2DArtist — April 2017

2DARTIST MAGAZINE | ISSUE 136

125

17

Add more drama: You need to add
balance to the image after darkening
the dragon hunter to add more drama. One of
the easiest ways is to duplicate the whole image
(Ctrl+Alt+Shift+E), adjust the Curves (Ctrl+M or
Image > Adjustments > Curves...), and make it
much darker. Then create a layer mask painted
black where you want the image to be brighter.
This way you can better control the light without
painting over everything again. I decide to add
light to the dragon’s head and between the two
subjects, adding a darker frame to the picture.

18

Warm light: Adding warm colors
to the lighter areas of an image can
emphasize the lighting to contrast with the
cool shadows – a Color Dodge layer is perfect
for this. Fill it with black, choose the light color
you want, and paint slowly and carefully in the
places where you want the contrast to pop. Again,
add the most contrast near the dragon head.
In fact the warm light behind his arms makes
me think of a background on fire or something
more sinister, helping with the storytelling.

19

Unify the scene: The last step I
usually do with some of my paintings
is to add an Overlay layer with a lot of noise
on top of everything. Create a new layer
filled with gray set to 50% and turn it into an
Overlay layer, then go to Filter > Filter Gallery...

Grain and add lots of Grain. Finally, change
the opacity of the layer to 20–25%. Doing this
will unify the colors and edges of the painting,
making it more attractive to the viewer.

20

Final touches: In the last two steps
I change the values of some parts of
the body of the dragon. I try to tone it down
with some atmosphere, adding some light
rays coming from the top of the image.

I also use some of my custom brushes to
add more detail to the atmosphere as dots
and particles. This makes the painting
more dynamic and realistic. Just add a
little highlight on the armor and finish.

“Doing this will unify the

colors and edges of the

painting, making it more

attractive to the viewer”

Add noisy or textured Overlay layers on top your

image to unify and add depth to your paintings

I add warms colors in the lights to make a richer and more colorful image that

previously was a bit monochromatic

With the intention of making the dragon more sinister and striking, I darken the image