 |
Photoshop Hard-edged Airbrush, Page 1 of 3
By Liz Chesterman
I don't often use the ultra-smooth technique of coloring with the airbrush
in Photoshop, simply because it's too smooth. This technique uses the airbrush
with a harder edge on it.
Page 1 (Page 2) (Page
3)
The character featured, Fyre Uni, is copyright/property of Kelly
Meeks.
(images will open in a new window, and load in that same window)
| I start with a simple sketch. First a quick pose, then refining that
pose and adding clothing. Sketching is done with the pencil tool at 72dpi
for speed. |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| With the airbrush tool on a low opacity (10-20%), and
my tablet settings on vary opacity and size I sketch in the ring of
fire. This I will use as a guide to lighting on the character, and overall
direction for later when I finish the ring. |
 |
|
I use the magic wand with antialias unchecked to select the tail,
then CTRL+J to promote that to a new layer, and lock (preserve transparency).
With the airbrush on vary opacity only, I use a medium sized brush
with a hardness around 70% to sculpt in dark areas of the tail, then
go back to 'sharpen' with a lighter color, then use screen to add
highlights.
|
 |
 |
 |
|
Alas, I do not like how the tail looks, so I start over, but with
the brush a bit softer.
This time the tail looks to soft.. like clay or bad 3D modeling.
My brush settings were softer this time, and I used the push tool.
So I scratch this version too, and decide to move on.
I'll come back to the tail again later.
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
go to page 2
FARP Article Guestbook
| Date | Name | Comment | | | 24 Jan 2004 | Legolas his girlfriend | PLEAS PLEAS PLEAS tell me where i can get PHOTOSHOP, e-mail me : stefkelevels@hotmail.com | |
| 10 Apr 2004 | Anonymous | Hmm. You're talented with the airbrush, but you certainly can't write a tutorial. | |
| 1 Jul 2004 | Ren <rens_email@yah...au> | Those who can, do. Those who can't, criticise. That refers to Anonymous up there... I think it's an awesome tutorial - well out of my league, but a great lesson in colour! | |
| 29 Apr 2005 | Person | Would have to agree with Ren, fine tutorial for any1 with any knowledge of photoshop and skill as an artist....sadly enough its not ment for people lacking such skills like anonymous | |
| 12 Sep 2005 | Julia Doering | I really liked how you did the fire rings and tried the method on one of my comics. It turned out as an improvement, so thank you very much for the help! | |
| 4 Feb 2006 | PyroBlitz | Wow, this is very helpful to use... makes CGing things a lot easier then it appears. Thank you very much for the tutorial! | |
| 3 Mar 2006 | Anonymous | I love legolas. | |
| 25 Jun 2006 | Anonymous | I was wondering what Photoshop version you used... because I can't find 'airbrush' anywhere in mine! does paintbrush work in the same way? thanks for the awesome tutorial! | |
| 29 Jul 2006 | OB1Knobby <mrknobby@com...net> | I don't know about what version was used here. But in PhotoShop CS if you choose the Paint brush tool, Then, if you haven't changed your layout, in the upper-left corner you can click the down arrow and change your preset to airbrush. Also, on the right side you'll see "Brushes, Tool Presets, and Layer Comps" as tabs. There are a TON of brush styles in there. | |
| 20 Sep 2007 | Anonymous | Tried to changed the hardness, but dont know why the Hardness bar disappeared under Master Diameter!
Can anyone tell me how to fix this? | |
| Page: [1] 2 |

Back to the FARP main page.
The collection of art and writing tutorials in the Elfwood Fantasy Art Resource (F.A.R.P.) is a part of Elfwood. The FARP logo was created by Miguel Krippahl (The muscular guy in the FARP-logo) and Thomas F Abrahamsson (The text and general graphic design). Those sections written by volunteers are copyrighted to Thomas Abrahamsson and the respective writer. Elfwood is a project created by Thomas Abrahamsson. All rights reserved. Unauthorized Reproduction of the graphics, writings, and materials on these pages is absolutely prohibited! You may consider all material on these pages protected and copyrighted, unless otherwise noted. You may NOT use the images found at the FARP or Elfwood pages on your home pages! All of these images are copyright protected! Everything you see here represent the collaborative effort of the Elfwood community and Thomas Abrahamsson. Please read the Legal Disclaimer for more info on warranties/etc for these pages!
|
 |