Here is a terrific piece of fantasy art submitted by artist Grant Wilson. This tutorial outlines a few general tips for creating digital coloured versions of your artwork. He has given us a step by step tutorial showing us exactly how he did this.

Here is how he made this:

This tutorial outlines a few general tips for creating digital coloured versions of your artwork.
Specifically for this image the steps in its' creation were as follows:

1] The Artwork was drawn with fine-liner pen [size 0.3] on simple copier paper, making it cheap to produce. The Art
     will be put into the pc so the standard of paper needn't be so high.
2] The finished line-work was then scanned into the pc at 300 dpi or above to achieve print resolution.
3] Opening the work in photoshop elements I use the magic wand tool to select the white background and remove it by pressing delete or cut.
4] I then created a new layer above the line work and set about painting my chosen colour over the picture [within the lines.]
5] This process is repeated for each coloured element of the picture [a new layer for each] use a hard edge basic brush for this.
6] The blend modes of each layer were set to something suitable like "vivid light" for the bones and tunic. Here
experimentation can be the name of the game.
7] The layers were then merged by going to Layer> merge visible. Be prepared for a slight dulling of your colours if you
have any set to "vivid light" at blend mode.
8] The background was created by a new layer filled with solid colour using the paint bucket tool. This layer was then
put behind the artwork layer.
9] The stars were again painted on a new layer using a hard edge brush of varying sizes, as was the moon.
10] The final step was to add a gradient of suitable colour to a new layer using the gradient tool stretched half-way
up the image. This layers blend mode can be set to anything to achieve subtle highlighting of the foreground. "overlay" and
"vivid light" work well.
11] The image was flattened by going to Layer> flatten image and then saved to the hard disc.
The Artwork is entitled Desert Riders.

You can see more of his artwork by visiting his websites:

• http://grantwilson.redbubble.com
• http://charge79.deviantart.com/gallery/
• http://grantwilson.daportfolio.com/

RESOURCES

Adobe Photoshop Elements 8

Fantasy Workshop: A Practical Guide From initial concept through to finishing touches, for the first time, Boris and Julie give an in-depth description of how they paint their masterpieces, taking the reader through every stage of the creative process. As well as teaching the main techniques, the premiere fantasy-art team shows the reader how to use a wide variety of media to create a whole range of different types of painting, and explain how they create the effects for which they are so renowned, such as Julie's legendary "metal flesh," with its mix of fluidity and hardness contrasting with the sensual softness of the skin. Illustrated throughout in full color, the Practical Guide to Fantasy Art includes step-by-step photographs that Boris and Julie have taken as they've worked as well as a selection of their finished art appealing to art students and fantasy-art admirers alike.

Photoshop Elements 8 for Windows: The Missing Manual

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