Artist Q&A
Use Photoshop’s Lasso and Paint Bucket tools to fill in a flat silhouette layer.
Above, add colour layers for separate elements: skin, hair, clothes... and beer!
Question
My cosy bar lacks
atmosphere. Help!
Kerri Wicker, Scotland
Keeping the palette of the
background muted and
increasing the saturation
within the figures helps to
draw focus on where you
want to viewer to look.BACKGROUND CONSIDERATIONS These axes resolve
at a distance, but
actually contain very
little detail. Paint
at 100 per cent
Opacity to force
yourself to choose
the correct hue,
saturation and value.Artist’s secret
Answer
Tom Fox replies
First I consider what sort of
lens and perspective to use.
Here I’ve chosen to draw the
characters with a mid to
long lens. The vanishing points converge
relatively slowly; it’s very close to drawing
in one-point perspective. A long lens creates
an observational feel to the image, as if
viewing from a distance and zooming in.
Second, I think about designing the light.
I want a cosy scene, so I chose a warm,
evening light, which implies a comfortable
setting and lack of danger. This lighting,
combined with the choice of lens, helped
to create a relaxed scene before I even
considered the subject of the characters.
Drawing people drunk is a challenge.
Observing drunk people, you’ll see that
often they talk in an intense way. They
gesticulate, wave their hands around, stamp
their feet and do just about anything to
support what they’re saying. It’s hard to
make yourself understood when you’re
drinking, so they use all the tools at their
disposal. There are also varying degrees of
drunkenness and it can be easy to misjudge
it. Here, the characters are leaning in
towards each other; they’re relaxed and
comfortable, but not dancing on tables just
yet. I’ve painted the background loosely, to
help keep attention on my figures.