My guy, you have no idea how much this helps, as an intermediate artist with a ton of bad habits and struggles when it comes to rendering, finalizing pieces or generally deciding on compositions and overall vibe of a painting, watching you calmly walking us through the process, and explaining each step in very simple terms is a Godsend gift. This helps me be more confident with my workflow and more daring and decisive when it comes to choices in a painting project. Thanks for your amazing efforts, I'll make sure to share your amazing stuff with my artist friends who I am sure will find your tips and tricks very useful and helpful.
dude ur awesome. that's all i wanted to say. The part about making it more human/horse vs reptile/alligator really helped me a lot cheers. I'm a 3d artist and learning heaps from watching you!
I use to be an avid drawer of dragons, haven't drawn much due to my own studies in school( Biology) this gets me in the mood to draw dragons right now.
Awesome! Good luck with school. BTW, if you are a fellow science/art type, you might consider the field of medical illustration - it is something that I have really enjoyed.
Please excuse my French Hardy but - FUCK! I swear if I make the mistake of clicking on your video - I just CAN'T pull my eyes away - this is just SO gorgeous. MAN!
I always love a real time painting/drawing with a voice over tutorial, as someone who is still learning this always help alot to understand the mind of another artist (especially a professional one), so please keep doing what you are doing man, I hope you grow well on the platform. All love :))
Thank you so much Mr Hardy. As an animation student who also loves concept art, this is coming at the perfect time. I am a beginner and currently learning how to ilustrate on photoshop during summer break, getting ready for what my next school year will challenge me with. Anyways just know that you are really helping me, an aspiring industry artist, both in technical painting stuff and staying hopeful for the future.
One reason you can give people if they ask about why you use orange paint is that it is an extremely high light value which makes it easy to differentiate between the light and shadows. Painting in a dark blue would be much more difficult in ensuring everything was done correctly! I love your work. It’s been so interesting in learning how a professional artist approaches their projects since I’m just starting out as an artist. If you ever made a video about what NOT to do, I would hit about every checkmark on the list! 😂 So, thank you for all your advice and hard work. Best wishes!
Hardy, thanks for the time and energy you put into your content. I recently purchased a bundle of your courses on Udemy, wanting to get back into my art. I needed someone with passion to help me find mine again. What a time that we can hop online and watch videos like this. Respectfully, Troy.
Awesome, thank you! I hope the courses serve you well and reach out any time if I can help. I'm easier to reach on our discord or email. Cheers and good luck!
I love seeing your techniques, it gives me inspiration to make sci-fi creatures and characters. Still need to work on my rendering practice, but I'm practicing it nonetheless while I'm in college.
This whole process was crazy amazing and really insightful. Always leave these videos learning and knowing so much more than when I came in. It's really helping me prep my portfolio as I finish up my final semester. I appreciate all the videos you put out, thanks a lot!
So on the whole thing of sharing at the ‘finished’ stage, I like to post on my instagram or less professional account and have the final art piece, the one that I refuse to touch anymore, be what makes it to ArtStation, that way I never have to go back and only show my best stuff
i really like that type of wing that you used, the human hand-type of the base of the wing. like, smaug for example, his wings are extremly humannoid, and i like that about some dragons. and i never thought about using other animals anatomy, when i draw my dragons, they look really wierd and now i know why, so when i draw my dragons i will keep that in mind. by the way, this dragon looks absolutly awesome! keep up the great work man!
I just started doing dark grey flats and adding light to them because of you. It just makes sense... I mean why add shadow AND light on different layers when you can just add light in one shot. Also, it's a light source, not a shadow source!
Awesome! I'm so glad that clicks for you. There are definitely different schools of thought on that, but I agree completely. It just feels like adding light is the easiest way to understand forms as they take shape. Thanks for the comment!
I had a few questions regarding the various career paths when it comes to digital art. 1. Is there a difference between concept art and character designing ? If yes what are those ? 2. Talking about concept artists specifically. Are they responsible for both character and environment concept art ? Or even concept artists can also specialise? Like someone is a character concept artist or someone might be an environment concept artist ? Can you please help me out here ?
