Technique

I’m often asked if I use watercolours for my illustrations. I do all my illustrations on the computer - they are completely digital. You can view my 8-Step Illustration process here. I definitely try to make my illustrations look like watercolours (my favorite medium) but it’s all through the magic of Photoshop!

This is a quick 4-step tutorial to show you how to finish off an illustration and truly make it look like a scanned-in piece of artwork. This is just a taste of the things you can do with Photoshop filters. I plan to write more similar tutorials to help you in your exploration of digital art. This tutorial has been written for someone who is somewhat familiar with Photoshop. If it’s too complicated or you need further explanation on how to do a step, please let me know!

STEP 1 - OPEN YOUR IMAGE
Open the image you’d like to transform into a watercolour painting. (NOTE: Make sure your image is NOT part of the background. It should be on its own layer. If it is part of the background, double click on the layer and click ‘ok’ to take it off of the background.) Make a duplicate of this layer (you now have 2 layers of your image).

STEP 2 - WATERCOLOUR FILTER
Select your duplicate layer. Go to Filter -> Artistic -> Watercolour
(Use the following inputs: Brush Detail: 14, Shadow Intensity: 0, Texture: 3)

STEP 3 - LAYER OPTIONS
Change your layer mode to Hard Light and change your layer opacity to 35%.
Merge your layer down with your first layer (now you’re back to 1 layer)
Select your layer. Go to Filter -> Texture -> Texturizer
(Use the following inputs: Scale: 120%, Relief: 2)

STEP 4 - 3D EFFECT
Select your layer, rotate it slightly and add a faint drop shadow for a 3D paper effect. To add a drop shadow, you must double click on your layer to bring up the Layer Styles. Choose ‘Drop Shadow‘ and customize the drop shadow to your liking!

And VOILA! Was this tutorial helpful? Too hard or too easy? I’d love to hear your feedback! :o)

Since starting my blog I’ve received a number of requests to explain my illustration process. It’s not always easy to explain each step so I’ve attempted to break down my process into 8 steps accompanied by lovely screenshots! All my work is done digitally. I use my 6×11 Wacom Intuos 3 tablet in Adobe Photoshop. Often before starting any illustration on the computer, I’ll do some character development in my sketchbook. It’s very important to me that my characters have the right personality/expressions so I spend a lot of my time in this initial phase.

STEP 1 - SKETCHING
After completing character development in my sketchbook I begin my illustration on the computer. If I’m just illustrating for fun, I usually start with an 8.5×11 workspace so the illustration will be a good size for cards, bookmarks, etc. The character development stage and sketch stage accumulate to approx. 70% of the total time spent on any illustration. This stage is very important. I am meticulous about each detail, smile, body movement, etc. This is the foundation to a good drawing and cannot be rushed! I try to keep my sketches fluid and light. I’ll make a swirl here and there just for fun! I love free flowing images full of life, and by letting my sketches swirl and twirl, I achieve these results.

STEP 2 - PATTERNING
I love intricate patterns! I think I’m obsessed with them, actually. I compulsively add patterning to each of my illustrations because of this obsession :) After completing the base sketch, I have a little fun with patterning. Usually I add them to clothing, objects, or even angels’ wings..anything that can use a little spice!

STEP 3 - BASE COLOURING
Choosing colours can be tricky. Because of my graphic design background, I’ve learned so much about choosing colours that I could probably write a whole other post on it (and maybe I will)! I love bright colours so I always choose bold, fun colours and usually pair them with their complimentary colour. In step 3, I create a new Photoshop layer beneath my sketch. This is where I colour in my entire illustration in the base colours. I often play around/test colours in this step. By saving the shading/detailing for future steps, it’s easy for me to colour in/erase the blocks of colour until it’s just right!

STEP 4 - HIGHLIGHTING
I’m not always sure what’s politically (or should I say artistically?) correct in real painting but in the digital world, anything goes ;) If I were doing a real watercolour painting, I wouldn’t be highlight AFTER I’ve applied the base colours. However, we are in the digital world. And in this world, highlighting comes AFTER! In this step, I create a new layer above the base colours (and below the original sketch) and add white highlights in a 10-20% opacity.

STEP 5 - SHADING
After completing my highlights, I then create a new layer above the highlights layer (and below the original sketch). This is where I do the shading. I shade warm colours (reds, prinks, yellows, etc) with a cool colour (blues, greens, greys) at a 10-20% opacity and shade all the cool colours with a warm colour at a 10-20% opacity. This is my favorite step as I begin to see all the colours working together and bouncing off each other.

STEP 6 - LIGHTING
I now create a new layer above the shading layer (and below the original sketch). On this layer I use a 20% opacity yellow to tinge the highlighted areas with a bit of warmth. Both the lighting and highlighting layers should correspond to your chosen light direction.

STEP 7 - CLEANING UP
My final layer is placed above the lighting layer (and below the original sketch). On this layer I use a 100% white to ‘clean up’/'highlight’ some areas that I find might be a bit muddy or dark. It’s hard to explain where I place these brush strokes of white - I think this stage is a bit more stylistic/artistic.

STEP 8 - COLOUR ADJUSTING
The final stage of my illustration process is adjusting the colours. I usually find my illustrations a bit washed out after the shading/highlighting process and they lose a bit of the vibrancy of the initial base colours. This is where I adjust the ‘brightness/contrast’ as well as the ‘hue/saturation’ in Photoshop. I usually darken the brightness a bit and increase the contrast and saturation.

And VOILA! My illustration is complete. If you have any specific questions about brushes, other techniques, or anything at all, please leave me a comment or email me and I’ll be happy to fill you in :) Thanks for taking the time to read this post! I’d love to know if this was of any interest you and if you’d like me to make more posts like this in the future. Thanks again!

To view the full version of the illustration, please click here.

Here’s an illustration I’ve been working on this week. I’m obviously in a wintery mood! :) We’ve been getting quite a lot of snow here in Ottawa - a big difference from this time of year in Nova Scotia (where I’m originally from)! I need to get my act together and start making submissions for Illustration Friday. This past week’s topic ‘Zoo’ just wasn’t festive enough for my liking ;) But that’s besides the point…

I’d love to hear your thoughts on this one! I’m still trying to get my new illustration style down so I’d love to hear if you feel it fits in with my other illustrations and if my kid’s are consistent with the style. I wasn’t quite sure how to show the glass of the window so I added a light opacity of white and cleared a spot for the kid’s faces (just like they wiped off the frost). Does that work? Is there another way I could do it? I’d love to hear your thoughts! …or just tell me what you think by rating it in my sketchbook!

Thanks everyone!