Had the pleasure of working with Nate Wells and Ken Levine on this image. Spent about 4-5 days total adding more and more signage trying to push for a feeling of life and energy they were going for in Columbia.

PROCESS/MATERIALS:

ASUS Piece of Shit N53S Series / Wacom Intuos 4 Tablet / Photoshop CS6

My amazing hosts took me to cozy glass walled house in the Columbian countryside. It was raining hard when we started but it let up towards the end of the day and a bit of sun was able to start lighting the clouds and ground. With digital it’s relatively easy to change the lighting and color on a moments notice assuming your layers are well organized. 3 hours in the field and another 2 at home adding subtle gradients and making subtle color tweaks using the curves tool. I feel like in general, shapes can be stylized a lot but color often has to stay VERY accurate to feel real.

A higher rez version with a full tutorial series coming soon! 

Photoshop CS6 trying my darndest to copy Jaime Jones. Some of his most recent images from “Destiny” the new Bungie game caused me to cry myself to sleep… For Tyrion, I painted the hair over twice, it got too fussy the first time. Started with a quick line sketch, something I rarely do but should more often, and then did everything on almost one layer except the eyes and pupils which which were a separate layer and clipping mask. The shape of those where my anchor for the image. I blended their edges later and overall started with a vivid red orange underpainting. Towards the last %20 I started making tweaks ALL on separate layers as a lot of it was experimenting with stuff I wanted the option to change.

PROCESS/MATERIALS:

ASUS N53s / Wacom Intuos 4 Tablet / Photoshop CS6 Extended

2 hours in the field

After a little wander around the city the only place where nobody was going to stop to ask questions turned out to be on the parking structure roof by Chinatown

Last outdoor Landscape painting class of the year! We head out to Malibu on a chilly afternoon. 3 hours in the field, no at home touch ups. I think it looks a bit clumsy and unrefined but I’m just personally aroused by the rock details that I would never have time to include in that time frame. Started with black and white silhouettes with Daniels as always. Put down vivid versions of the shadow colors in each layers, bright magentas and purples, and then painted the true color on a clipping mask on each layer allowing the vivid underpainting layers show through.

Some people have asked how I decide what colors to use for the underpainting. I pick most vivid version of the color I “sense” in the shadows of a given layer. Notice how the colors are super saturated but they still get cooler as the layers go back, the reason being because the vivid version of the shadow colors also got cooler as it went back. It’s not an exact science but something to think about:) Brushes found at the brushes tab above!

After 7 detailed videos on every aspect of the process of doing a digital painting from life, (or photo) we can put this bad boy to rest. Stay thirsty my friends. Remember brushes are found at the top of the page under the yellow “Brushes” tab. Always feel free to email me or comment on things you would like to see covered next! shaddysafadi@yahoo.com

I don’t think there are plans for a Sequel, but after walking out of that movie I felt the strong desire for a continuation of the story in the form of a superhero movie where that kid takes over the world! Below I’ve also included some photos that show the unbelievable amount of cheating that goes on in creating an image like this and a very embarrassing photo bash that shows my bad but very informative block in of the initial idea. Not a lot of people know that often realistic concepts are not drawn, but collaged from what is available, and then finessed into a readable image.

The first of 3 images done for the Official Prototyope 2 film “The Power of Revenge” Watch the completed video here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FmMidL8KUOE It’s interesting to notice the things that stayed the same and the things that changed in the final but this was the first of a series of image we did to establish the tone of the short.

This second image is a collection of comps done to find our shot. All except the upper right were started with screen grabs from google earth. BELIEVE IT! Google earth has full 3-D models of many major cities around the world. Client wants a shot that looks like the lower west side? FLY THERE! I included the raw Google Earth snap on the bottom right.

A landscape painting at Bluff Cove in Palos Verdes CA that came home and became a concept. I will let yaul figure out which part is made up;) 2 hours in the field, 10 hours at home. It seems that the most important element to get in the field is the color because it’s the thing that the camera has the hardest time replicating. Our eye is a thousand time more sensitive than a camera and sometimes we can feel the faintest whif of a color and decide to exaggerate it. If you compare that to the photo of this exact same spot, that subtle color that begged for exaggeration is nowhere to be found. A breakdown of this process is coming soon!

