How to paint a wolf in 6 steps

 "Did he just watch me poop?" Step by step. Adobe Photoshop CS5 + Cintiq 12WX

I promised on my fb page to post a higher resolution of this little step by step thingie.

Painted this wolfie a few months ago and as I went through my archive of paintings on my harddrive..
I realized that I've actually saved all the steps :D

So here you gooooooo!
Use it and abuse it haha.


How it was done:

1. Rough sketch/linedrawing
2. Blocked in a simple shape with the lasso tool + blocking in colours
3. I add ze light! On a separate layer.
4. I start fleshing everything out.
5. I turn off the light-layer and start refining "everything underneath"
6. More refining, trying to balance everything out. And it's done!

Hope you found it helpful and have a super awesome weekend! :)



Saw that I got some new followers, So a big welcome to you as well!



- Andrea

Featured: Advanced Photoshop, issue 110

Feels like there's fun stuff happening all the time nowadays.

Just found an article about me in the latest issue of Advanced Photoshop(Sold worldwide, and you can find it at Pressbyrån if you're in Sweden).

15 artists got to share some tips and tricks, and I got the great opportunity to describe my workflow when I painted "The Wolf". Huge thanks for letting me be a part of that magazine!!

Even saw my online friend Victorior in there, make sure to check him out if you haven't seen his stuff yet! He's really talented and very friendly :)



Well what else is going oooon?

Tomorrow my 4 week long vacation from Netent starts.. Technically it starts tomorrow, but I've been "off duty" since thursday evening and all I've been doing is slacking :D

It's how I work. I either have to work 110% or do absolute nothing. No inbetweens.

Later I'll also be enjoying working on my personal art, but also do some freelancing though.
Still got at least one deadline to catch.



How are you spending your summer? Any vacations/projects fun plans ahead?




- Andrea

Two new illustrations - "The Wizard"

"The Wizard", Kamratposten. Photoshop CS5 + Cintiq 12WX + Wacom Intuos4

The latest issue of Kamratposten contains not only one, but TWO new illustrations painted by yours truly :)

Painted them earlier this spring, and as always, I had lots of fun working on them. I've mentioned this before, but these type of illustrations are definitely the ones that enjoy working on the most.

Normally, I get to illustrate the short stories written by kids- and teen readers, but this time the story was written by the author Katarina Gena!

Just sent off another fresh illustration to my Art Director, but that one will have to wait until it gets published.. hmm later this summer or fall I think :)

Hope you're havng an awesome weekend!

- Andrea

CGMA Academy, Lighting and Color Key for Production

I'm currently taking a class at CGMA Academy, studying Lighting and Color Key for Production with Mike Hernandez. I think he's at Dreamworks right now, and have been working on movies such as Shrek, to mention one. And he's my current teacher now!  Respect.

My first week is already over, and here's my first assignment!
We had to pick one of the still frames that he uploaded for us, and then make greyscale paintover using the lighting that was described underneath each image.

I picked a still frame from Kung Fu Panda, where I obviously had to turn a daytime frame into one with both moonlight and a dramatic underlighting upon the character himself.

Tried to keep it simple and easy to read, keeping the amount of detail rather low.
Fingers crossed that I got it right.


It's been fun so far though, and I'm looking forward to learn more from him :)


Anyone else studying at CGMA at the moment, or have been taking courses there?
Which classes did you attend?




- Andrea

How did I become an illustrator?

I recieved an e-mail a while back with some questions about my background as an illustrator, and how I became one. Thought that I could share my reply in this blog too :)



How did you become an illustrator?

Well, I've always loved to draw and paint and somehow.. I just naturally gravitated towards it. I'm self taught when it comes to art and haven't really taken any real class to become better.. Yet. Just been practicing since I was 2 years old, and just kept doing because it's so much fun! I think many people and fellow illustrators can relate to this :)

However, I do have a 2-year long education in 3D and digital graphics, where we had to do internships, and that's how I got a foot in the door.

Today I'm hired at a game studio as a concept artist, and I also have my own small company since I work as a freelancing illustrator/artist :)



What does your workflow look like?

My sketches are often very small and messy in the beginning. I rarely worry about making things pretty at such an early phase, the ideas are more important. I don't even use an eraser, since I believe more in repetition rather than starting to correct and polish things too early.

