Design Process For March’s Twitter Pinup

…learn why you’re supposed to “Just Make Yourself At Home” for March. =)

Digitally Painting “Just Make Yourself At Home”

Take a look into the design process for March’s Twin-up Of The Month, “Just Make Yourself At Home,” cleverly inspired by the style of  traditional pin-up model artwork.

Final Image Preview

(Click to view larger)

About This Design

• Technique: Digital Painting
• Level: Advanced
• Estimated Completion Time: approx 1 day

[Project Tools]

• Program: Adobe Photoshop CS3
• Additional Tools: Pen tablet (UC-Logic), and pencil sketch

Step 1: Taking Note of Color Scheme & Lighting

If you’ve been following the design process of Twin-ups, then this step is no different. I created my sketch after hours of research of common pinup poses, expressions, and background environments. I wanted this piece to embody the traditionalism of old American pinup culture, brought to the future with the element of Twitter. The light source is going to be coming from the top right corner, sending shadows to the left. On the left side is a selection of colors (on a new layer) that I planned to use for the color scheme and I think only one of these colors were changed.

Step 2: Painting In The Background And Texture

Using a range of nude to white colors and a high opacity hard brush, paint in the base colors for the pinup’s background on a new layer. I’m going to be painting atop the sketch layer for the pinup to retain the texture of the paper, so I don’t cover the sketch up too much.

I’m not using fancy PS brushes–these are the normal grungy ones available in Photoshop. To give the background some dynamic texture, take a low opacity, very soft brush and paint light shades of nude to white until satisfied. Play into what’s known about the lighting by keeping the light shades near the top right corner–it’s going to make much more sense to keep the nude colors by the bottom left corner.

Step 3: Painting The Pinup

From here on I’ll continue to vary on using very low opacity soft (grunge) brushes to build layers of color and depth on the pinup. Clean up the background layer first by erasing the background where it overlaps the pinup’s sketch. Paint the pinup on a new layer above the background layer.

Build color atop the sketch’s outline to transition smoothly by using higher opacity. Then create volume by paying attention to the organic curve of her body, allowing some natural light to fall upon the areas of her skin closest to the viewer.

Step 4: Painting The Clothes

The approach to painting the clothes is still very much the same. Create volume upon the curves by painting the most color on areas that would be normally characterized as round feature (thighs, breast, arms). Adding a new layer to lightly brush some skin color atop the stocking adds a very realistic feature to the legs.

Take in more details regarding the light source, and how the pinup’s position will affect the shadowing upon her own body parts.

Close Up Of Painting Progress So Far

Step 5: Painting The Twitter Logo

Move onto painting the Twitter “t” logo on its own layer after cleaning up the pinup’s clothes. Painting atop the sketch’s outline with a high opacity color from that area makes the pinup’s curves come alive.

Outline and paint the Twitter logo a solid blue color. The white area must also be painted solid–this is going to ultimately give a nice contrast to the texture of the background and pinup. Clean up the edges by taking a low opacity eraser brush to the area. And if you notice, I’ve corrected a small bump in the lower part of the “t” with a pass of the eraser brush as well.

Step 6: Construct And Paint The Face

The original sketch is quite small, so I avoided creating the face until I could view it at a larger scale. Using a new layer, sketch with a small (2 px) low opacity brush in black. This is also the time when I’ve reconstructed the hairstyle to better fit the face, adding a pretty flower headband detail.

Add yet another new layer (I add many layers in case I mess up) to paint the facial features hair. Take note of what happens to the light because of her head position, as well as the additional shadowing upon her face from her hair.

Adding The Finishing Touches

Go back to the appropriate layers and add shadow and highlights. Add in the text behind the “t” logo layer but above the background layer at a low opacity. Create a new layer to add subtle texture to the text and create even another layer to address the golden highlights to make the painting dynamic. Paint the yellow-gold highlights where a glimmer of backlight would touch the pinup and environment’s features.

What You’ve Learned

This is certainly not a strict step by step tutorial for how to create a digital painting, for it’s a process that requires intuition and exploration of what’s best for your piece. Here’s what you’ve learned…

• Making notes for light,shadow, and depth are greatly beneficial.
• Utilize the available Photoshop brushes for digital paintings.
• Create contrast by playing with texture in the background, middle, and foreground.
• Adding backlights create a dynamic touch to the painting.
• You can always wait to reconstruct areas in PS after the sketching process.

Keep It Sexy Sugas…