2DArtist — April 2017

2DARTIST MAGAZINE | ISSUE 136

113

can be very helpful when you want to add a
little attention to a forgotten element of your
painting. In my case I want to highlight the thief,
and candles are a great way of doing this.

The main element of a candle is the flame. Not
only will it light up the objects around it but it will
also illuminate the air surrounding it just like the
dust did in the last step. After the basic candle
shape is roughed-in I start painting the flame with
a brush attached to a glow effect as seen in the
sample image. Once the candle is done the final
step is to fade out the scene behind the flame
in a separate under-layer using a low opacity
brush. The light around the flame will bleach out
the background because particles around it will
cover everything behind it with its radiance.

05

The bloom effect: The bloom effect
emphasizes the brightness of a
surface. Whether it is a shiny piece of armor or

a bleached-white skull, adding in a little bloom

effect can really make a surface feel radiant.

To do so I use a Lighten layer with a mid-tone

hue to increase the lighting around the surface

without affecting the subtle rendering that

is already in place. The more particles in the

air, the more expanded the effect will be.

If the lighten layer is too light or saturated then

you can open up the Hue/Saturation adjustment

layer to make tweaks. You do not want to over-

do this effect because it can potentially wreak

havoc on your previously laid-out values. It

also has the drawback of eliminating details if

you are not careful. It is a pretty simple effect

to implement but it can really help make your

lighting more believable. In the image you can

see the process I use to apply the effect.

06

Using blur: The blur effect has the

versatility to be used in a variety of ways.

It can give motion to an object, it can add drama

to a scene, or it can be used to take attention off

of a subject. This makes it a pretty useful effect

but it can be tricky to implement depending

on the method. There are two options when it

comes to applying the effect. You can either have

Photoshop do the heavy lifting, or you can paint it

in manually; both have benefits and drawbacks.

It is extremely easy to have Photoshop do the

blur for you but the result looks very digital.

This may be fine if you are working in a realistic

manner but it can be jarring for stylized pieces.

Painting it in manually is a bit more challenging

but results in a natural, painterly look. In

the image you can see how much different

ways of blurring can change an image.

07

Thieving elf details: There are a

few details that need to be worked

out with the elf. These include rim lights, and

hair effects. Now that there are candles in the

Rim lights and hair transparency have been added to integrate the thief into the scene more naturally

Whether you want to add motion to your

piece or tone down a distracting element,

blur is a malleable effect