While this isn't quite a tutorial, I will be showing this piece in different stages, and talking about my working process.
I started by selecting a reference, which I rendered from DAZ Studio, a free 3D application. I set up the model and lighting and made various other changes to suit the idea I had in mind. After rendering, I did some minor Photoshop treatment to bring out some details and give it that "Classic" look I was after. When I reached a point that I was happy with it, I ended up with this for a reference.
Reference Image For Painting Rendered From DazStudio
At this point I have what looks like a 3D model, kind of plastic looking with some hard edges here and there, but that's okay, she is not the final product. She is only a reference for pose and shading. For any of you Daz users out there, it will be incredibly obvious that this is the old Vicki3, for everyone else suffice it to say that Daz and Poser models make for some pretty decent reference material without having to worry about copyright infringement, and you can dress and pose them in limitless ways.
Now that I had a good reference to work from, I started in Photoshop with a blank file and created a new layer which I filled with 50% gray(I do a lot of my digital paintings this way), and I started blocking in the light and dark areas using the dodge and burn tools. If it's darker than middle gray I darken it, if it's lighter, I lighten it. I use the exact same technique working with chalk and charcoal on tinted paper. This seems to work well for blocking in the basic features, plus it's a technique that I understand well, as I grew up using it with traditional mediums. At this point I had a mottled mess that looked like the are marked "5" in figure one(entire unlabeled area).
From this point I started working back and forth between the two eyes, alternating between the dodge and burn tools and the smudge tool. I would also bounce around the face working more and more details into more and more areas as I went. In the following image, the different numbered areas are as follows:
- Nearing completion, ready for the fine details and finishing touches.
- Third blocking pass, beginning the smudging, details are starting to emerge, but still a bit sketchy.
- Just a bit under area #2, smudging has begun, but still in need of a blocking pass or two.
- Second blocking pass, no smudging has been done, rough forms are starting to show.
- First blocking pass, rough and sketchy, major light and dark areas are forming but all details are absent.
Figure: Areas of differing levels of completion
I went on working like this for several days, a smudge here a dodge and burn there, bringing details into focus and making various changes. I decided to drop the hair on the left(her right) that I sketched in originally staying true to the reference, and I broke completely with the reference by making the background black, as it seemed to fit the mood I was trying to create.
After about four days total I ended up with something I was happy with overall, and I then began adding the finest details to the eyes, eyelashes, and hair. She was getting very near completion a this point, and I spent more time contemplating changes than actual hands on working. I seem to do that a lot when a project gets into the final stages. I don't want to ruin several days of work over one wrong line in the wrong place.
Fine Details Emerging: Note the bottom eyelashes and veins on the eye, 1 pixel work in progress.
After about a day of stressing over the finest details, working with 1 pixel brushes, and a whole lot of zooming in and out, I finally reached a semi-stopping place. From this point forward I would come back it every few hours and critique it, making minute changes here and there, until I finally decided there was no more that I could do to improve upon it. There's a fine line between overworking a piece and adding just the right amount of realism, and I often find myself debating exactly where that line is.
Final Piece Low Resolution-High Resolution Available from Shutterstock.com
