Digital Painting for Characters: Color and Light
A course by Joel Santana , Character Designer
Joined September 2019
Learn how to breathe life into a character sketch through color and light with Adobe Photoshop
Learn how to breathe life into a character sketch through color and light with Adobe Photoshop
Joined September 2019
Adding realism and depth to a character drawing can be a real challenge for an illustrator, and it's usually what separates a simple sketch from a full-blown character illustration. The combination of color, light, and texture is what brings a character to life and, in this Domestika course, you'll learn the techniques to master them in your digital paintings.
The illustrator and character designer, Joel Santana, will walk you through his whole creative process, from the moment he scans his drawings to when he exports the finished product for printing or digital media. Throughout the course, you'll learn how to make the most of Adobe Photoshop to breathe life into your character sketches.
What will you learn in this online course?
18 lessons & 10 downloads
- 99% positive reviews (1.4K)
- 30,578 students
- 18 lessons (2h 49m)
- 10 additional resources (6 files)
- Online and at your own pace
- Available on the app
- Audio: English
- Spanish · English · Portuguese · German · French · Italian · Polish · Dutch
- Level: Beginner
- Unlimited access forever
Recommended software for this course
Adobe PhotoshopWhat is this course's project?
You'll bring a character sketch to life using intermediate to advanced digital painting techniques in Adobe Photoshop.
Projects by course students
Who is this online course for?
Anyone who would like to learn digital painting techniques in Adobe Photoshop.
Requirements and materials
You'll need basic anatomy and creative drawing skills, as well as a computer with Adobe Photoshop installed, and a drawing tablet.
Reviews
A course by Joel Santana
Joel Santana is a character designer and illustrator, a collector of hats, and a married father with two kids. Throughout his career, he's done freelance work for Champs Sports, Walt Disney World Orlando, and other major clients. Joel's been published in the Communication Arts Illustration Annual 2016 and a full page in 2017, MTVnews.com and Huffington Post UK. He's also worked for in-house teams and advertising agencies creating illustrations for advertising, as well as packaging and toys.
Aside from creating, Joel has also mentored junior artists and co-workers, taught workshops, given talks to art students at local universities, reviewed products for Wacom, and participated in the local AIGA group speaking to young creatives.
Content
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U1
Introduction
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Introduction
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Influences
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What We Will Do in the Course
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U2
Painting Fundamentals and Exercises
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Our Workspace and Brushes
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Sphere Studies - Color, Light and Shadows
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Sphere Studies - Modifications
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Sphere Studies - Textures and Blur
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U3
Character Digital Painting
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Creating a Moodboard and Importing Our Character Sketch
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Masking Our Character
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Flatting Our Character
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Defining Placement of Keylight
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Values and Color - White Fur
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Values and Color - the Gun
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Values and Color - Refining the Fur
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Refining Lights, Shadows and Textures - Gauntlets
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U4
Finishing touches and effects
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Finalizing the Image - Final Details, Glow and Blur
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Finalizing the Image - Highlights and Shadows
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Finalizing the Image - color editing and export
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FP
Final project
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Digital Painting for Characters: Color and Light
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What to expect from a Domestika course
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Learn at your own pace
Enjoy learning from home without a set schedule and with an easy-to-follow method. You set your own pace.
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Learn from the best professionals
Learn valuable methods and techniques explained by top experts in the creative sector.
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Meet expert teachers
Each expert teaches what they do best, with clear guidelines, true passion, and professional insight in every lesson.
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Certificates
PlusIf you're a Plus member, get a custom certificate signed by your teacher for every course. Share it on your portfolio, social media, or wherever you like.
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Get front-row seats
Videos of the highest quality, so you don't miss a single detail. With unlimited access, you can watch them as many times as you need to perfect your technique.
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Share knowledge and ideas
Ask questions, request feedback, or offer solutions. Share your learning experience with other students in the community who are as passionate about creativity as you are.
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Connect with a global creative community
The community is home to millions of people from around the world who are curious and passionate about exploring and expressing their creativity.
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Watch professionally produced courses
Domestika curates its teacher roster and produces every course in-house to ensure a high-quality online learning experience.
FAQs
Domestika's courses are online classes that provide you with the tools and skills you need to complete a specific project. Every step of the project combines video lessons with complementary instructional material, so you can learn by doing. Domestika's courses also allow you to share your own projects with the teacher and with other students, creating a dynamic course community.
All courses are 100% online, so once they're published, courses start and finish whenever you want. You set the pace of the class. You can go back to review what interests you most and skip what you already know, ask questions, answer questions, share your projects, and more.
The courses are divided into different units. Each one includes lessons, informational text, tasks, and practice exercises to help you carry out your project step by step, with additional complementary resources and downloads. You'll also have access to an exclusive forum where you can interact with the teacher and with other students, as well as share your work and your course project, creating a community around the course.
You can redeem the course you received by accessing the redeeming page and entering your gift code.
Adobe Photoshop
said_ir
Este curso por el momento, al estar siguiéndolo he podido realizar grandes obras como la creación de personajes y animaciones más llamativas es una joya, me encanta como he podido usar Photoshop específicamente para ilustración y no edición de imagen.
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stev_class
recomiendo 100% este curso, desde luz, texturas hasta teoría del color muy completo la verdad
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kranjit33
Very Good Course.
checheyeah
下载的笔刷很好用，信息量很高，一步一步教学很容易学习，立体插画原来也不难学，喜欢这个课程。
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bigbabymlb
An excellent course for anyone who would like to pain digitally