Very grateful to be selected by Into the Pixel for their show at E3! All selected works can be found here: http://www.intothepixel.com/

Snippit their Official Site:

“The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences (AIAS) and the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) are pleased to announce the 16 winning pieces of the esteemed 2012 Into the Pixel (ITP) collection.  Now in its ninth year, ITP is a juried art exhibition that brings together experts from the traditional fine art world and the interactive entertainment industry to display and discuss the art of the video game.  The 2012 Into the Pixel art collection will be unveiled and presented at the annual E3 in the Los Angeles Convention Center from June 5-7, 2012 at the Concourse Foyer.”

A retinue of rag tag barbarians try to get to their secret island hideout during a storm! Trying to push a more cartoony style with the characters while keeping the environment somewhat realistically textured and colored.

Some colleagues and I were lucky enough to be featured in the June 2012 issue of Imagine FX regarding our recent plein air trip to the Italian and French Alps. pick up the issue here:

http://www.imaginefx.com/02287754330940030870/imaginefx-83.html

or at Barnes and Noble. I’ve attached a snippet from the issue below. A special thanks to Ian Dean from Imagine FX for putting the article together.

PROCESS/MATERIALS:

ASUS N53S / Wacom Intuos 4 Tablet / Photoshop CS5

The Dominator Shipwreck in Palos Verdes. An incredible broken down cargo ship that crashed on the coast and was too bulky and costly to move, so they left it! 3 hrs in the field, 4 hrs at home.

PROCESS/MATERIALS:

ASUS N53s / Wacom Intuos 4 Tablet / Photoshop CS5

Las Virgenes off of Stunt Road in Malibu / 3 hours in the fields, 2 hours at home.

Worked for a year of Pre-Production on Naughty Dog’s new game changing (literally;) franchise!

http://kotaku.com/5868306/the-first-art-from-the-last-of-us/gallery/1

PROCESS/MATERIALS:

Dell Inspiron 1525 / Wacom Intuos 4 Tablet / Photoshop CS5

Arroyo Seco Creek in Pasadena. Picked this composition based on only on the fact that I wanted to sit next to a creek for 2 hours:)

PROCESS/MATERIALS:

Dell Inspiron 1525 / Wacom Intuos 4 Tablet / Photoshop CS5

The second painting of the day of Sella Pass in the Italian Alps. 2 hours in the field, 2 hours at home adding details and working on edges.

PROCESS/MATERIALS:

Dell Inspiron 1525 / Wacom Intuos 4 Tablet / Photoshop CS5

One of those mindnumbingly pleasant locations that you only see in movies and retrospect didn’t really sink in at the time. Tried to focus on not adding too much detail but at the same time indicating all the Ivy. Noticed from looking at Richard Schmidt paintings that he makes each window a visually different shape and size to break them up, tried to copy that. Also removed some boats in the foreground to simplify on Eytan’s recommendation:) 2 hours in the field

PROCESS/MATERIALS:

Dell Inspiron 1525 / Wacom Intuos 4 Tablet / Photoshop CS5

From the snow bank on one walkway looking onto the real badasess who traverse these mountains for fun. I think I would need a new set of knees for these kinds of shenanigans! This was painted with the usual process, black and erased white block in with some juicy brushes applied to locked layers and then a little edge blending and overpainting at the end with the mixer brush tool in CS5. 2 hours in the field.

Also as I side note I have to give it up to my Dell Inspirion 1525. Bought 6 years ago brand new for $500 intended for checking email only, it’s turned out to be fast and reliable enough to withstand any outdoor condition, temperature and constant battering and 3k files with ease. I could do every professional and personal project on this, what would be considered “junker” laptop, and it’s still ticking … Well done DELL and Windows 7!

