Suberb Tutorial of Digital Painting President ObamaListThumbs

Suberb Tutorial of Digital Painting President Obama

March 05, 2009

In this tutorial created by Kyle Lambert, a specialist in digital painting. You will learn all the steps to create a digital paint of President Obama, it also comes with a video that shows the whole process of creation.

BY KYLE LAMBERT

Below is a small tutorial I have put together showing how I do my digital paintings. I have chosen the official portrait of President Obama. Watch the video and follow the steps below. Hope you like it!

STEP 1 - TOOLS AND LAYOUT

Before I start painting, the first thing that I will do is organize my workspace. Firstly I place my reference and blank canvas side by side. To the right of that I have any tools that I need. Because I use Adobe Photoshop, the panels that I use are Layers, Brushes, Swatches and the Color mixer. In terms of hardware, I use a Wacom Graphics tablet which I consider to be a vital part of my work flow. Most graphics tablets allow you to adjust your paintbrush based upon how hard or soft you press. This allows you to paint much more realistic strokes and build up color gradually.

STEP 2 - PAINT IN BASIC SHAPES

One of the biggest mistakes people make when drawing people is how they begin. I have found the best method for achieving accurate proportions is to block in the basic shapes of the image. I usually identify the gaps surround objects to help position them in relation to the edges of the canvas. I usually paint with a mid tone grey at this point to help with color accuracy later on.

STEP 3 - IMPORTANT FEATURES

At this point I will begin to pick out the important features of the subject, in this case the eyes, nose and mouth and place emphasis on getting a reasonable likeness. I am not saying here that you have to paint in every hair and detail, just enough for you to see that everything is in the correct place. I use a slightly rounded square brush for the early stages of painting but this isn't vital.

STEP 4 - BASIC COLOR


Now that it looks correct in grayscale I begin adding the basic colors over the top. Initially I work with a very transparent brush until I am confident about the accuracy of the colors that I am using. You may have noticed that so far I have been working quite small. I find that this helps simplify the shapes and colors. Sometimes when you are working close you fail to see how everything looks together. Painters who work with real paint often step back from their paintings to see them as a whole, this is no different.

STEP 5 - BLENDING TONES


Once I have the basic colors correct, I will then zoom in and start working on smoothing the tones together. I do this by using a large soft edged brush to wash over the top. Again transparency at this point helps the process be gradual. It is impotant to keep looking at the original as you work and zoom in and out to identify what needs doing to your painting.

STEP 6 - DETAILS


Once I am happy with the painting as a whole, I zoom into certain areas with a thin paint brush and pick out details such as highlights, hairs and wrinkles. This process can take hours and hours if you are going for a very photo-realistic image. I find that it is usually more effective just to pick out the important defining features such as reflections in eyes and noticable individual hairs.

STEP 7 - COMPLETE

Once you have finished adding detail, zoom out and check everything looks as you desired, sign it and save it. I must point out that I would not leave it until this point to save your work. You know what computers are like! I lost a painting once, having not saved 6 hours of work! So my advice would be, every time you step back tohttp://www.kylela have a look at what you have done, hit save.

FINAL RESULT

STEP BY STEP VIDEO

I hope that this tutorial has been useful. For more step by steps and other examples of my paintings visit www.kylelambert.co.uk

About the author

Hi! I'm Paulo Canabarro and I'm here to post some really cool stuff for you, if you have any ideas or any requests please get @ me - pvpcanabarro@gmail.com you can also Follow me on twitter!

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34 Comments

DHarma03/05/2009

Awesome amazing i wish i could be that good lol.

Deddy03/05/2009

DHarma, I agree!

Prediculous03/05/2009

stunning !
how long does it take you to paint a picture like this one ?

mr.zer003/05/2009

Awesome! Keep it up, great job dude ;)

Raphael03/05/2009

Every time I see a outstanding wrok like this, I remember that I really need to learn more to use a wacom.

RCKY03/05/2009

Cool. Do you paint all in one layer?

Designoplasty Matt03/05/2009

OK, now you're just showing off! Seriously though, really nice work. I think this is a very high level tutorial for people who are fairly advanced artistically. But truly awesome.

Nikolas Schrader03/05/2009

amazing - thanks for sharing!

atabay03/05/2009

lan bi siktir git u r maniac :D

Vilchis03/05/2009

fucking awesome!!!

fire@will03/05/2009

That is really impressive (and a valuable tutorial). Thanks!

sting2kx03/05/2009

wow that is great

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Laxman Koushik03/06/2009

Thats a wonderful turtorial:) thx a lot...

KillerCreative03/06/2009

lol, i think your spam filter missed that :P
wonderful painting though, im keen to start trying these out aswell
great post!

Mark03/06/2009

Great tutorial! Some very original techniques here. I did something similar, I posted it in my portfolio on my website. http://www.knrdesigns.com

Keep up the good work.

Alanna03/06/2009

I recently came across your blog and have been reading along. I thought I would leave my first comment. I don't know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice blog. I will keep visiting this blog very often.

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skocko03/06/2009

Wonderful! I'll let my students know about this. We've been playing with the official portrait as well. The best of the bunch is featured within this post:

http://maclab.guhsd.net/blog/?p=2288

Detail: http://maclab.guhsd.net/students/blog/obama_jeff_extreme.jpg

Kyle Lambert03/06/2009

Hey guys, thanks for the support again, glad you like the tutorial.

Prediculous - This painting took me 2 hours 11 minutes, which I speeded up to 1 minute in the tutorial. More complex images can take a lot longer. Usually between 6-8 hours.

RCKY - The majority of the time I will work on one layer. When I paint with oil, there is only one layer (the canvas) so i don't find it restrictive when I work digital. Some times I will separate out the background and individual people onto different layers but not always.

For anyone wanting to get into digital painting, I strongly recommend getting a Wacom Tablet. You can get them really cheap (£35 upwards in the UK) and software such as Photoshop Elements or Pixelmator can be bought for £69 and £45. Check them out!

Anonymous03/06/2009

nice, but not as good as these... badpaintingsofbarackobama.com

Imposter03/06/2009

Nice. Great technique and tutorial. I'm Obama'ed out. Maybe another self portrait next time - or a sports figure - or deceased actor. It's starting to like like Che or Jim Morrison out there- everyone's got one so they seem relevant.

Andyrew03/08/2009

This is cool - good tut.

Saw the other post on this work and enjoyed seeing how they are done.

What is really impressive is that it was done in 2 hours. Thats a serious turnaround time for a client!

Brukhar03/09/2009

Really great digital painting.

Featured here: http://www.presidiacreative.com/web-picks-15/

Rafi03/11/2009

hey this is really wonderful.. some good stuff that you can see at: http://portfolio.dreamviewstudios.com

wyeko03/27/2009

cool

phamha03/29/2009

amazing :) lol

Burn04/01/2009

loved this one. great work. i bought my little bamboo just a few weeks ago, but may be i try to draw angela merkel, our first lady in germany :) thx for that tutorial!

jax04/13/2009

your like bob ross! thanks for inspiring me.

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ruben1205/28/2009

OMG!!!Awesome!!

anonymous12/15/2009

Great, now how do you Photoshop an impeachment?

e okul01/26/2010

how long does it take you to paint a picture like this one ?

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