i-m-a-g-i-n-efx-august

Your questions answered...
Question
I want to paint a fantastical amphibian – where do I start?
Jessica Eisenhauer, US
Answer
Belinda replies
Amphibians come in all
shapes and sizes, and also
in a variety of textures.
Some are slimy and slick,
while others are warty and rough,
making them a challenge to design
and paint. Finding the right reference
is crucial for expanding your visual
library and getting the anatomy right.
And because amphibians live in all
sorts of environments, the habitat will
help to inform your design.
In this quick painting, I’ve tried to
design a fantastical toad that’s both
rough and smooth, in order to show
how I might tackle the various
textures. I decided early on that it lives
on the ground, in a dark rainforest
environment where it uses its glowing
tail and throat to lure prey and signal
for a mate. I prefer to imagine as much
information as I can about the
animal’s behaviour and evolution,
because it makes the design process
much easier. I also like to do a few
preliminary studies of similar animals
to familiarise myself with forms and
shapes before designing my own.
I try to keep my textures varied across
the surface of the toad, using smooth highlights
on the tail and pocked highlights on the warts.
I use various adjustment layers over
flat colours to build up lighting and
texture, while keeping my marks
loose and random to emulate the
patterns seen in nature.
Artist’s secret
Do sketch studies!
When designing a creature, I like to do
quick sketch studies of similar animals
to build up my visual library. It’s also
a great place to start the design process
by iterating over your sketches.
Step-by-step: Concept and illustrate a fantasy toad
I want to paint a colourful, textured
1
forest toad with a fantasy twist, so
I start by laying down flat colours over a
simple sketch. By only using flat colours
at this stage, I’m able to freely experiment
with various colours and shapes without
worrying about the form.
Your lighting choices are important
2
because they’ll help to make your
textures feel more tactile. Here, I use
strong directional lighting to introduce
contrast for the details that I’ll be adding
later. I use a couple of adjustment layers
to paint in large light and shadow shapes.
I use an additional Hue/Saturation
3
adjustment layer to add warty
textures over the surface of the toad
while keeping the marks random.
I experiment with various blending modes
before settling on Screen mode to give a
slightly matte feel to the surface.
August 2017
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