[Speedpainting] How to Draw Landscapes

◆How to Draw Landscapes

 

[Introduction]

This time, I will show you how to draw an SF landscape like this using speedpainting.

 

[Preparation]

There are two things to do in preparation.

Creating composition guides and creating the canvas exterior.

 

First, import a template created with vector-based software.

This template has guide lines at 1/2, 1/3, 1/4, and golden ratio division positions.

By placing motifs at these intersection points, you can create a pleasing composition.

 

Next, create the canvas exterior.

First, fill the layer in its current state.

Then, click Edit → Change Canvas Size.

Create an outer margin.

Furthermore, create a new layer → fill only the outer margin.

Then hide the image of the canvas you initially created.

This is used to select the range of this image with the selection tool when finished,

and then trim the completed picture using Edit → Fit Canvas Size to Selection.

 

[Creating Rough Terrain with Selection Tools + Fill]

Divide layers by depth,

and use the selection tool to draw silhouettes of terrain such as mountains and rocks.

I painted the background white and the foreground black.

 

[Creating a Rough Sketch with the Square Stretch Brush]

This brush is highly compatible with sci-fi illustrations and speedpainting.

Even if you move the brush without any particular thought, plausible shapes will emerge due to the power of serendipity.

It is distributed here, so Clip Studio users, please download and use it.

 

[Creating Details by Compositing Materials]

Create details using materials such as photos and brushes.

By learning two methods: how to collect materials and how to process materials,

you will be able to composite materials to create details.

Now, let's look at these two in detail.

 

[How to Collect Materials]

There are three main types of useful materials:

1. Photo materials.

2. Brush materials.

3. Overlay materials.

Let's look at these three in detail.

 

・About photo materials

This is a method of pasting materials you've shot yourself or downloaded from material sites like Pakutaso, Pixabay, texture.com, 3dtotal, and BEIZ images onto your artwork.

It can be used when you want to quickly draw details.

 

・About brush materials

Download brush materials from CLIP STUDIO ASSETS, etc.,

and use them to draw details.

Unlike photo materials, you can freely adjust their placement, making them particularly effective for random shapes and natural objects.

 

・About overlay materials

This is a collection of materials with light drawn on them. Searching for 'overlay' on DesignCuts will cost money, but you can get high-quality materials. Also, DesignCuts regularly holds sales bundling a large number of products, so if you're interested, please visit and check them out.

 

[How to Process Materials]

・Select material

・Cut material

・Place material

・Match material color tones

・Blend material edges

Simply repeat these steps.

 

For cutting materials, use the selection tool.

For placing materials, use free transform.

For adjusting material color tones, use Hue/Saturation/Luminosity or a gradient map.

To blend material edges, create an airbrush-type eraser and erase the areas you want to blend.

 

[Tips for Material Compositing]

I'll introduce two tips for material compositing:

・Creating sci-fi light

・Reusing materials that are difficult to detect

By using these, I believe you can finish your artwork more quickly.

 

[Creating Sci-Fi Light]

I'll show you how to draw light that is common in this kind of concept art.

Search for 'Night City' on texture.com.

Then, load the resulting night view material, create an S-curve with a tone curve, and increase the contrast.

Convert the layer effect of that photo to Add (Glow) or Dodge (Glow), etc., and it's complete.

If necessary, erase parts of the photo with a mask.

 

[Adding Color to a Monochrome Painting]

There are two ways to add color to a monochrome image: gradient maps and overlays.

While it's difficult to use these for character illustrations, these two are highly compatible with concept art-style backgrounds.

 

There are two ways to use gradient maps:

1. Apply a gradient map to only one layer: Edit → Tonal Correction → Gradient Map.

2. Create a gradient map layer and apply the gradient map to everything below that layer: Layer → Tonal Correction → Gradient Map.

 

By adjusting the parameters of the gradient map, you can add any color to a monochrome image.

This is suitable for applying it as a single layer to the entire image to create environmental light effects and overall mood.

Lowering the opacity or using an overlay will produce good results.

 

The usage of overlay is simple: create a new layer above and set its layer effect to Overlay.

Then, apply color to that layer.

This method is suitable for applying specific colors, such as inherent colors, to specific areas as intended.

 

By effectively using these two methods, you can add color to a monochrome painting like this.

 

[Adding and Refining Motifs]

Here, we will create a spaceship. Following the same steps as for the landscape, create the shape with the square stretch brush,

then add details with photo compositing. Add color with gradient maps or overlays, and blend it into the surroundings.

 

[Applying Post-Processing]

To finish with an impressive painting, add light using Screen or Add (Glow), etc.

Draw radial white lines and blur them with Gaussian blur.

After that, draw dust-like light or smoke, and it's complete.

 

[Completion]

This is how the painting turned out.