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PAUL SCOTT CANAVAN

http://www.paulscottcanavan.com

@abigbat

OUR EXPERT

Canavan is the art director at

Scottish indie game studio Blazing

Griffin, and a freelance illustrator

when he gets a spare minute.

T

raditional paintings are exciting. They

evoke energy, texture, dedication and

passion. Through this tutorial, you’ll learn

how to paint an exciting fantasy

illustration using only Photoshop, a graphics tablet

and some imagination. No paint mess, turpentine

spillage or sitting around waiting for your canvas

to dry, just textured strokes and well-thought-out,

bold colour choices that make people go “ooh”.

Using reference correctly is one of the keys to

becoming a successful artist, and something we’ll

cover in this tutorial. Through studying the

fundamentals, in particular composition,

anatomy and colour theory, you can expand your

visual libraries and improve the ideas you put

down on paper. In order to prepare for a new

painting, you should first research the topic; find

images that relate to the subject matter and

study them. Treat them as a resource to

examine whenever you get stuck or need to

reference directly. Before you begin, grab some

images of paintings you like and look at how the

artists applied paint; that’s what you want to

emulate here.

CREATE A FANTASTICAL DIGITAL ILLUSTRATION

USING TRADITIONAL PAINTING TECHNIQUES

MASTER REAL

PAINT EFFECTS

DIGITAL PAINTING