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Texturing Tutorials (PS)

Level 15
Joined
Aug 13, 2004
Messages
406
This is one of the techniques I use for painting realistic chainmail. It can be used for both texturing and freehand drawing. This technique is very simple and should allow users to create realistic chainmail with very little effort.

This tutorial is intended for users of Photoshop. For users of other programs, mileage may vary.

Creating the Brush

1. Ringmail is quite obviously made out of rings, so lets draw 3 rings to define as a brush.

a. Create a new, blank page. Size dimensions are unimportant but I chose to create a canvas about 300x300.
b. Use the marquee tool to select the 3 drawn "rings"
3c.jpg
c. Go to 'Edit' and select 'Define Brush Pattern.' This will create a custom brush.
DefineBrush.jpg
2. Brush settings - We need to alter the dynamics of the brush to produce the best results

a. Open up the brush tab; under "Brush Tip Shape " Move the 'Spacing' slider bar to the right until the rings no longer overlap.
Spacing.jpg
b. Under "Shape Dynamic" Set The 'Angle Jitter' to 'Direction'
c. Next move the "Minimum Diameter" slider all the way to the right
ShapeDynamic.jpg
d. Save these settings by creating a new preset for this brush
Preset.jpg

3. Painting with the Brush


a. Now it's time to paint, lets open up a picture.
ChainBlank.jpg
b. Paint one straight line in one direction. Then above that, paint a line going in the opposite direction.
ChainLine.jpg
c. Once you've filled all the space, paint in shadow using burn or w/e is your preferred method
d. Then select a small circle brush and paint in highlights and shadows on the individual rings
ChainLight.jpg
e. If you want more highlights, select a dark color, blurred brush and set the mode to "Color Dodge." Select the airbrush setting and add a little highlighting.
ChainFinish.jpg

The End

 

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Level 15
Joined
Aug 13, 2004
Messages
406
Painting the Face of a Human Male

The Basics

The Shape of the Face

In order to understand how to paint a face, it is important to understand the general shape of the face and how light falls on it. This will affect the amount of shading to apply and the colors you need to use.
TutBlockFace.jpg
This is obviously a gross oversimplification
skincolor.jpg
Colors are the next most important element. Just the way that shading can help define shape; colors can also be used for definition
TutFacePieces.jpg
This is the basic shape, lets expand from here.

For the purpose of texturing wc3, there are 3 features of the human face that will receive the most attention; the eyes, nose, and mouth region. The simplistic models of warcraft do not really require a ton more detail beyond these three regions, so know how to draw and shade them well
detail-eye-finished.jpg

The eye is the most important of these 3 features, and it's recommended that you practice and use lots of references to learn.
This tutorial will give you a good idea what shapes you should be aware of when drawing an eye
HTML:
http://www.portrait-artist.org/face/eyes.html


Blending

Now seems like as good as time as ever to talk about blending.
BlendingStart.jpg
We start out with two different shades of the similar color.
BlendingGo.jpg
Set the opacity to 50% and select one of the colors and draw over the opposite side. Then select this newly created color and continue drawing over.
BlendingSorta.jpg
You continue in this manner until the colors are nicely blended.
BlendingMid.jpg
With human skin, saturation within the middle section is also apparent. This is caused by the underlying blood vessels.
BlendingDone.jpg
Painting the Face

So the first thing you're going to need to do is establish the basic layout of the face.
tutStart.jpg
Now I'm texturing the arthas model and obviously the blizzard map shows where the artist has already placed all his features. But say you were texturing a blank uv. Well the first thing you need to do is select a template color and locate the general features.
tutFaceBasic.jpg
tutFaceBasicModel.jpg
So not that great but close enough, we'll manipulate the general shapes as we go along.
I've put gray around the chin area; this cool color is the result of facial hair. Obviously textures of females will not posses similar coloring.

Now I generally like to start in the middle and work out. I define the shape of the nose, clarify the mouth slightly, and define the cheek and jaw line.
tutFaceIM.jpg

This may seem like it's a lot different, but it is really very simple changes

tutFaceForehead.jpg
Here I have just texture the forehead and bridge of the nose.
tutFaceForehead3d.jpg
At this point, we can see that the model is shaping up. It's still very rough, but already a basic shape is beginning to emerge. At this point we will attempt to emphasize this form and make it more apparent.

Drawing Lips


The lips can sometimes be a difficult area of the face to draw and wc3 has many units that skip this area of the face entirely.
But the importance of the lips should not be ignored because the mouth can be a very expressive part of the human face.

tutSketchLips.jpg
This gives a pretty good impression of the lips shapes. The 'M' shape of the upper lip is often what I focus on first

tutFaceNose.jpg
The upper lip dips in while the lower lip curls out; therefore the upper lip should be drawn darker than the the lower lip.
The corner of the mouth has greater shadows than the medial portions

tutShadingLip1.jpg
This highlighted area represents a portion of the upper lip that is especially dark. The lips curve into the mouth here and therefore receive the least amount of light.

tutShadingLip3.jpg
This area of the lower lip is where the lower lip curves into the mouth. This area is probably going to be the darkest portion of the lower lip. However it should still be painted lighter than the upper lip

tutShadingLip2.jpg
This area represents the underlying structure of the skull and muscles underneath the skin. Correct shading in this area will emphasis the three dimensionality of the mouth.

tutShadingLip4.jpg
The highlighted region represents a lighted ridge around the upper lip. Facial hair on men makes this region even more apparent as no hair grows along this narrow ridge.
The Nose
The nose is probably my favorite part to draw. It is the easiest of the 3 main features, it lacks the musculature and movement of the mouth and the life of the eyes. It's distinct shape is easy to learn and master and will really help sell the overall shape of the face.
tutNoseBasic.jpg
This is the starting point

tutNoseBasic1.jpg
Further define the overall shape.

 
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Level 8
Joined
Mar 15, 2007
Messages
230
Just discovered this tutorial. One of the best and most useful things I've ever read. I don't care if I'm commenting six years later, it's better late than never! +rep to the writer.
 
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