Awesome questions. 1)You may get different answers from different people on this, but I think of the character design being more of a personality and story design about who the character is whereas the concept art is how we describe those ideas visually. So, most of the time that I am tasked with creating character concept art - the character design has already happened by my art director or the team who created the brief. The concept art certainly helps to shape the character design but I think of it as two distinct steps in a sequence. 2. Concept artists can choose to specialize in a specific niche OR they can generalize and do multiple things. Both strategies can be successful but I have personally gone the generalist route and I have like it because I can cast a wide net in multiple markets. My advice is to make exactly the kind of art that you would like to do professionally - if that is characters - awesome!
guys yes dragons are looked to have 6 limbs in western that’s not the only factor that determines a dragon wyverns can’t breath fire dragons can so if it’s a lizard with wings it is considered a dragon
design is 80% something believable and 20% is what we get to play with to create another world, wise words, wish the concert designers would have heard this before designing those characters (ig I can call what they did character design)
Thanks! Sorry for the trouble on the brushes. They are in the freebies channel on our discord but if you want to just email us at office@digitalpaintingstudio.com we can just send them to you directly
There is a video of a gentlemen, I believe he is maybe in South Korea, who creates a beautiful coiled dragon sculpture from a piece of redwood. If you search dragon redwood sculpture on TH-cam you should find it. The incredible gap between what you have deemed a dragon and what he did is instructive to me. There is no such thing as a wrong answer when it comes to fantasy. Dragons are many things to many people. This was a very helpful video and your dragon is cool! Please check out that redwood dragon sculpture. It is insane.
I think I found it! th-cam.com/video/np78oH4Afjk/w-d-xo.html Such a cool thing to see take shape and, you're absolutely right, there is so much to learn when we examine different cultural takes on similar subjects. Thanks for the recommendation and the cool stuff to ponder
What do you mean with dont change the color ? The HUE ? Can i change the value ? Can i change the saturation ? Iam beginner sorry if i ask stupid questions.. Edit oh and can i run into problems if i try to follow you in CSP ?
Not a stupid question at all! By that I mean, only paint with a single color for the entirety of the value phase. Don't go to the color picker and switch to a light or darker value for example and don't sample midtones from anywhere on the painting and then add them back in. Think of it as squeezing just one color out of the tube onto the palette and then only adding or erasing away that single color for this entire step. If we can do this, then the later steps where I switch to color will work without any weirdness. I hope that helps but let me know if you try this and get stuck
Hey Hardy, you're absolutely one of my fav artists and i don't mean this in ANY negative way, but is there a possibility that you create something exciting from a different perspective than from a 2D side view. Don't get me wrong, i love every single thing you create but i'd love to see something totally different from these side view masterpieces. Much love!
That's an awesome idea! You're totally right, I've been leaning on these direct views a lot and part of that is because they are simpler and easier to make succinct videos out of but I'll stretch out a bit in future videos. I sincerely appreciate the feedback!
Oh awesome! Wow, that is so cool that it has that effect for you. I hope it has been going well so far. Unfortunately I have never used Krita - however, I need to practice a bit more of what I preach and try new things more often. I need to give that, Clip Studio Paint and Procreate a more sincere shot. Thanks for the comment and good luck!
hey absolutely stunning! worthy of 15 years man. anyhow i picked up a few things from this. but whats the point in line variation to that extent if youre just painting over it etc?
Great question - I do usually obliterate line art by the end of a painting, so if I know I'm going to paint something, I don't bother to do super clean line art. The line variation is sort of a habit and helps me see things clearly in a sketch, but I still consider the line art in this one fairly rough and disposable.
@@fowlerillus i see. thanks for the reply. I consider this pretty advanced line art imo though haha. this is actually a different topic but i figured id ask. how can you train your memory to draw from your imagination? iv been drawing from refs with fair accuracy lately and then i take it and try to 1 to 1 from my head and its always off. is there a way to train this memory thing specifically. is memory something i need here at all? anyway thanks.
I'm a little stumped by the wings. They break my suspension of disbelief. I like how they are attached to the hands, but then they are these triangular flappy things that can't provide any lift. I really think the back part of the wings should be attached to the lower part of the body. Especially with such a muscular and heavy dragon.
Yeah, I totally see what you mean and I wasn't super sure about that either. The decision came down to wanting to show more of the cool parts of the muscular anatomy on the rib cage and hands but you have a very solid point here.
