nathanaardvark

Tutorial 49 - Contrapposto

Contrapposto or 'counter pose' is a term used to describe the alternating angles of the shoulders/arms to the hips due to the weight being on mostly one foot. This particular pose communicates a relax...

Tutorial 48 - Bounce Light

Bounce light generally effects the color we see in shadows, both form and cast. It's quite noticeable underneath the chin of a person wearing a brightly coloured sweater, for example. There is an obse...

Tutorial 47 - Backlit Hair

A common technique used in photography, a backlit subject gives a romantic, dreamy feeling to an image. An effective way to convey emotion and feelings in our artwork, though be careful with back ligh...

Tutorial 46 - Painting an Energy Ball

More magic. This technique is a simple build up of layers, from dark red, through orange to yellow. Stay away from getting too bright with the yellow until the end, then add some subtle hot areas.&nbs...

Tutorial 45 - Folds, Creases and Edges

Here's a demonstration of one way to render geometric features. Good for some types of materials, like paper and other matte surfaces, some parts of buildings, types of metal and plastic. Painting hai...

Tutorial 44 - Studying from Reference

Using reference is a personal choice and we should find out for ourselves how it can both enhance or hinder our work and progress. 

For client work: 

Personally, I use referen...

Tutorial 43 - Hard vs Soft

Here's a very simple demonstrations of some basics of form behaviour. 

The harder the surface of an object, the less it will change it's form when touching other objects. Soft objects, of cours...

Tutorial 42 - Abstract Shapes

Playing with abstract shapes can be a great way to begin a concept. It's quite a challenge as a designer or artist to deal with a blank canvas. Perhaps it's better to give ourselves a bit of a startin...

Tutorial 41 - One Point Perspective Basics

Here's a good exercise: Take a photo of a corridor or street and draw perspective lines over the top. Try to find out where the vanishing point is, it should be easy if you've selected an image of a c...

Tutorial 40 - Painting a Crowd Scene

A few further notes here. 

When starting out be sure to gather a good amount of reference. Do your research not just on what crowds look like when they're stationary but also how they move. Obs...

Tutorial 39 - Muscles Beneath the Breasts

Underneath the layers of fatty tissue there is a network of muscles connecting to bone, tendons and fat. 

Most of the time, bodies aren't defined enough to see these individual muscle groups so...

Tutorial 38 - Powerful Blacks and Whites

Black and white areas and simple energetic lines are basic visual tools which can be used to suggest very complex forms. 

Form is expressed only by noting where the light is and where it isn't....

Tutorial 37 - Painting Fur

Here's one example of how to digitally paint fur. 

Take full advantage of your software's brush options. It's quite easy to create your own brush with a little research and experimentation.&nbs...

Tutorial 36 - Color Harmony Basics

Color harmony is one of the main areas of color theory, so we should try to get our heads around it a little. 

The basic idea is that complicated color mixes will overstimulate the eye and prov...

Tutorial 35 - Leading the Eye

Composition is a really big subject but let's try to cover some areas here.

What is required for an image to feel pleasant to look at? It's definitely the question we ask ourselves most as artists. ...

Tutorial 34 - Painting a Reflective Water Drop

This is essentially a reflection of what we would see through the fisheye lens of a camera if we pointed it at the sky. Plus a little bounce light from whatever object or objects are near ...

Behind the Scenes: The Chemical Brothers 'Wide Open'

Here's a cool behind the scenes video showing how we go from concept art to full realization. Should be of interest to anyone into visual effects. :)

Also, see my previous post which breaks d...

Tutorial 33 - Painting Magical Dust

This is an effect useful for anyone creating fantasy or sci-fi artworks or concepts.

Let's start by setting up our colors and our brushes.

We're using an analogous <...