PROCESS/MATERIALS:

Dell Inspiron 1525 / Wacom Intuos 4 Tablet / Photoshop CS5

Another fast second painting of the day, this time from the warmth of the cafe rather than the -3 celcius outside. The challenge I’m trying tackle with this kind of montain vista is how to indicate the scale of the little snow bits without having it look noisy (like it does in real life) and keep the painterly style. 1 hour in the field

PROCESS/MATERIALS:

Dell Inspiron 1525 / Wacom Intuos 4 Tablet / Photoshop CS5

Our second painting of that day and were losing light fast! 1 hour in the field.

PROCESS/MATERIALS:

Dell Inspiron 1525 / Wacom Intuos 4 Tablet / Photoshop CS5

A purely delightful 2 painting day, The first was at this drive-able mountain pass in the Italian Alps. Everywhere you looked hurt your face from sheer awesomeness, 3 hours in the field.

PROCESS/MATERIALS:

Dell Inspiron 1525 / Wacom Intuos 4 Tablet / Photoshop CS5

Sat down for second painting after the first was a epic fail. A lot of looky-loos on this this one. Makes me think we should start putting out a hat and make some cash-money in the process:) 2 hours in the field.

PROCESS/MATERIALS:

Dell Inspiron 1525 / Wacom Intuos 4 Tablet / Photoshop CS5

First plein air I’ve done from a plane window:) On our 9 hour flight from LA to Milan. Clouds were passed way to fast to paint but I tried to half make up something using the same colors. 2 hours in the sky:)

PROCESS/MATERIALS:

Dell Inspiron 1525 / Wacom Intuos 4 Tablet / Photoshop CS5

Had about a 7 minute window when the sun was like this and I happened to be at the point in the painting where I could get it in real quick. There were about 5 other sun situations that were equally epic in a 60 minute span, damn you crappy iphone camera. 3 hrs in the field.

PROCESS/MATERIALS:

Dell Inspiron 1525 / Wacom Intuos 4 Tablet / Photoshop CS5

A couple spent 2 hours fighting and sobbing outside this house when we were there… but it was too late to move:) Tried a more clean graphic technique for this image. When there is a architecture like this I feel like it lends itself to the line tool, but then you lose painterlyness. Then again I don’t mind leveraging photoshop to do what photoshop does best… lines:) – 3hrs in the field.

PROCESS/MATERIALS:

Dell Inspiron 1525 / Wacom Intuos 4 Tablet / Photoshop CS5

An easy 30 minute hike to the falls. Got the colors blocked in on location and did most of the painting love at home. Trying to channel a new artist I found named Dorje Bellbrook who has some amazing digital landscapes deep in his blog. 3 hours in the field, 3 hours at home.

PROCESS/MATERIALS:

Dell Inspiron 1525 / Wacom Intuos 4 Tablet / Photoshop CS5

Painting of the Palisades cliffs. Working on keeping brushwork loose and descriptive. 3 hours in the field.

PROCESS/MATERIALS:

Dell Inspiron 1525 / Wacom Intuos 4 Tablet / Photoshop CS5

2 hours and 3 dollars of donations to homeless people… we didn’t dare venture far past the entrance of Famina. Working on simplifying shapes and going for a feeling of the place rather than an accurate depiction.

PROCESS/MATERIALS:

Dell Inspiron 1525 / Wacom Intuos 4 Tablet / Photoshop CS5

Mandeville Canyon in Santa Monica, 3 hours in the field and 2 hours in the Studio. Made the mistake of painting the shapes how I wanted them to be lit instead of finding something with the lighting I wanted… so I had to fudge the colors quite a bit to make the initial b/w comp work.

PROCESS/MATERIALS:

Dell Inspiron 1525 / Wacom Intuos 4 Tablet / Photoshop CS5

Our 3rd trip to Point Dume in Malibu trying to make some sense out of the complicated and noisy rock shapes. 3 hours in the field 1 hour at home.

PROCESS/MATERIALS:

Dell Inspiron 1525 / Wacom Intuos 4 Tablet / Photoshop CS5

Another painting from our 8 day Utah painting trip. Angel’s Landing in Zion National Park done on location. 2 hours in the field, 2 hours at home.

