My Digital Painting Technique
Many digital artists today simply paint over a photograph, manipulating what is already there with transparent brushes. I use photographs as reference and stepping-stones towards finished art. Throughout the ages artists have used various tracing techniques in order to more fully concentrate on their painting, and using layers in today's software programs in order to capture likeness is little different.
Below is my photo-reference for "Green-Eyes", a portrait of one of my cats. The photo has been cropped to create the composition for the painting:
Once the composition is set, I create an outline by drawing over the photo in a new layer in Photoshop. When I worked in oils, I used to go through quite a lot of tracing paper! It is, of course, always possible to draw a likeness, but tracing the outline saves quite a lot of time in the process and assures a strong likeness from which to work.
After the background is deleted, I begin filling the outline in with color, eventually coloring over it and deleting or obscuring it entirely. Here you can see the color filled in with some details started on the upper eye. More detail is added below.
Shading, detailing and refining continues. Usually I work with the subject in a separate layer from the background, which allows for more detailed backgrounds and subtleties connecting the two. Textures, lighting and color balance are adjusted before the painting is considered "finished":
Using this method I am able to produce fine paintings from just about any photographic reference. While the likeness remains true to the original, through the act of "painting from scratch" the work is given all the personality and uniqueness of a true piece of art.
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