Thanks! I've been at it quite a while but I don't think this method is terribly difficult to learn - I've seen many artists pick it up quite quickly. If you can slowly build up tones (by layering low flow and opacity in your brush marks) then you can control values and get the effects you're after.
Great tutorial and tips as always, Hardy. Thank you! The brush hardness/flow quick-fine-tuning thing is probably the only thing that bothers me with Procreate, where you only get 2 sliders for opacity and size. So I guess I would have to create duplicate brushes for each 20/40% flow, and whatever hardness I wanted them to be. Or does anyone on here have a better idea how to get around this problem in Procreate? In Affinity Photo/Designer (pixel persona) I get all 4 functions, but somehow never felt as organic painting in these apps as Procreate. (I got to design and painting only 3 years ago and never really got into photoshop - sorry 😬).
Ah, sorry I wish I had some advice on how to make this work on other apps, but I only use Photoshop. My advice would be to join our discord server and ask around - tons of helpful artists in there.
@@fowlerillus thanks so much, Hardy. And no need to apologise. It was a question to the round of commentators. Yes, I should definitely pop by the discord again (work has been way too demanding). Apologies if I came off a bit whingeing. I am sure the Procreate developers had their reasons of only including 2 sliders and I enjoy the app otherwise and I have been putting your brush set to good use. Thank you for sharing this with the world. 😊
Hi, thanks for the amazing tutorial! I really love your work. I was wondering if you might consider creating a tutorial on blending or character creation in Procreate? I’ve been using it for a year now, and while it’s incredibly user-friendly, I find that achieving high-detail, 3D effects like this character is easier in Photoshop. It would be really helpful if you could share some tips on how to create that 3D feeling in Procreate, and perhaps also touch on transitioning those techniques to Photoshop. Thanks so much!
Thanks! I'm glad you liked it. That's an awesome idea but I'm pretty much just a Photoshop user. Theoretically it should all be transferrable between apps - is there a way that Procreate blends layered tones differently than photoshop? All I'm really doing is using a very low flow and opacity brush and tapping repeatedly. Then some smudging to blend things in. Unless I am misunderstand some fundamentals of how Procreate works - I think those functions should work on both apps?
@@fowlerillus Thanks so much for your detailed reply! I really appreciate the insights. I haven't fully explored the technique with a low flow and opacity brush in Procreate yet, especially with the repeated tapping and the smudging tool, so I'll definitely give that a proper try. Your approach sounds like it should work well across both apps, and I’m excited to experiment more with it. Thanks again for your help and for the amazing content you create!
Hey man! I really loved the drawing, the explanation and the shared knowledge, thank you so much. I have a question, how much time it takes you to paint a piece like this? I'm an artist myself, having a full time job (not art centered, but I can sometimes do and explore some things) and really focusing on painting in my free time. The thing is I struggle with setting realistic time expectations when painting, and I end up feeling maybe I'm painting too slow, or feeling I undercharged a comission after spending tons of hours on a piece. I know your 15 years of experience translate on more efficient time management but I'd really love to know how you manage your time.
Thanks! Glad you liked it. This one had a little over three hours of actual drawing and painting time. I definitely took some breaks and there was some time spent on research and inspiration, but that's about what I would budget for something like this - roughly half a day. I totally get what you're saying and yes, I have definitely gotten more efficient with years but I think it's mostly being comfortable with a bit of looseness in my work and having confidence in my decision making. I no longer spend too many hours second guessing or backtracking which really helps a piece feel breezy and linear from start to finish. I hope that's helpful
hi, I wanna use your sketching brush but i cant find it in the free pack, is it not there? i have some problems with textured/transparent brushes in photoshop
It should be in there - it's the second diamond shaped brush with a 40 in that pack. If that doesn't work for you, please email us at office@digitalpaintingstudio.com if you need an assist
I can definitely help with that. So right, there isn't a native keyboard shortcut for that one but you can setup your own custom keyboard shortcuts in Photoshop. Just go to Edit > Keyboard shortcuts and you can navigate to Image > Image Rotation > Flip Canvas Horizontal and set it to any key combo that you'd like. I set mine to command+shift+F FYI.
Beautiful dragon, but I got a quick question. What software do you use to draw? I'm recently learning to do digital art and make dragon concepts for games, but I don't know which software to use. what's the software used in the video?
