Beginner’s Guide to Digital Painting in Photoshop is a new series dedicated to providing a comprehensive guide to the basics of digital painting in this versatile program. Whether you’re new to this artistic medium or simply looking to improve existing skills, this book offers up a wealth of suggestions and advice to get you started, improve workflows, perfect techniques, and produce stunning images.
The step-by-step tutorials within this book don’t just describe techniques, but actively demonstrate how these techniques can be applied to an artwork. Industry veterans including Nykolai Aleksander and Richard Tilbury share the benefits of their years of experience in a clear and methodical fashion. They examine the various basic Photoshop tools on offer, shedding light on these features and establishing ways of successfully integrating them into an artistic workflow. Fundamental art theory is also covered, including classic topics such as composition, story-telling, portraying emotion, lighting, and color, leading to a thorough understanding of the components that make up a successful image.
Instructive and inspirational, Beginner’s Guide to Digital Painting in Photoshop is an ideal resource for anyone taking their first steps into the digital painting world.
Nykolai Aleksander is a UK-based freelance character illustrator and portrait painter, who has been working in the CG field for the past eight years.
Richard Tilbury is a freelance artist from the United Kingdom who works in both 2D and 3D and has been featured in a number of popular publications.
ASIN : 0955153077
Publisher : 3DTotal Publishing
Publication date : January 31, 2012
Edition : SLP
Language : English
Print length : 224 pages
ISBN-10 : 9780955153075
ISBN-13 : 978-0955153075
Item Weight : 2.25 pounds
Dimensions : 11.5 x 0.25 x 8 inches
Best Sellers Rank: #2,997,913 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #340 in Adobe Photoshop #836 in Digital Art #1,962 in Illustration and Graphic Design
Customer Reviews: 4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars (332) var dpAcrHasRegisteredArcLinkClickAction; P.when(‘A’, ‘ready’).execute(function(A) { if (dpAcrHasRegisteredArcLinkClickAction !== true) { dpAcrHasRegisteredArcLinkClickAction = true; A.declarative( ‘acrLink-click-metrics’, ‘click’, { “allowLinkDefault”: true }, function (event) { if (window.ue) { ue.count(“acrLinkClickCount”, (ue.count(“acrLinkClickCount”) || 0) + 1); } } ); } }); P.when(‘A’, ‘cf’).execute(function(A) { A.declarative(‘acrStarsLink-click-metrics’, ‘click’, { “allowLinkDefault” : true }, function(event){ if(window.ue) { ue.count(“acrStarsLinkWithPopoverClickCount”, (ue.count(“acrStarsLinkWithPopoverClickCount”) || 0) + 1); } }); });
Seitora –
Great purchase, not only for beginners
Received this book this week and I must say I am thoroughly happy with it. As I expected from the preview I’ve seen on 3DTotalPublishing’s site, this book is not only intended for those just beginning to learn about painting in Photoshop, but instead presents rendering techniques valuable even for professional artists, like some of the artists presenting this book state(for example Kekai Kotaki from ArenaNet’s “Guild Wars” and Daarken). Still, if you’re looking for a more images-filled type of book this is not the one for you, since it goes in-depth providing a lot of written information and just the necessary amount of imagery. Each chapter of the main parts is written and illustrated by an artist who presents his own approach, but following the matter of study. You will also be provided with a reminder inside the book to download the accompanying resources for the tutorials in this book from 3DTotalPublishing’s site(there you can also see a small format full preview for this book)The book starts off with the basics: presenting the Photoshop workspace, optimizing it for your own needs and in accordance to your computer’s resources, introducing the main features such as working with colors, brushes, textures, blending modes, how to establish composition, perspective and basic tonal values, using photographs for texturing or as matte painting bases, working with masks, wand tool, filters and more. Great insight for beginners and medium-level users of PS.It continues with art fundamentals, where you will find a more in-depth presentation of what makes a painting good or great. Lighting, value, color, composition, perspective and depth, portraying emotions in your character or landscape and even storytelling. You will learn about the Fibonacci number and his “golden ratio”, different types of perspective and much more. A very insightful chapter with extended text supported by just the right amount of images, as with the rest of this book.A “complete project” chapter follows then, basically presenting you with the creation of a finished piece of digital painting using all the info previously presented in the book. Take it as a revision of some sorts, combined with an in-depth, step-by-step tutorial. Great for evaluating your own learning speed and process.The book goes on to hands down type of practice, showing you how to create speed paintings dealing with SF character and landscapes, paint your piece using only tonal values of grays and only afterwards apply the color glazes, how to create a finished piece using elements of photos and combining them with digital painting – a technique known as matte painting, widely used in feature films’ concept design -, and finally how to tackle fantasy landscapes, in this case an eery skull-canyon-like view overlooking a river and waterfall. Starting with this chapter and continuing until further you will probably see how the pages at which you find certain chapters don’t coincide anymore with the pages given in the Contents page. Or at least that’s how it is in my own copy’s case.The “Project overviews” chapter deals once again with step-by-step processes of different artists’ finished pieces. Again the emphasis is more on text, but you get a decent amount of images also. Personally I appreciate the written part more, since it allows one to use the given techniques in his or her own way, without the pressure to make the final piece as likely in style as the artist’s work.”Quick tips” is an extremely well-made chapter in my opinion, presenting you with short and concise “how to” approaches on different tricky elements, such as trees, sandstorms, smoke, underwater, skin, make something look wet, all those detail things which make a painting come alive.And finally the “Breakdown gallery” is the major eye-candy part of this book for those who were looking forward to it, you basically get step-by-step kind of tutorials containing only 5 images each – including the finished artwork -, so it’s up to you to pay attention and observe since you don’t get any text accompanying them. However, after a book packed full of text and information, you should be able to analyse and decipher what and how each artist used in every step in order to achieve the final result.And that’s about it. All in all a great book which offers you all the necessary information without cluttering too many pictures, allowing you to use the given tips in your own way and creating your own image, not just style-copies. Definitely worth its money and then some.
