January 2007 68

Workshops
reating dramatic concept art
means capturing the correct
mood for your piece. The
mood that Im going to try
to achieve in this workshop is one of
a nuclear winter, which still has a
poetic atmosphere to it. Opposing or
contrasting ideas always make for great
painting subjects, and a saturated winter
is not a very common way to approach
an image. With that rough idea and
direction, we will let chaos direct the
first part of the painting, then slowly
give it a meaning and a more concrete
perspective, lighting and mood.
Leading concept artist David Levy shows how to paint a
piece thats full of drama, using custom brushes to create
a nuclear winter image
DRAMATIC
CONCEPT ART
For this workshop, Ill start using the
same brushes I created for the Gnomon
DVD From Speedpainting to Concept
Art, but will also create new variations
using the Dual Brush settings.
Before starting this kind of exercise,
its important to have a good knowledge
of perspective, composition and lighting.
Without these basics, speed painting can
be frustrating: speed and technique only
come with practice. Nevertheless, there
are rules that make the job easier, and
atmospheric perspective is one of them.
In most environments (aside from
space), the atmosphere acts as a filter
C
David Levy
COUNTRY: Canada
CLIENTS: Disney
channel, Massive Black
The Gnomon Workshop.
David began
as a concept
artist for
video game
companies. He
is now a senior concept
artist and has recently set
up Steambot Studios with
his friend BARonTiERi.
www.vyle-art.com
DVD Assets
The files you need
are on the DVD
FOLDERS:
Full screenshots
FILES: GNOMON_
imagineFX.abr,
blokFX_01.psd
SOFTWARE:
Photoshop CS2 (demo)
1
Background
Lets start with a medium green
gradient from top to bottom of the image.
I decide to keep the brightest area on the
top, which influences the way light will
appear in the final image. At this point
I have no clue how that painting will
unfold in front of my eyes. One thing is
sure, though: with a vertical composition,
I have the possibility to create a large
building in the background. You
shouldnt be afraid as you begin your
image; be relaxed and enjoy yourself.
2
Basic shapes
I try to let the brushes go free as
much as possible: I know that I need
some rocks, metal structure for the vessel,
and some soft gradients for the nuclear
snow. I dont even look at the page during
this process, just let myself be surprised
by the shapes. When I look, I can already
see a foreground and a background
shaping up. This happens thanks to the
variation of opacity and contrasts giving
the illusion of depth. I already sense that
this off-axis composition could be
something that plays to my advantage.
3
Shapes come to life
Using a Palette Knife brush I add
two bold strokes of dark blue/green.
Suddenly a large mass appears and
textures are exaggerated during the
shadowing process, giving a feeling that
something high-tech might be lurking in
the fog. The sharp edge on the right side
reminds me of a vessels prow.
and creates a hierarchy in contrasts.
Ill use that rule to emphasise the
atmosphere in my painting. Ill try to
imagine what a somewhat sad mood
mixed with a futuristic design might
look like.
The Dual Brush feature will help me
create elegant shapes that will disappear
in the depth of the fog. The tools used
might seem complex, but their use is
based on classical painting techniques.
Im going to overlay colours, starting
from the background, slowly moving
forward and finish close to the viewers
eye, as a painter using oils might do.
Photoshop
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January 2007 69
In depth Dramatic concept art
4
Perspective
Using the Selection tool and
the Rock brush (from my set on your
DVD) I decide to push the perspective by
using rocks lying underneath the ice
closer to the viewer. At the same time I
make sure to exaggerate that off-axis
composition, by opening that embryo of
perspective like a fan from left to right.
These rocks will help the eye flow from
foreground to background, in a single and
comfortable manner. I am starting to
wonder how will I be able to balance this
weird drop of composition to the right.
5
Fun with fog
I decide to have a bit more fun with
the fog, and get the sides of that silhouette
to disappear in the mist. I find the best
way to balance the whole image is by
layering at the bottom of the picture a
nice, straight horizontal plane. The
composition now feels more balanced,
and that sharp edge on the right keeps
looking more and more like a prow. I
think it is about time to give a wash of
reality to the rough sketch.
6
Connecting circle
I exaggerate that light coming from
the right side, by sculpting some white
cap-like shapes, and also adding a shine
to that slab that I decide is ice, thanks to
a soft/sharp reflection. I toy with the idea
that the connecting circle I created in the
middle of the more heavily textured area
close to the centre might become
the viewers main focal point.
7
Blowing snow
I add to those dark patches of
texture, using the Selection tool and a
newly created dual brush. I also decide to
simulate radiosity underneath that mass
with a soft but obvious dark airbrushed
line. Close to the prow, I intensify the
brightness as it gets closer to the bright
snow. I decide to soften the snow/ice
contact area using the airbrush again,
to give it a feeling of blowing snow.
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January 2007 70
Workshops
8
Adding scale
Time to give punch and scale to
what is now seriously shaping up like
some futuristic prow of a spacecraft
carrier. On the top right part, I throw
in some design markings to give a sense
of perspective, and straighten the line so
it looks like it has been man (or alien!)
made. I repeat the same operation on
the level underneath, making the shadow
line more obvious. At the bottom I add
two characters that will give and
indication for the ships scale.