When I've found a funny idea, I either redraw the sketch  one more time to refine it a bit, or move on directly to Photoshop and redraw it from scratch. I never scan my sketches, since I'm too lazy and feels too time-consuming imo ;)

I start playing around, trying out rough colorschemes, and when I'm satisfied, that's when I start creating that pretty piece of art.

Here's a video showing how I sketch, and here's another video showing how I apply colors.



How do you approach companies/employers? 
Do you just submit your art to them?

Yeah, that's pretty much it. Make a nice portfolio, send it to companies/possible employers and say Hi. They probably won't buy your work that way, but they may want to hire you for their projects, if they like your work. That's how I did in the beginning, don't do that as often anymore though. I've been focusing on trying to put myself out there through posting my work online, so that the right people will see me. Hopefully :)


How do you get exposure?

By creating awesome stuff. Hang out at the most popular forums and communities out there, such as Conceptart.org, DeviantArt, Behance, Twitter, Facebook, CGhub, etc. Networking with fellow artists out there. Stay active and stay friendly :) And stay humble! Your work will never be perfect, and there are always things that can get improved. Enjoy the idea of practicing and learning new things all the time.

 
Is it a fun job? :D

YES :D It's very demanding, and I had to work superhard to get where i am today(still got so much to learn) and it can get very draining from time to time. But it's definitely worth every minute and I would never trade it for another job. It's a lifestyle for me, since I truly love to draw and paint. Nothing boosts me more than the actual thought of being able to create something out of.. Nothing. It all starts with a pen and a piece of paper. It's the coolest thing ever.



What's YOUR story? :) Feel free to share them!


- Andrea

"Lucky Season" is finally here!

My happy little collection so far :)

I save them all through the years. Just haven't figured out what to do with them yet...
They're starting to pile up :o



- Andrea

Work in Progress

 Work in progress. Photoshop CS5 & Cintiq 12WX

I always have ongoing personal projects brewing beside everything else. My brain NEVER rests ;)

These are two of those. Not sure what I'm gonna do with the lizard one. Toss or keep, toss or keep? Hm.  I dunno.


The tiger is fun to work on though! Been lying around for a while now, so I guess that I gotta put myself together and finish it up. It's sooooo close to be finished...
It looks finished when you squint, ha...


- Andrea

Work in Progress. Photoshop CS5 & Cintiq 12WX

How to draw a Horse in 8 steps

Made this little step by step thingie a while back. Pretty basic, and quite simple I hope :)

Here are the stepsssss:

1. Rough thumb sketch
2. Refined thumb
3. Linedrawing
4. Color & layer block in.
5. Time to paint!
6. More painting
7. Adding details, and finalizing the mane and tail
8. Finished!

That's it! Now go draw a little horsie :D
It's definitely my favorite subject to draw. I draw them all the time, and some of my colleagues even banned me from doing that at work, since I always end up scribbling cute bouncy little horsies during my short breaks inbetween tasks. No hard feelings, they just want me to challenge myself and draw some other things once in a while.

What can I do, I just LOVE them ;)
Try to stop meh!


- Andrea

Golden Fox

Almost forgot about this one.

I made this hmmm... About a month ago I think.
Started out as a mindless sketch, not really serving any purpose. It still gained a lot of attention on fb, I've never EVER recieved that many likes on my work there. Ever.

Dunno what happened. I guess it was plain coincidence and timing :)


Oh and a Happy Birthday to me!
Feels a bit strange every year.



- Andrea

Others tutorials: greyscale to color

There are so many resources of inspiriation and tutorials everywhere nowadays, can't hardly keep up with everything.

I'm too lazy to create an account on Pinterest, so I'm gonna start gather some of my favorite links and tutorials on this blog, just so I can have them all in one place. And why not sharing it with you guys as well? Many of you have probably seen them before, but I'll highlight them anyway ;)

I'm gonna start with linking to tutorials showing how to apply colors to a greyscale paintings.




Color + Overlay Tutorial by Dave Rapoza



Sycra made an interesting video about understanding color and value.


Matt Kohr has also made an interesting video, that could be applied to greyscale sketches.


Here's another one from Clint Clearley! Tip from the comments section - Thank you! :)


I may have a few others in mind as well, which I can't remember at the moment. I'll add them later!
Do you know any other tutorials showing how to color greyscale pantings? 
Please share, I'd love to see them :)


- Andrea