PROCESS/MATERIALS:

Dell Inspiron 1525 and Custom Built Desktop PC / Wacom Intuos 4 Tablet and 21ux Cintiq / Photoshop CS5

A great show at my friend Jung Park’s new concepting school, Red Engine Studios. The project was to do a piece that had something to do with a Red Train. 4 days to complete.

PROCESS/MATERIALS:

Dell Inspiron 1525 / Wacom Intuos 4 Tablet / Photoshop CS5

Participated in a TED talk on Saturday done by my friend and colleague Nick Pugh. He did an amazing lecture on digital life painting and the future of plein air painting. And a bunch of us did live paintings for the show. 45 minutes in the field.

PROCESS/MATERIALS:

Dell Inspiron 1525 / Wacom Intuos 4 Tablet / Photoshop CS5

The last painting of our 8-day outdoor Painting Trip, Dead Horse Point. One of the most magestic places we have ever setup, 2hrs in the field 3 hrs in the studio.

PROCESS/MATERIALS:

Dell Inspiron 1525 / Wacom Intuos 4 Tablet / Photoshop CS5

The first painting of an 8 day painting trip to Zion and Utah. This piece was at the top of the Emerald Pools hike in Zion. 3 hrs in the field 1 hr at home.

PROCESS/MATERIALS:

Dell Inspiron 1525 / Wacom Intuos 4 Tablet / Photoshop CS5

On our way to a long abandoned WWII era Nazi Commune off the Rustic Canyon Trail in Santa Monica, we came across this old barn and stopped in for a paint. A truly spectacular place of ruin. Once again starting with a blockish black brush and looking at what’s there but taking some liberty with the light shapes to make them fit pleasingly on the page with JUST black and JUST white, no greys. Then doing the painting based almost exactly on this initial composition. 2hrs. in the field.

PROCESS/MATERIALS:

Dell Inspiron 1525 / Wacom Intuos 4 Tablet / Photoshop CS5

Up Cheney Trail Road in Pasadena, we stopped for this city vista. The clouds were moving quite a bit casting great pools of light over the landscape but my main goal was to try to capture the feeling of distance without getting too fiddly with the details. 2hrs in the field

PROCESS/MATERIALS:

Dell Inspiron 1525 / Wacom Intuos 4 Tablet / Photoshop CS5

Starting with just black and white is really helping to decide what is important and what is superfluous in the initial sketch. The critical thing for me has been using a solid blockish brush and painting in and erasing out until the light shapes are fresh looking and nicely arranged. The balance of the composition is much easier to assess right at the beginning when working this way. 2.5 hours in the field, 1 hour at home adding details and color correcting.

PROCESS/MATERIALS:

Dell Inspiron 1525 / Wacom Intuos 4 Tablet / Photoshop CS5

2 hrs in the field focusing on keeping the shapes loose as long as possible. Started with a black and white block in to figure out the main light shapes. Used custom shapes from a different file for about 70%, overpainted the last 30%

PROCESS/MATERIALS:

Dell Inspiron 1525 / Wacom Intuos 4 Tablet / Photoshop CS5

Started very crisp and went back in with the new CS5 mixer brush tool to blend some edges. 2 hrs in the field, 1 hour at home softening edges.

PROCESS/MATERIALS:

Dell Inspiron 1525 / Wacom Intuos 4 Tablet / Photoshop CS5

Going back to some old techniques. Started of by blocking it out in black and white (no greys) which really helped establish the composition. Painted the water in 3-4 layers making sure to keep the reflection shapes separate from the underlying water color and spending a long time stylizing the reflection shapes. Used the line and lasso tool for most of the dock and building. 2hrs in the field and 4 hours at home working on the building details.

PROCESS/MATERIALS:

Dell Inspiron 1525 / Wacom Intuos 4 Tablet / Photoshop CS5

Experimenting more with using pre-made shapes that can be stamped and rotated around to make other shapes. 3hrs in the field on Catalina Island