which I mainly did so my mind didn't go all crazy with ideas and muddle me up.

-Yes I know his legs look weird. But I made this guy up at like 9pm - 11pm (I was chatting with my girlfriend, so yes I know that's a long time for something like this, and reading manga...And watching a pro Starcraft 2 game. Bite me.)..........

-Yes I know it's not fully rendered. But I suppose that doesn't really matter as long as you grasped some understanding behind the thought process of the work. Which is what really matters in terms of learning. Or that's what I like to tell myself. 

- Yes I know it's not the most creative piece of sci-fi ever dreamt of but that's not the point god damn it. It's just a rendering process that you have an option of trying.