Chat
06-28-2014, 10:48 PM
(This post was last modified: 06-28-2014, 10:54 PM by Charlie Horse.)
Well. My method goes something like this:
Get a basic idea
Sketch it on paper a bit until I find something I like
Resketch it a few times, always trying something new
Go to photoshop
Start a new project 1600x400
*I should mention that I do not paint on transparent layers, but rather fully fill the layer and set it to transparent, then paint-in the opacity. It lets me control color and opacity individually*
Create a new layer, fill it with perhaps dark indigo blue, then set the transparancy to black (transparent)
Prepare to draw in the transparancy channel, causing blue lines as I sketch
Quickly jot down the best of the paper sketch work, taking care to get basic poses and proportions
Create a new layer, fill it with black, and set the transparancy to black. This is the black outline layer
Using the blue layer as a guide, redraw the goats' outlines more carefully (using the transparancy channel)
Hide the indigo guide layer, or if finished, nuke it.
Create a new layer under the outline layer. Fill it with brown or something. Set transparancy to black.
Paint in the transparancy to fill the shapes of the goat outlines. Its easy because the outlines hide the edges.
Then switch to the color layer (brown) and start painting in the color of the goats and packs etc etc
Dont worry about going outside the lines-- transparancy wont let you.
You now can do a similar process for the background and foreground. (this one has quite a few to pull off the mountain/cloud layers etc)
Any special effects should be added as a layer (in this case, the glare around the angry eyes is a "screen" mode layer)
Save
Copy a collapsed version to a new image and rescale it to 50% (to avoid overwriting the original, layered version by accident-- It happens!)
Place logo (I just keep re-using the first one's lettering). Now its ready.
Save as JPG
Ta-dah! Different banners have taken different amounts of time. Anything from a couple hours to most of a day (a little bit at a time).
It depends on how much shading, how many goats, how much trouble the poses/expressions are.
Goats in space and the stare-down took the longest. The desert goats took the least time.
Get a basic idea
Sketch it on paper a bit until I find something I like
Resketch it a few times, always trying something new
Go to photoshop
Start a new project 1600x400
*I should mention that I do not paint on transparent layers, but rather fully fill the layer and set it to transparent, then paint-in the opacity. It lets me control color and opacity individually*
Create a new layer, fill it with perhaps dark indigo blue, then set the transparancy to black (transparent)
Prepare to draw in the transparancy channel, causing blue lines as I sketch
Quickly jot down the best of the paper sketch work, taking care to get basic poses and proportions
Create a new layer, fill it with black, and set the transparancy to black. This is the black outline layer
Using the blue layer as a guide, redraw the goats' outlines more carefully (using the transparancy channel)
Hide the indigo guide layer, or if finished, nuke it.
Create a new layer under the outline layer. Fill it with brown or something. Set transparancy to black.
Paint in the transparancy to fill the shapes of the goat outlines. Its easy because the outlines hide the edges.
Then switch to the color layer (brown) and start painting in the color of the goats and packs etc etc
Dont worry about going outside the lines-- transparancy wont let you.
You now can do a similar process for the background and foreground. (this one has quite a few to pull off the mountain/cloud layers etc)
Any special effects should be added as a layer (in this case, the glare around the angry eyes is a "screen" mode layer)
Save
Copy a collapsed version to a new image and rescale it to 50% (to avoid overwriting the original, layered version by accident-- It happens!)
Place logo (I just keep re-using the first one's lettering). Now its ready.
Save as JPG
Ta-dah! Different banners have taken different amounts of time. Anything from a couple hours to most of a day (a little bit at a time).
It depends on how much shading, how many goats, how much trouble the poses/expressions are.
Goats in space and the stare-down took the longest. The desert goats took the least time.