Finishing a Watercolor Figure
Here I show how I started with a pen and ink line drawing and watercolor of an exaggerated figure, and created an interesting striped effect using Autodesk Sketchbook, then used iColorama to add drama.
I made this quick study in Autodesk Sketchbook. I started with a pen sketch. On a new layer below the pen sketch layer, I used a paintbrush to paint the skin. On a new layer above the pen sketch layer, I used a small black paintbrush to color in her hair. Then I filled the bottom layer with purple color.
Based on my study, I made this watercolor, starting with a pencil sketch, which I drew over with a black pen. Then I painted her with watercolor. Size is approximately 10x7”.
I continued working on the watercolor painting, adding blue and purple washes in the background, but I didn’t like the result at all. So instead, I imported the painting into Autodesk Sketchbook. On a new layer above the layer with the watercolor painting, I painted a background using a color related to those in the figure.
On a new layer above the other layers, I used a pale yellow streaky pastel brush to paint soft highlights on the right side (viewer’s right) of the face and body, using a color lighter than but related to those in the image, and adjusting the size of the brush as I went. I lowered the layer opacity until the effect looked natural.
On a new layer above the other layers, I used a dark streaky pastel brush to paint shadows in the lower part of the image. I chose a dark color related to those in the image. Then I used one of the colorless brushes to smooth and smear it a bit. I changed the layer blending mode to Multiply, which I like to use when adding shadows, for the most natural effect, and I reduced the layer opacity to lessen the effect.
On a new layer above the previous layer, I again painted with the same color streaky brush, but in a smaller part of the bottom of the image. I changed the layer blending mode to Multiply, and I adjusted the layer opacity until the shadow looked natural. I used a soft eraser to erase part of this shadow where it covered the legs, as I didn’t want them to get too dark.
On a new layer above the previous layer, I again painted with the same color streaky brush, but in a much smaller part of the bottom of the image, to represent the cast shadow of the body. I changed the layer blending mode to Multiply, and I adjusted the layer opacity until the shadow looked natural.
On a new layer above the previous layer, I again painted with the same color streaky brush, but just in those small tight areas where the body touches the floor. I changed the layer blending mode to Multiply, and I adjusted the layer opacity until the shadow looked natural.
On a new layer above the other layers, I used a pale yellow pen to draw fine vertical lines.
I chose a cool white color to paint color in the stripes. Then I undid that and on the same layer as the stripes, I used the Fill tool to fill in alternate stripes with the cool white color, which is much faster than painting.
After filling the stripes with color, I reduced the layer opacity a bit and used the HSL layer adjustment to make the white a cooler bluish white.
I tried different blending modes and ended up changing the layer blending mode to Hue, which gave this cool effect.
Now I went back to the mustard-color background layer. I used the HSL layer adjustment to change the layer color to a teal color.
I added a new layer above all the other layers. I used a large airbrush to paint soft pale yellow diagonals from the upper right to the bottom left of the image, as if denoting a light source. I changed the layer blending mode to Soft Light for a more natural effect. I saved the image to my camera roll.
I opened the image in iColorama. I wanted to create more tonal separation and contrast to make more drama. I used Adjust/EQ2 preset 2 at low opacity, which increases tonal separation. Then I used Effect/Glow preset 1 at low opacity, which increases contrast as well as smoothes a bit of the surface texture.
The body has a watercolor texture because it was painted on watercolor paper, while the background has the flat affect of a digital painting. To unify the textures, I used Style/Water2 preset 1 at low to medium opacity. (At the present time, there is a bug in iColorama whereby when you go to Style/Water2 it doesn’t automatically apply the first preset to the preview image. The workaround is to select preset 2, then select preset 1, to see the preview of preset 1.) then, because Style/Water2 reduces the dynamic range of the image, I used Adjust/Levels and moved the Min Input slider slightly to the left, to add contrast. Then I used Effect/Sharpen preset 4 at a small radius to sharpen the image.
Next I used Tone/Duotone preset 1 at almost full opacity in Multiply mode. I generally use Duotone in Multiply mode at very low opacity when I want to tone the shadows, but here it produced a dramatic effect at higher opacity. It really made those stripes look like metallic gold was painted onto her body, and increases the 3D feel of the image.
I could really stop here, but I decided to try a border effect. I used Preset/Border preset 7 at highest radius, lowest blur, and medium opacity. This increases the feeling of watercolor paper.
