Digital Painting FIMA Mrs. Mendola

● Go to www.designmendola.com ● Choose 1 of the 4 sandstone rock

photos○ Copy and Paste the image into a PS

document and name it ROCK REFERENCE

● Create a new 10” X 10” document in PS ○ Name it ROCK PAINTING

● Move the ROCK REFERENCE tab onto your new document and make it smaller (You should be able to see the entire photo still)○ This will allow you to see the reference

photo and your painting at the same time

● Duplicate the rock reference photo

● Using your Move tool, drag it onto your digital painting document

● Filter ○ Stylize

■ Find Edges

● Image ○ Brightness/Contrast

■ Make so lines are crisp & clear

** Label this layer LINES **

● Make a new Layer● Set up the document as follows:

○ Top Layer: Lines ■ LOCK THIS LAYER!

○ Middle Layer: Painting○ Bottom Layer: Background

● Select your PAINTING layer ● Begin painting using your reference

photo next your active document ○ Use a hard, round brush to begin

■ You will need to alter the sizes at various points● One hand should be

on the mouse painting

● The other hand should be on the keyboard

** ALT = eyedropper toggle [ ] = brush size **

● Opacity should be at 100%● Flow should be at 100%

*** Only be concerned with the colorsNOT the texture, or design of the sand, or the details! ***

● Every so often, turn OFF the eyeball on the LINES layer to see your progress

● Continue blocking your colors, changing the size of your brush as needed

● When you are done blocking the colors, we will move onto blending

BLENDING

BLENDING:

● On the same Photoshop document, duplicate your painting layer and label it BLENDS

● Change your OPACITY to 30% or below ○ Remember, 0% will be invisible so it needs

to be higher than 0% ■ You may need to change the opacity

multiple times depending on the look you are trying to achieve

● Change the HARDNESS of your brush to ZERO

● Once you have completed your color blocking, SAVE your work TWICE! ○ SAVE AS rock painting

and a Photoshop document

○ SAVE AS rock painting and a JPEG

● Upload the work into your digital portfolio○ Title the work Rock

Painting without Blends

BLENDING:

● For this project, you do not need to blend everything!

***Use your reference photos and determine where the colors transition into one another smoothly and that is where you are going to blend your colors.

***If the colors change abruptly, you do not need to blend in those areas

● Select the colors and brush over the edges of the color blocking (where two colors meet)○ Keep painting over the edges until it appears smooth

** It may be helpful to use either your Lasso Tool OR your Poly Lasso Tool

Adding Texture:

● Once your blends are smooth, you can add texture to give it a “rocky” feel● Make a new layer and label it TEXTURE ● Go to your brush presets

○ Choose a fan brush and change the settings until you have the bristles (hairs of the paint brush) to your liking ■ Remember, it should resemble the texture of the rocks in your reference photo

○ Your OPACITY should be at 30% or lower (again, you may need to play around with different numbers depending on the look and the area you are working in)

○ Select you color and make short brush strokes ■ The movement of the texture should follow the movement of the lines in your rocks!

Color Blocking Blends & Texture