Photoshop Tutorial- A Simple Painting Method

Learn one method of painting in Photoshop. A tablet helps a lot!

This tutorial was made in Adobe® Photoshop® CS2, though it can be done in many earlier versions as well. Requires advanced knowledge of Photoshop.

Got a tablet? Want to learn how to make the most of it? Read on! I will show you a very effective method of painting with Photoshop and a tablet.

First, open up Photoshop. (Really?!?)

Next up, create a new document (ctrl+n). I like to use a pretty damn large canvas when it comes to painting with this method. If you're not used to zooming in and working with detail, then stick with a smaller canvas. Set the canvas color to white. Then, simply press "OK".

I'm assuming you don't need a screen shot for that last step...

Okay, it's time to set up the brush you will be using. Select the brush tool and click on the little Brushes Palette button, which looks like this:

Choose the "Airbrush Pen Opacity Flow" brush. Most of the default settings are fine except for one thing. Drag the "Spacing" slider all the way left, and you're set!

Make sure the rest of the brush's settings are like so:

This step is optional. I like to include this step because it gives me an idea of what colors to use when adding them. Think of the mood/sky color of your painting and set your Foreground and Background colors to colors that reflect this mood. Then, on a new layer, fill the canvas with a simple gradient of these two colors.

Now, create a new layer and set the brush size to around 2 px and the brush color to black. Do a simple sketch of your painting.

Time to color. Set the foreground color to the base color of the object you are painting. Make sure it's a midtone. Since I am painting a tree, I chose a pretty flat brown color. Then, set the brush size a little bit larger and begin to paint in the sketch. If you are using a tablet, make sure you are pressing hard enough so that there are no transparent spots.

Now, make the brush size smaller and zoom in. Set the brush color a little bit darker and on a new layer, begin to softly fill in the shadows. Nothing too extreme yet, though. Keep it simple. Blend the shadows in with the midtone on the layer beneath this one by using lighter pressure.

Then do the same thing with the highlights.

Here, make the brush size even smaller and lighter and do the more extreme highlights. Whenever working on small details like this, always use a small brush and zoom in.

Here I just added some small dots and lines for texture.

Now, I zoomed back out, made the brush a size smaller, and on a new layer, began to block in the leaves using a green brush.

Zoom in... smaller brush... darker color...more detail... repeat.

Here, I added some leaves behind the tree trunk layers. No biggie.

Zoom in... smaller brush... darker color...more detail... repeat.

Now, I zoomed in a lot, used the smallest brush I could (1 px) and drew in tiny little leaves sticking out all over the place. You'll want to use the eye dropper tool a lot here. (Hold ALT and click anywhere)

And you're basically done. This was more of a brief walkthrough than an in depth tutorial but hopefully you still got something out of it, be it a technique or inspiration.

Please contact me with any questions, comments, suggestions, or error reports. I will do my best to reply:
dansolomon@cornoncob.com