9
Circle focus
As I said in step 6, I think the
connecting circle will make a great focus,
so I work on the materials in the shadowy
area. The lighting effects give the illusion
of an eerie, unknown reflective material.
That highly saturated yellowish green
seems to work well, and will help develop
the shadow to light shifts that affect the
materials. The shapes again seem to take
a life on their own, and the circle now
resembles the eye of a mystical whale.
11
Whale image
I exaggerate the back of the ship, by
making it resemble a stranded whale on
that strange green snow. I also have some
fun designing a pattern on the back of
the mechanical beast. That helps reading
the volume, and also makes the viewer
believe that there might be much more
there than what the eye can see. This is
important: after all, if you detail
everything, how can the viewer dream?
I add clouds to the top left corner to play
with the scale again, and also give a nice
framing to the centre of the illustration.
12
Foreground in focus
Its time to think about the
foreground. I need as much space as
possible, to eventually add some
characters to my scene and help the
viewer jump into my image. A slab of
snow-covered rock is an easy way to
add depth and an instant foreground
element. I also add some texturing
designs at the front of that ship. Adding
highlights where the ship and snow meet
gives a nice indication of where the light
falls. I flip the image over the vertical
axis, and use the Palette Knife to gently
cast a shadow on the side and
underneath the rock.
The importance
of basics
I have noticed on many
occasions that many
students tend to try to
run before they can walk.
Most of the digital tools
that enable us to paint
nowadays are extremely
powerful, but one thing
not to lose sight of is that
a classical background
will always make the
difference. Even though
you have a whole set of
powerful digital tools, it
is only by practising the
basics that you will be
able to use them to their
full potential.
PRO
SECRETS
the texture of the ship further. I really
dig into the pixels in a close-up, revealing
a lot of blurriness/sharpness variation.
That will probably have to be fixed later
on during the polishing phase.
10
Texture
Working on the design of the
texture feels different from the high
adrenaline of trying to come up with
shapes from chaos. The shapes come up
by themselves, but I need to make sure
I follow the overall volumes decided
earlier on by the brushes and light
gradients. I also have to be careful about
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January 2007 71
In depth Dramatic concept art
Customise
your shortcuts
I like to customise my
own shortcuts using
Edit>Create Shortcuts,
as well as the Actions
option in Photoshop.
Here are the few I have
set up. Though there
are shortcuts for these
actions in Photoshop,
I prefer to have them
somewhere logical for
me to use as I work.
Clicking F9 creates a
new document in one
click. It gives me the size
and format of a new file,
and a basic name, but
you could go even
further by dropping
a basic background
colour, and so on.
When I hit F5, it creates
a new layer (Layer>
New Layer). I like to
organise common
shortcuts at the most
logical place for me to
get at when working.
You could also set them
up on your Wacom.
PRO
SECRETS
13
Tiny ship
I decide to add another ship in the
foreground as this crafts tiny proportions
will emphasise the scale of the giant
vessel even more. I use the colours
already present in the painting with the
colour picker, and I also add a very
vibrant red so the image has a new point
of focus, now slightly closer to us. I
accentuate the light on the top right, and
add details such as the landing gears and
reactor. Then I cast the new ships shadow
on the ground.
14
Fresh eyes
I zoom out to check that the
composition is working with this new
element, and flip the image quite few
times to keep my eyes fresh. This is
probably a good time for me to take a
break, go and get some coffee, as its
important to keep an objective view on
your work, especially in a speed painting
when things happen fast. At that point
the speed painting is pretty much done.
From now on, it is going to be much
more about polishing and sharpening
the details. To give the piece more punch,
I add a Multiply layer to the whole image.
This enables me to slightly underexpose
my image, without losing detail.
15
Sculpting light
Now that the picture is darker,
its nice and easy to sculpt light on
the sharp edges of the ship. The light
coming from the top right, which cast
shadows earlier on, helps me decide
where to place those.
16
Add a figure
I add a character to the foreground
to make sure the viewers eye has a point
of entrance to the picture, but also to
keep that eye focused in the middle of
the image. That rock ledge seems the best
place. Maybe he is looking at some data
on his computer or checking the view.
17
Add reflection
I zoom out a little bit to paint
the icy shore and add the water reflection
close to the camera. It is a nice trick to
make the image even more three
dimensional. Even though I used a long
focal lens for the image, adding those
foreground elements is what gives a
strong feeling of perspective contrast
with the background.
Final polishing
Now all thats left to do is to polish
the image and do the final tidying up.
I clean up the foreground rock by
zooming very close and softening
anything that might distract the viewer.
This is the time to smooth things up
using the airbrush, or add even more
detail using the round brush.
19
Finished image
The image is finished. I managed
to get the result I wanted, a dramatic
image with a strange mood that has
an alien beauty to it. The fact that
the characters do not look like they
have any sense
of urgency helps
confirm to the
viewer that the
scene is calm,
if it was not for
the gusts of
wind that raise,
from time to
time, a cloud of
toxic snow.
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January 2007 72
Workshops