Using Materials to create a detailed background
Hello everyone! Qsan here again! Thank you very much for all your support in the previous tutorials. I’m so happy you liked them. Today I want to talk about materials by facing two different ways to use them: use materials as simple vectorial objects or create customizable brushes. I already talked of the first topic, in a previous tutorial here
but that was only for decorative purposes. Today I’ll use materials to complete a scene
Let’s go!
Creating our materials and adding them in a custom folder
Go to File->New
and create a new canvas [illustration]. I named it “Materials”
The size initially is A3 format [ 420 x 291 mm 350 dpi.]
With the G-pen for the sketch and linework.
and the Soft Watercolor custom brush for coloring.
draw hydrangeas, petals, balloons and birds.
The process is similar to the one I described in my old tutorial.
Feel free to read all it here.
For different subjects,
remember to work on different folders
Combine all work layers in one,
and go to the “Hydrangeas and petals folder”.
Right click -> Duplicate Layer twice
For each new layer change the colors by,
going to Edit -> Tonal Correction -> Hue/Saturation/Luminosity
and editing the values as you prefer.
We now have different colorful flowers to use in our illustration.
Here I edited them with these settings.
For the blue tone,
I set the Hue to -50
For the yellow tone,
I set the
Hue to 115
Saturation to 20
Luminosity to 25
When all files are ready, save each image as a material.
Remember to check any colors outside the drawings before continuing.
The following process will be repeated for each flower
First
go to Materials -> All Materials.
Right click -> select Create new,
and create a custom folder named “Custom Materials”
where you can save your images.
Select the layer (not the folder)
Go to Tools -> Selection Area -> Rectangle
and select the first subject.
Go to Edit -> Register Material (U) -> Image
In the new window you can
change the name of your file. I named it with numbers.
In Material Setting, activate
“use for paper texture” and
“use for brush tip shape.”
They are needed for editing images through the Operation tool,
and for creating brushes.
In Paste Operation,
activate Scale up/Down -> select Adjust after Pasting,
so when you drag and drop your image, it will adjust automatically.
In Location to save material -> select your custom folder (“Custom Materials.”)
Last but not least,
in the Search Tag click the Tag icon in the bottom-right
and add a new personal tag.
It is very helpful looking for a specific material
I'll show you its benefit in chapter 3.
Click Ok.
After this
all custom materials are ready to use.
Add balloons and hydrangeas in the background with drag and drops.
Open the main illustration,
go to File -> Open
and select your work
Click Ok.
Starting to adding balloons in the drawing
They should be reflected in the water.
Create a “Balloon” folder in the foreground.
and a second “Balloon” folder in background,
under the “Angel Girl”folder.
Open the Materials window-> Custom Folders
In the foreground,
drag and drop the quantity of balloons you prefer,
and set materials following the guideline of the composition.
Go to Tools -> Operation -> Tool Property
In the Scale Ratio
you can zoom it/out your materials by changing the value.
Keeping “Keep Ratio of original Images”active
scale up/down the image proportionally.
Once satisfied, go to the “Balloon folder” in background
and repeat the same process.
Add smaller balloons, following the intuitive perspective view.
Create some Adjust layers:
Create a New Layer -> Clip at layer below
Go to Tools -> Fill-> Refer Only to Editing Layer
and using purple, color the whole layer.
Then, change the layer option from “Normal” to “Color”.
Create a New Layer and clip at layer below.
Go to Tools -> Fill-> Refer Only to Editing Layer
and using purple, color the whole layer.
Change the layer option from “Normal” to “Vivid Light” with opacity 40%
Again,
create a New Layer -> Clip at layer below.
Go to Tools -> Fill-> Refer Only to Editing Layer,
and with a purple, color the whole layer.
Change the layer option from “Normal” to “Multiply” with opacity 30%.
In this last layer,
go to Tools-> Soft Watercolor custom brush
and add a green color in lighter areas.
Finally,
right click -> Duplicate the “Balloon” in foreground.
Right Click-> Convert Layer (H) and
select Edit -> Trasform -> Flip vertical,
and move the layer under the “Angel character” folder.
With Selection area-> Lasso,
adjust the balloons positions in the water.
Repeat the same operation with the balloons in the background.
Select the “Balloon” Folder and all adjustment layers
Group them in a new folder “Balloon Backgrounds”.
Right Click -> Duplicate Layer, and
Right Click-> Convert Layer (H)
Go to Edit -> Transform -> Flip Vertical
and with Selection area -> Lasso
adjust their positions in the water.
Once finished, move the two layers under the
"Balloon Background" folder.
Don't worry if the images aren’t perfect,
because now we add the hydrangea flowers.
The process is similar to the previous one.
Create a New Folder “Hydrangea” in foreground,
a New folder “Hydrangea” in background
and drag and drop some colorful flowers
To fix them
go in Tools -> Operation
In Scale Ratio,
zoom it/out your materials by changing the value.
With “Keep Ratio of original Images” active,
scale up/down the image proportionally.
In the Rotation Angle,
rotate your image adapting them to the water surface.
Create a New layer (or more) under all floral layers.
Go to Tools-> G-pen
and draw leaves and stems.