It's hard to see but I actually have the line art on top of the base silhouette layer. It's just barely darker than the silhouette so that I can see it faintly. I definitely can't remember that well :)
Cool! I hope you enjoy the course. I use a Wacom Intuos Pro which is really great but certainly was something I had to save up for. If you are looking for something relatively inexpensive, I see the Huion Kamvas Pro 16 consistently at the top of the reviews for beginner tablets. I have never tried it but everyone seems to love it.
Hi!! I've been an artist for a while now, but I never seem to be able to... design my own creatures. I always copy other people's designs, any tips on how I would be able to make a dragon drawing much like this? I think I lack the imagination to create designs of my own :/
Hi! Yeah, that's tricky isn't it. There are a few good ways to go about that. It all starts with shapes and creating a curve and an action line that looks cool and energetic. There are other shape design principles that give us a good base but that is the most important one with creatures - so starting with simple gesture lines or curves to get that initial line is key. From there I try to gather details from animal model references (shapes and details from a frog or alligator etc.) and then sort of reassemble the ingredients into something that feels new. That's about as well as I can describe it in a few sentences. I hope that helps!
@@fowlerillus Ooooh, that's a really good description actually. I'm gonna make some test sketches using these tips, and see how it goes. Thank you so much!
Awesome work,Mr.Fowler. Regarding your method with the orange color … are you familiar with the painting technique of Caravaggio? I find your method similar to his.. he goes first with color similar to yours and it makes the whole process easier to follow and understand in the beginning and most crucial point I would say. Did you got inspired by him? If not,you should check what I talk about ;). Anyways,thanks for the great video!
Thanks! I need to check that out - I had no idea that Caravaggio did something similar but that is really cool. I'll go and learn more - thanks for letting me know!
Hey Hardy! I have a few questions that I wanted to ask- I've noticed that you use swatches only and avoid using a color wheel. Is that something you do for every painting? And if so, why do you do it? Should I look to use swatches too? Are there any reason you have those specific swatches chosen? Thanks! The video was amazing
Hi! I mainly do that for convenience and consistency. I have saved those colors over the years just because I found that I was seeking them out repeatedly so I decided to just save them. Things like that orange value color or the dark cyan silhouette are colors I use in practically every painting. That is the only reason - I think it's totally fine to use the color picker too if that works for you. There is never just one right way to do something in digital art :)
is there a reason you keep flipping the painting from left to right and vice versa ? i think i remember someone mentioning that if you only focus on one “side” of the artwork and then flip to the other “side” it looks wonky for some reason but i can’t remember why. is that why you do that ?
Great question. I do that for a few reasons. Most importantly, it keeps the image "fresh" in my eye. When I flip it, it seems new again for a few seconds. This can be really helpful when something doesn't seem quite right but you don't know exactly what it is. Weirdness seems to jump out when you see the image flipped and lets you identify the problem to fix. The other reason for this is that it is often just more comfortable to make brush strokes at a certain diagonal as opposed to the opposite, so flipping the canvas can make certain lines or brush strokes more comfortable to execute. I do this so much that I even made a custom shortcut for it which you can do in Photoshop by going to edit>keyboard shortcuts.
I’d like to show my skills with one art piece too, but I don’t like dragons. Closest thing to dragons in real life would be dinosaurs maybe, but you mention you like the dragon for the serpentine gesture. Do you know of any other animal you can draw that you can apply all the fundamentals you use in this drawing? Maybe a bird? I’ll draw a dragon if that’s the only thing that can nail all the techniques, but I’m hoping you can choose what to draw to show off the fundamentals.
Definitely! Birds are a perfect example (in fact my latest video is exactly that!) - they are full of really energetic curves and action lines and feathers give us enormous freedom to create patterns or silhouette shapes so it becomes practically pure shape design.
A dragon can have a surprising amount of catapillar. Don't believe me? Look up the dragonheaded catapillar Of lizards I recommend: earless monitor lizard and red-eyed crocodile skink.
@@st.godlessness It's a draconic creature. Wyverns are often considered 'cousins of dragons,' similar to the relationship between dogs and wolves or cats and lions. They are part of the same family but not the same species.
