WETSHIP PROCESS

0. When using graphite or pen and marker, I use Bienfang Graphics 360 marker paper. I keep the paper on its cardboard backing and set the tablet on a padded sheet of black felt. The felt keeps a good grip on the paper pad, and outlines the perimeter of the page, allowing me to judge any angles in the drawing more effectively. I prefer the Prismacolor markers - cool, or French grey, or warm - and generally only use the chisel tip. I rough in the general form I'm interested in with a light marker, and go straight to my black Staedtler 'pigment liner' pen (0.1 or 0.3mm) to work out the details. I tend to work without reference as I draw, though I look at images for inspiration prior to drawing. My process can be largely organic, so that each line I lay down allows the vehicle or character to evolve. Depending on the specific shapes in the drawing, I may use ellipse templates to help the accuracy of the curves. Once the drawing is complete, I work back into it with various values of marker to render the shape's form.

1. This is the original drawing of the Wetship after it 1). has been scanned into my computer, 2). converted to grayscale, 3). converted to a duotone, and 4). finally converted to RGB color. This process only takes a few seconds, and there's no science behind it - I just prefer working with drawings that have a unified, 'native' color. The painting was created using Photoshop 7.

2. To isolate the ship from the background, I duplicate the original drawing on a layer, and place a layer filled with white between the original and the copy. On the copy, I erase everything but the Wetship. (See Figure 5A to see how this 'isolation' results in a useful mask.) Keeping the background layer as the original provides an instant backup copy of the art.

In the following figures, I've made the Wetship drawing faint to make the technique art more visible.

2A. Masks are extremely useful in the right situations. Once the mask shape is made, the specific part of the drawing I want to paint can be worked on without the paint spilling over onto the rest of the canvas. For curved masks, I use the pen tool and convert point tool, then adjust the vector lines with the direct selection tool. It's meticulous work, but makes the painting easier in the long run. FIGURE 2B. Once the loop of the mask is complete, it creates its own layer and shape. I color the masks bright red so their layer thumbnails stand apart from the rest of the layers. FIGURE 2C. Once the mask shape of the engine cover has been made, a selection in the same shape can be made by simply pressing ctrl and clicking on the shape layer. FIGURE 2D. Hide the selection by clicking ctrl+H. With the selection made, but hidden, I make a general color pass at the engine hood with the airbrush tool. FIGURE 2E. And add the highlight following the form of the hood. FIGURE 2E. Invert the hidden selection by pressing ctrl+shift+i. Then I paint in the interior of the hood. This process, figures 2A through 2F, is used on various parts of the rest of the painting. Make a mask, paint within the mask, and move on. Each mask should stay on its own layer for maximum versatility. Never delete mask layers - they're useful until the painting is complete.

3. With or without masks, I move on to paint various parts of the Wetship. Generally I use as many layers as I need, each layer containing the art for a new portion of the Wetship. This lets me paint more freely and prevents splattering the paint to other portions. The front hood, and the rear hood, seen here, are on two different layers.

3A. Re-selecting the mask made in Figure 2A, I add reflected and atmospheric light to the 'top' and 'bottom' of the hood. Ultimately, I will change the 'light' colors to reflect sky (top) and water (bottom). FIGURE 3B. I invert the 2A selection again, and add paint to the interior of the hood to indicate the transparency of the hood's plastic. I use these general rendering techniques on the rest of the Wetship, so I'll leave out these details as I continue.

4. Development of the Wetship's underside. The top of the 'scoop' takes light and shadow into account.

FIGURE 5. I've added detail overall at this point, and have further established in-light/in-shadow information. The steel skin of the Wetship is also being developed with warm and cool grays. The highlights all relate to the same light source, which I imagine is just above the viewer's head.

5A. It's time to sketch in the background color - the water. I make a new layer, and ctrl+select the layer in Figure 2, which is the original Wetship with the erased background. This creates a selection in the exact shape of the Wetship. I invert this selection (ctrl+shift+i) and fill the inverted selection with red.

6. With Figure 5 selected as a mask, I can quickly sketch in the water color without painting over the Wetship itself.

6A. With the bulk of the Wetship detailed, I thought it lacked any sense of being aerodynamic. I built another vector mask (Figure 2A) that gave me a useful profile.

7. Development of the transparent water shield, and addition of water spray beneath the Wetship.

7A. The spray is made from adjusting a simple soft-edged, circular brush. Select brush tip shape under the brushes menu to compress and rotate the brush. The foam was created with the Photoshop standard splatter brush.

8. Addition of the cockpit, completing the Wetship's mechanical flow. Since the details of any drawing can be adjusted or developed once the art is in Photoshop, it relieves the stress of making the 'perfect' drawing. Note that the two highlights at the front and back of the Wetship in Figure 8 are corrected in Figure 9.

9. Final details. I added an air intake vent on the very top of the Wetship. Lights, colored highlights, saturation, and contrast are all adjusted once the major painting is complete.

Questions/comments charles@cpmorrow.com