Skillshare ? Digital Painting ? Marco Bucci
Chapter 2: A project that combines elements made with basic 3D modeling, grease pencil, texturing, lighting and rendering, with digitally hand-painted 2D scenery and characters. The result is a 2D digital painting aesthetic, but with real 3D depth.
Skillshare – Digital Painting – Marco Bucci
Chapter 3: A project using a modern day Hollywood '2.5D' matte painting technique. Slightly more advanced 3D modeling (still suitable for beginners), combined with sophisticated camera projection mapping UV tools and digital painting to create a unique and dazzling cinematic blend of 2D and 3D.
Project 1: Set aside 1 hour of uninterrupted time and navigate Blender. Do not try to create any artwork yet; simply move objects around, delete/add them, open/close windows, navigate the various orthographic views, and get a sense for a few of the shortcut keys and tool menus. These basic skills save so much frustration later, when you will be focusing on creating artwork. Because Blender has so many different tool sets and 'categories' of tools, you may find it useful to track along with Chapter 1, giving each tool individual attention as they are introduced in the lesson. Project 2: Come up with an illustration that can be broken down into very clear planes - at a minimum, Foreground/Midground/Background. Sketch them in 3D space using Blender's Grease Pencil tool, and generate a rough camera move through your mock-up illustration. Export those layers into Photoshop and replace the Grease Pencil block-in with a finished digital painting. Export those layers as color and transparency maps, and re-build your 3D scene with your digital painting UV mapped onto planes, in the same place as your Grease Pencil layers were. As a bonus, see if you can integrate some simple 3D objects in this scene, to help 'marry' the two mediums (as shown with the leaves in Chapter 2).Project 2b: Try creating an illustration entirely with the Grease Pencil. Play with the tool's settings to get lines you like, and simply complete the entire drawing inside of Blender!Project 3: Come up with a cinematic shot that might work well with a '2.5D' technique. Often this approach suits large establishing shots of vast landscapes or cityscapes. Model some basic geometry that captures the essence of the shot, but without getting into too much detail. Remember it is your 2D painting that will provide all the detail. I recommend going for lots of 3D depth here, having elements play toward and away from camera. Set up a master 'projection camera' that encompasses all the elements in your scene (remember to lock it!), and export your various layers. If you like, set up some basic lighting to provide various shadow passes. Re-assemble those elements in Photoshop, and paint them! Now re-export from Photoshop and project UVs from the master camera. Use a new camera to dial in a specific camera move that does not deviate too far from the projection cam's view (as this will spoil the illusion.) Feel free to play around with Depth of Field settings for that final cinematic polish.
'Digital Brushwork Techniques' is a video presentation of tools and techniques for getting the most out of your digital brushes and workflow. It will help you achieve a more natural, appealing, and above all, fun look to your paintings.
Please note: this is not a software tutorial. I will be using Adobe Photoshop CC in this lesson, but the ideas and approaches are applicable to any digital painting application (even traditional media!)