9
Depict realistic smoke
You can create a smoke effect by laying down paint
on a new layer with the Watercolor brush, then using the
Palette Knife with the Soft effect enabled to smear the
paint around. Adjust the Pressure and Opacity for the
desired effect. A perfect example of this in action is the
smoke I paint around the ball in the dragon’s mouth.
8
Time to focus on the details
At this point I have a good sense of colour and
composition, so it’s now time to focus on bringing those
details out. This is where I try and find a nice balance
between hard edges, blending and texture. I tend to use a
custom airbrush tool and ink pen for the hard edge. The
key is to choose an Opacity setting for your brush so that
when you start to paint it acts like a wash building up
when painting with acrylics. For blending and textures I’ll
use Sav Scatola’s custom brushes (www.boxy.co.uk).
They’re perfect for creating chalk-like textures with a nice
smudge/blend effect. Press down hard to produce the
blend effect, then lightly tap to add texture.
Workshops