Once satisfied with the result, close both folders.
For twince Right Click -> Duplicate Layer,
Than right click -> Convert Layer (H)
and put both layers under the “Hydrangea BK” folder.
Go to Edit -> Trasform -> Flip Vertically.
Move the layer down, and
using Selection area -> Lasso,
adjust their positions adding missing details.
One confirmed, go to the flipped Hydrangea layer.
Put them in to a new folder. I named it “Reflection”
Create a New Layer -> Clip at layer below
Go to Tool -> Fill-> Refer Only to editing Layer
and change the Layer Option from “Normal” to “Multiple” with 40% opacity.
With a purple color, shade the reflected flowers.
The hydrangeas are now ready.
Before going on to the next step,
create a New Layer above all folders.
Go to Window -> Layer Property.
Click the first white/dark dot icon “Border Effect”.
In the Border effect property, click again on the white /dark dot icon.
Define the border with 3px,
and select a dark color (black or deep blue)
In Tools, with the Eyerdropper,
select the lightest colors on the water surface.
Go to G-pen and makes some light reflections.
The border help to give a realistic effect of the water with simple touches of color.
By doing this I can preserve the reflected flowers, without overdoing it.
Create custom brushs and complete the illustration
Now add petals and birds.
For this part we will create two custom brushes.
In Tools,
go to Sub Tool -> G-pen
Right Click -> Duplicate sub tool
Drag and drop you brush to the side,
creating a custom tools group.
Right click-> Setting of sub tool, and
change the group name as you prefer. I named it “Custom brushes.”
Again , right click on the brush -> Setting of sub tool
and rename the brush as you prefer. I choose “Petals”.
Go in Tool Property -> Show [Sub tool detail palette]
Here you can find all of the options to customize the brushes.
Personally I edited it with these settings:
Go in to the Brush size and select “Specify by size on screen”.
Go to the Brush Tips.
Click “Material” and than click the white paper icon in the bottom right.
In the search keywords, ( in my case [“Qmaterials”] ) to view all our subjects.
Customizing the brushes is amazing and fun! We can combine a lot of materials to create what we need. For example, a single one brush with only purple, blue or yellow petals or with different combinations.
There is no limit of materials to upload for the single brush. This time I decided to make a single brush selecting all petals available.
Click Ok.
Go to the Spraying effect,
and activating the option, change the “Particle size” to 100.
(change this number considering the pen pressure you have).
Go to Particle Density and set 1/5 value as density.
Go to Direction of Particles and change the value to the max, 360
Go to the Stroke.
In Gap, select the Normal mode icon,
changing the value to 150.
Select Repeat Method -> Random
This will randomly place petals.
The brush is ready.
Click the eye icon next to each option.
These will be added automatically in the [Tool Property].
Close the Window.
Repeat the same process for birds.
In Tools -> Go to Sub Tool -> G-pen,
Right Click -> Duplicate sub tool
Drag and drop you brush in the same group you created previously.
and rename it as you prefer. I choose “Birds”.
Click Ok.
Go in Tool Property -> Show [Sub tool detail palette]
Again,
go in to the Brush size and select “Specify by size on screen.”.
Go to the Brush Tips.
Click “Material” and than click the white paper icon in the bottom right.
In the search keywords, type your custom tag, “Qmaterials”,
and select all bird images.
Click Ok.
Go to the Spraying effect.
and activate the option and edit the “Particle size” to 70.
Go to Particle Density and set 1/5 value as density
Go to Spray Deviation and set 1/5 value as density
Go to the Stroke:
In the Gap, selecting the Normal mode icon,
change the value to 250.
Select Repeat Method -> Random.
Again, click the eye icon next to each option if you need them.
and close the window.
Now we can use brushes in the illustration.
Create a New Folder “Petals” -> New Layer.
Go to tool -> Custom brush group -> Petals
and spread petals on the whole work.
With another New layer make some larger petals in foreground.
Click the first white/dark dot icon called Border Effect.
In the Border effect property, click again on the white /dark dot icon.
With the white color change the size border to 8px.
Create a New Layer “splatter”, under the “Angel Girl” folder.
Use Airbrush -> Droplet
or
Airbrush -> Spray.
Using tones from the background,
spread colors near the horizon.
Now go to Tools -> Custom Brush -> Birds.
Create a New Folder ”Birds” under the “Angel character” folder -> New layer,
and make some birds in the background
Create a New Layer -> Clip at Layer below.
Go to Gradient -> Blue Sky
and color the bird with the gradient.
Change the layer option From “Normal” to “Screen”.
With the same process
Create a New Layer, and spread a second birds brush.
Again Create a New Layer -> Clip at Layer below
Go to Tool -> Gradient -> Sunset,
Change the Layer option From “Normal” to “Screen.”
and put it under Layer “ 1.”
Finally,
fix the position of some elements if you needed
and complete the composition by adding some details as
water drops, splatters color again, hatches, and
some color corrections layers.
And we’re finished.
What do you think?
I hope you like the final result.
Most important , I hope this can help you to choose your favourite way to use materials.
For any questions don’t hesitate to ask.
Thank you very much for reading.
See you the next tutorial! v
Qsan
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