{"id":804,"date":"2016-01-28T18:34:01","date_gmt":"2016-01-29T02:34:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.ansatejones.com\/?p=804"},"modified":"2016-01-28T18:34:01","modified_gmt":"2016-01-29T02:34:01","slug":"digital-portraiture-or-how-i-painted-neko-case-pt-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/ansatejones.com\/blog\/2016\/01\/28\/digital-portraiture-or-how-i-painted-neko-case-pt-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Digital Portraiture, or How I Painted Neko Case Pt. 2"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Neko<\/a>

Neko Case, Austin City Limits 2014, reference provided by Scott Newton.<\/p><\/div>\n

Welcome back to my three-part tutorial on digital portraiture, using my most recent Neko Case piece. For those just joining, here’s some links to catch you up:<\/p>\n

–\u00a0Part 1<\/a><\/h3>\n

–\u00a0Timelapse Video<\/a><\/h3>\n

Now onto Part 2 where I discuss the preparation I go through, including reference photos and settings. While these steps might seem tedious, they’re super-important to save a lot of frustration later on.<\/p>\n

\"No,

No, really. You will.<\/p><\/div>\n

Picking a Subject<\/h2>\n

When I was learning how to draw I exclusively used photo references. I was later told that the only way to really draw something well is to draw it while it’s in front of you, like a portrait sitting or still life. I disagree with this; to me they’re two different methods, each with their own pros and cons. A lot of time it just comes down to necessity. I obviously wasn’t able to get Neko Case to sit down for a portrait so I had to draw from a picture. But which picture?<\/p>\n

Obviously we should pick a composition that appeals to us, or cobble something together from several different pictures to create our own. Another criterion is quality; we can certainly draw from a crappy, out-of-focus, low-res photo but we’ll get better results the more details we have to work with.<\/p>\n

I specifically wanted to do a picture of Neko that wasn’t promotional, because I wanted her to look real. For concerts she doesn’t get all made up and actually looks the age she is today, which is amazing and inspirational in this day and age. She’s a musician, not a model. I picked this concert photo by Scott Newton because I really liked the colors and composition, and Neko looks pretty badass in it.<\/p>\n

\"Photo

Photo by Scott Newton.<\/p><\/div>\n

Document Settings<\/h2>\n

If you want to be able to make prints of your work later, it’s important to choose the right settings when creating your file. Making sure that your picture will be large enough, that the<\/p>\n

I set my resolution to at least 300 ppi and my size to 16 x 20 inches.<\/p>\n

Saving the file as a psd or tif with layers and no compression<\/a> are good options for preserving all the details in your picture without pixelization. Later you can save as a jpg to share on the web or upload to a print service. Consider your psd or tif the ‘original’.<\/p>\n

\"Karen

Karen Gillan as Amy Pond from Doctor Who. Reference courtesy of BBC.<\/p><\/div>\n

Brush Settings<\/h2>\n

I’ve mentioned there are many brush options out there, but in Photoshop I tend to stick to the Wet Media preset because they are closest to traditional brushes. Opening the Brush panel<\/a> allows you to tweak each brush in a preset, or create your own brushes and presets.<\/p>\n

My preferred options for each brush are as follows:<\/h3>\n
    \n
  1. Set spacing to 1% (otherwise I find the edges of the lines appear too jagged)<\/li>\n
  2. Turn smoothing on (helps with the jaggedness)<\/li>\n
  3. Turn transfer on, and in its options:\n