This is like digital sculpting, a clay like look. That's likely to be true no matter what the subject is, it's definitely cool but lacks the spark of master illustrators. I picked up two books by James Gourney, one by John Howe and one by Gary Lippincott. I have come to the conclusion after reading those there's only one masterful approach to painting: 1. Thumbnail sketches. 2. Refined sketch. 3. Pose models or stitch pictures of yourself together wearing appropriate clothing, gather reference for nature/architecture. 4. Detailed fully sized sketch with a smaller value/color thumbnail besides it. 5. Rendering on top of the final sketch from photo reference. Even when it comes to a dragon, using a picture of a lizard is going to result in a more realistic render. 1000's of hours of painting practice from imagination resulting in something neat looking still can't beat the real thing. It seems all legends used reference and a lot of it, even most popular comic book artists. I bet some of them probably got models in the basement of castles that they take outside to photograph in natural light. So much hidden trickery. The benefit of using the trickery is you can focus on the sketch and get away with a lot more. If the sketch is lit realistically it doesn't have to be perfect. But there's definitely some benefit to being able to improvise beyond the reference as well. But that likely develops naturally when you study reference, sort of like a jigsaw puzzle. You've got reference up until a point, you have to fill in the missing pieces. That might be an interesting practice, take a photo, sketch over it, erase the paint under the lines. Attempt to render the missing piece. But this is a great video, especially the sketching part. Can't understate importance of primitive shapes and anatomy.
Awesome points. Totally agree - using references and really anchoring something in reality is hugely powerful and essential for selling whatever you're designing and something that could plausibly exist in reality. Thanks for contributing!
thanks for this, I need more picking the head of master artist process. It helps a lot. Also ya I also love that human and other animals share the same anatomy and shapes. I always look at my dogs musculature and compare it to mine. Im like damn maybe you can be my biological son
@@fowlerillus Western Dragons are 6 limbs; four legs and a pair of wings, and Wyverns are 4 limbs; with their front wings and legs as one. Addiontional note of a Eastern dragons have 4 limbs; 4 legs and snake-like, they're more based on sea serpents with addiontial traits from other animals to make them majestic looking. Also amazing video so far I'm new to concept art drawings and starting this up.
@@fowlerillusThat's the thing about dragons, they're unfortunately fictional. I like categorizing dragons and am a total dragon nerd, they are the only thing better than wizards. Even if you say they have hollow bones and are based on birds, they wouldn't physically be able to fly unless the fire came out of their butt. Your dragon is a dragon if you want to call it a dragon. Do your thing and your lore. But that's exactly what makes it such a great object to draw. 🐉❤🎉
Did you ever think to just paint it all on one layer or did you mindlessly use layers from the influence of the nature of digital? Arts always been painted on one layer called a canvas. What brought this up is how technical your process became with the layers. This is my curiosity now
I guess I try to do both. One thing I really like about layers is they are a safety net that makes me unafraid to try things. They also give you a lot of control over how to apply effects. BUT, you're totally right - in order for this to feel like a painting, we do need to eventually get to that single layer version of things where we can mess things up, rake our hands through the paint (metaphorically) to make things feel expressive and artful.
@@fowlerillusI disagree, you can achieve the look and feel of the traditional painting or any similar style regardless if you have one or many layers if you want to, and a lot of your work feels really pleasing for the eyes, which I believe is the ultimate goal of any art piece. I believe that having multiple layers doing different things and affecting the rendering in various ways is the absolutely best thing about digital art and it can be fun, way less frustrating and also gives a lot more room for both risk-free experimentation and mistakes to be corrected compared to traditional painting, so it makes sense for any digital artist to stick to a multiple layers approach in my opinion.
This orange colour you use for values gives me the impression of sculpting in clay. It's a cool trademark of yours :-)
Thanks - I totally get what you mean. I love thinking about a value painting in that way - like you are sculpting and moving volumes around.
My guy, you have no idea how much this helps, as an intermediate artist with a ton of bad habits and struggles when it comes to rendering, finalizing pieces or generally deciding on compositions and overall vibe of a painting, watching you calmly walking us through the process, and explaining each step in very simple terms is a Godsend gift. This helps me be more confident with my workflow and more daring and decisive when it comes to choices in a painting project.
Thanks for your amazing efforts, I'll make sure to share your amazing stuff with my artist friends who I am sure will find your tips and tricks very useful and helpful.
