I received a lot of e-mails saying that it's not a big deal to just paint something like this using a real photograph. What can I say, if you don't like it don't look at it or try to do it and you will see how much time it takes to create it like I did.
Tools
For this work I used Adobe Photoshop CS2 and Wacom Intuos 3 tablet. My hardware spec were: P4 3GHz, 2GB RAM, Quadro FX 1100 graphic card, 17” LCD.
Preparation
I had to decide with what resolution I want to work. For me 1800x1148 was enough space to work with details I needed to create for this work.
Sketch
I start with creating a sketch in order to define the shapes, which will be later filled in with colours . I will use the following brush settings:
I like keeping everything simple so I will use these brush settings through the whole creating process. I will just change brush hardness and having the sketch done sketch I will turn off “Shape Dynamics”. Later I will explain why I'm using “Pen Pressure Control” for “Opacity Jitter” and “Flow Jitter” in “Other Dynamics”.
Outlining, coloring and shading
Having created basic shapes I start to put rough color inside
Instead of focusing on one particular detail I prefer to work on the entire image. For that reason, there is a bit of color everywhere.
At this point, let me explain my choice of “Pen Pressure Control” for “Opacity Jitter” and “Flow Jitter” in “Other Dynamics”. Basically, with those settings I can easily achieve a nice color blending. Using only “Pen Pressure Control” for “Opacity Jitter” it's much harder to achieve nice transitions between colors. Here are some examples of the effects that I have achieved.
Using “Pen Pressure Control” for “Opacity Jitter” and “Flow Jitter” transitions are much smoother to achieve with less brush strokes:
Apart from the above, there are really no more tricks; just a lot of patience, close examining of the real photograph and painting, painting and once again painting.
Let's come back to filling image with colors:
I still have my sketch visible on the top layer to get filled all shapes:
At this point I am going to turn off the sketch layer and start working only with color, shading and highlights:
I slowly shape the image by adding shadows and highlights
This time, I am going to add more details in the hair area:
Then, I will pass on to the face area:
Now I am going to work a bit on the background (right curtain):
Left curtain and bed:
A bit of work on foreground sheet:
Scenery outside the window, front sheet, left arm and hair:
Detailing
Having filled the entire image with color, shading and highlights, I can finally move on to detailing.
Brassiere and dress lace:
