How To Color in six easy steps by Avali

 All right, since I've been getting asked for a tutorial aside from Livestream, I figured I'd at least give you guys a little something to go on while I work on my super deluxe all encompassing tutorial of everything and anything Avali. (With added bonus of how I totally screw everything up ever!  )

There is ALWAYS more to learn from art, so remember to take as much as you can from all the resources that you can, but never think of something as the end-all resource. Art is about growing and advancing, and I change my style and habits as much as possible. (Hence, why it's hard for me to make a tutorial at all! XD) and I am by no means an expert in any way. So just take what you want from this and keep doing what you love!

 1. Fleshing out the basic idea of what I want is something I tend to do by playing around with my idea in mind. As in real life, I find that being random and toying with my paint gives better results and textures. You can see the simple idea that I have for a composition, and how many layers it takes to achieve. I always begin work in Paint Tool SAI.

 2. I pick a base color. Something neutral and easily manipulated. Silvermoon is usually red, and this is a background, so I choose a grey-purple since it has the ability to go warm in the highlights and cool in the shadows.

 3. I add a multiply layer to block in the focal point. I use the watercolor tool in SAI while keeping my light source in mind, but you can use Photoshop with a low opacity brush if you prefer.

 4. I use another watercolor brush with an Overlay layer to pick my highlights. If you are using photoshop, try lighten or screen with a grey-ish tone for a similar effect. Remember to think in gradients. One major light source means light prevails in one area and fades in another. You can see this in my layer here, how it has a general gradient.

 5. Now that I have most of my shadows and highlights, I use the color picker (Alt+ whatever tool you're using) to add in detail and form. This layer is set to normal. Remember to adhere to the gradients as much as possible. If you pull a color from the shadows, try to make sure it's not too dark or too light for the area around it. (If you squint it should still have an easily identifiable gradient.)

 6. Now that details are fixed, I push the highlights and shadows further with SAI's luminosity and multiply. I have yet to find a setting that I like in Photoshop that mimics Luminosity layers in SAI, but you can try a bright overlay or screen setting as a somewhat decent alternative. Remember to play with the opacity settings in your layers.

 7. I begin to work on the highlights in the foreground since that is where the subject matter will be. Keeping in mind the same light source from the background, I brighten the front of the image.

 8. This is where I switch from Paint Tool SAI to Photoshop after flattening the image into one layer. I copy the image and set it to multiply to deepen it-- I can always add highlights later, but making sure I have deep enough shadows is important for me. Then I go to Layer> New Adjustment Layer> Color Balance, and brighten the image with the color scheme I like best. Sometimes I play with different colors for a looong time, others I find it right away. If you like a color scheme but feel it is too much, change the opacity and tone it down. Find a nice middle ground that suits your painting. And don't spend eternity worrying about whether the colors match. This is the base painting, you can change it later-- and if you're like me, you probably will. :]

9. I feel satisfied with what I have so far. I flatten the image again after adding one more layer of texture in Photoshop with multiply. I actually use one of my old paintings and make it large enough to cover this canvas. It adds texture, depth and sometimes gives new ideas. With the flattened image in hand, I move back to Paint Tool SAI and begin blocking in the characters.

That's all for this part, I hope this helps you at least a little! If you have any questions feel free to ask, and I'll try to answer them as best as I can.

Avali

INTERIOR CONCEPT TUTORIAL by Andree Wallin

I begin by blocking out the basic guildlines and trying to find a prespective that works, using very rough brush stroke, followed by line tool and lasso toll in order to achieve sharp edges. Line tool is especially usefull when you are working with architectural stuff and though angles. I sometimes also paint a grid that I reshape and distort to created the illusion of 3D grid.

When I feel that I have a prespective that works (this one is not 100% correct, but close enough to pass) I move on the accentuate the shadows and refining the basic shapes. I often try to imitate a basic 3D render. This involves lots of masked areas and using big and soft brushes to give that 3DS max clay render feel. I also strat playing around with the curves to find a slightly warmer tone to enhance the clay effect.

 Once I have all the main shapes under control I move on to picking out a fitting color scheme. This is usually done by adding a few layers, changing the blending mode to overlay, and then start trying out different colors with a very low opacity. Adjusting the curves and levels is also useful. Another one of my "tricks" for creating vivid and fresh light is to use the dodge tool. Bow this is something thatrequires some practice though. It is some kind of a beginners tool at first glance, but obce you have it under controll you can create really sweet effects. But never rely solely on it, only use it once you are completely comfortable with the brush.

 At this stage I notice the perspective in the ceiling was a little to of, so I selected the whole area and reshaped it and painted in the gaps. The perspective is still not 100% but still better than the previous one. For a painting with sharp and clean edges like this one the lasso tool is indispensable and, after a while, also really frustrating. But in case I had no choice.

 Just continue working on the details, adding some railing around the glass boxes. I also continue to flip the flip the image throughout the process, to help find errors in shapes and perspective.

Adding the armours. I looked at some photos I took from the tower of London visit for reference, looking at the painting now afew months after I did it they sure could've use some more work. Reflections and colorsa bouncing from the environment for example. I always tend to miss stuff like that when I rush out a painting. So take your time with your creations and don't do like me and upload it as soon you feel that it's "okay"

Not much left to do at this stage, I've added all the most important object and details. When I'm near the end I usually create a backup, flatten the image and then start adjusting the brightness/contrast, carefully play around with the dogde tool one last time and try out some adjustment layers to create that finished fell.

Okay, here we go. I feel that this is as far as I want to take this one. Only thing left to do is resizing the image and add unsharp mask. I use a very low radius to avoid those disturbng white outlines, around 0.3 pixel and `70% on the amount. For some painting a hight amount of unsharp mask can make it pop really nice, but use it wisely. Sometime less is more, a concept I'm still trying to grasp!

Andree Wallin