Warren Rawlings –
I bought this to train OLD software- PERFECT!
I bought this book used for $20.00 or so and it came in a nice stylized plastic case. The plastic case had a class at the seam so it was not in perfect condition but the book was in VERY good (or better) condition.I’m working off of some old software, Adobe CS software from 2012 or so (this review was written in OCT 2022). This is an old book and I didn’t want the book to constantly be making reference to features that I didn’t have access to with my CS version of Photoshop. It fits me and my software almost perfectly. They weren’t in perfect sync, but I am happy. Beautiful detailed Photoshop book that was directed specifically to the subject matter I wanted. I’m the only owner of my old software and it still works on my Windows 10 Laptop.I’m an artist, making art for my own stuff (I make art off of the adventures of my D&D Group) – so I’m not going pro, but with a Modern Laptop and a drawing tablet- you can have some awesome control over your art and this is the right book for me!
Valorie –
Excellent book for digital painting
This is a great book about the fundamentals of digital painting. Right now it is the best book for beginning to paint in Photoshop. The basics of setting up Photoshop and art principles are covered pretty well in the first part of the book. The color wheel and blending is covered quite well. Plus there is a great variety of techniques for painting things like clouds, skin, water and smoke, etc. The core things you need to know in order to paint digitally is handled well with this guide. The book itself is of high quality with numerous high quality images on thick pages. It comes with a nice plastic slipcover that protects the book.The only downsides would be that the book is mainly geared towards concept artist for video games and movies. So there are no real live model or still life studies. Also, the print may be a little small for some and I did see at least one inconsequential typo.All in all this is currently the definitive guide to learning how to paint in Photoshop. This book will of course not replace those two things that are essential to all artists, which is practice and experimentation but this book will guide you in the right direction more than others.
zekio309 –
Beautiful intro to Painting in Photoshop
break out your drawing tablets and get your Photoshop subscription. This book is a wonderful introductory into creating digital art in photoshop with tips and tricks from within the industry!I reduced a star since there is a version 2 out now and why not get more bang for your buck.
Modojo –
Great Book for Beginners
After my book arrived, I was excited to see what this book offered and what I can say is that this book is well worth the buy for beginners. The book provides fundamental information, from learning your work-space around Photoshop (I have CS4 but I was still able to navigate around PS regardless)to the techniques and the amount of practice that the book describes. Personally, the most interesting chapter of the book is speed painting which provides a way to speed paint (no pun intended) conceptual art. I appreciated fluid and form of each composition that is digitally painted to grab your attention on the amount of detail. Hence, this book is a great way for practicing that technique.The book may be a little short on techniques but that’s just minor problem for a beginner’s guide and that is where their other books come in handy. Moreover, it is a the 1st volume of the Beginner’s Guide series so there’s bound to be even more techniques and practice.Pros:+ Content+ Organization+ Comprehensive GuideCons:None.Overall, this book is a great way to get started on Digital Painting in Photoshop. A fully comprehensive step-by-step guide to help you become a good, if not better, digital painter.
J.C –
Compre este libro y el de Beginner’s Guide to Sketching: Characters, Creatures & Concepts; son muy buenos, lo recomiendo bastante.
Kirrie –
Also ich bin in Richtung Digital Painting noch Anfänger, aber schon ein kurzer Einblick sagt mir,dass das Buch sehr einfach verständlich und anfängerfreundlich ist. Auch die Fortgeschrittenen werden auf ihre Kosten kommen. Angefangen von den grundsätzlichsten Dinge wie Farblehre bis hin zu komplizierten Photoshop Anwendungen ist alles vorhanden und sehr übersichtlich. Mit vielen hochauflösenden Bildern geschmückt sind die einzelnen Schritte auch sehr gut nachvollziehbar und man muss keine Textwasserfälle fürchten.Außerdem ein + für die außergewöhnlich designierte transparente Schutzhülle. Sieht sehr professionel und edel aus!Alles drumm und drann ist es grad mein Lieblingsbuch bezüglich Digital Painting und ich würde es jedem herzlichst empfehlen!
Lucas Gust –
Que livro lindo, que embalagem! E que preço, saiu (pois peguei com promoção) por tão pouco, e visto a qualidade do material, por ser importado e por toda informação nele contida, um preço que vale muito a pena pagar, seja preço cheio ou com desconto! Ainda não li (chegou hoje), mas folheei e já quero me deleitar em toda sua erudição.
stephane benoit –
les images sont vraiment incroyable.
Diego –
Sin palabras, este libro vale cada céntimo que pagas por él (como casi todos los d 3dTotal)Uno de los mejores de 3D Total, sobre todo para los que quieren empezar con la pintura digital.Lo bueno de estos libros es que muestran técnicas usadas en la industria, ya que los que comparten sus conocimientos son artistas profesionales.