I'm so glad to hear this - thanks! I really appreciate the support and it's awesome that this was helpful for you. Cheers
dude ur awesome. that's all i wanted to say. The part about making it more human/horse vs reptile/alligator really helped me a lot cheers. I'm a 3d artist and learning heaps from watching you!
Thank you! Glad this was helpful
Absolutely love the design! It’s so dynamic and full of energy, ready to pounce. Great work!
Thanks so much!
I use to be an avid drawer of dragons, haven't drawn much due to my own studies in school( Biology) this gets me in the mood to draw dragons right now.
Awesome! Good luck with school. BTW, if you are a fellow science/art type, you might consider the field of medical illustration - it is something that I have really enjoyed.
Please excuse my French Hardy but - FUCK! I swear if I make the mistake of clicking on your video - I just CAN'T pull my eyes away - this is just SO gorgeous. MAN!
Thanks Adam :) So glad you liked it - that definitely makes my day
Saving this for later, one of my favourite dragon designs. Thanks for the free knowledge 😃😃
Awesome! I hope you enjoy it
I always love a real time painting/drawing with a voice over tutorial, as someone who is still learning this always help alot to understand the mind of another artist (especially a professional one), so please keep doing what you are doing man, I hope you grow well on the platform. All love :))
Thank you! I really appreciate it and I'm so glad you liked it.
The dragon looks so cool! It feels so alive. Thanks for this tutorial, it really helped me rethink how I use line and shape.
You're very welcome!
Thank you so much Mr Hardy. As an animation student who also loves concept art, this is coming at the perfect time. I am a beginner and currently learning how to ilustrate on photoshop during summer break, getting ready for what my next school year will challenge me with. Anyways just know that you are really helping me, an aspiring industry artist, both in technical painting stuff and staying hopeful for the future.
I'm so glad to hear that this has been helpful. Best of luck at school this year! Seriously thanks - this was so nice to hear
this video, your speech on the matter is just pure gold. Thanks a bunch
Thank you! I'm so glad this was helpful
i ove how you drew that dragon the artstyle and the colors blend. youre amazing! 😄😄
Thank you so much :)
At about the 16 minute mark; it looks like a creature sitting on top of a characters head.😃Absolutely awesome instruction, Hardy👍🏻
Awesome! I'm so glad this was helpful :)
One reason you can give people if they ask about why you use orange paint is that it is an extremely high light value which makes it easy to differentiate between the light and shadows. Painting in a dark blue would be much more difficult in ensuring everything was done correctly! I love your work. It’s been so interesting in learning how a professional artist approaches their projects since I’m just starting out as an artist. If you ever made a video about what NOT to do, I would hit about every checkmark on the list! 😂 So, thank you for all your advice and hard work. Best wishes!
That's such a great point - thanks! I really appreciate the recommendation too. I can definitely do a what not to do video
Hardy, thanks for the time and energy you put into your content. I recently purchased a bundle of your courses on Udemy, wanting to get back into my art. I needed someone with passion to help me find mine again. What a time that we can hop online and watch videos like this. Respectfully, Troy.
Awesome, thank you! I hope the courses serve you well and reach out any time if I can help. I'm easier to reach on our discord or email. Cheers and good luck!
I love seeing your techniques, it gives me inspiration to make sci-fi creatures and characters. Still need to work on my rendering practice, but I'm practicing it nonetheless while I'm in college.
I'm so glad this was helpful! Thanks :)
Thank for sharing your thoughts! It makes things clearer
Glad it was helpful!
This whole process was crazy amazing and really insightful. Always leave these videos learning and knowing so much more than when I came in. It's really helping me prep my portfolio as I finish up my final semester. I appreciate all the videos you put out, thanks a lot!
I'm so glad to hear it! Thanks for watching
you’re helping me come one step closer to draw dragons like sawyer lee!!😁 Thx
Awesome! Glad this was helpful!
we appreciate you Hardy. you're awesome.
Thank you so much :) I'm glad these are helpful
I love your videosss, this is just awesome and satisfying
Awesome. Glad you liked it!
Hey thanks for the video. I like the calm atmosphere you create in your videos. The music also helps to make feel comfortable. I think that's good!
Awesome, thank you!
Such a gorgeous illustration! Currently working on my rendering skills and this has given me a new spark to try again :)
That's awesome! I'm so glad this was helpful
HOLY SMOKES! im gonna study this drawing dude im amazed!
Thanks. Glad it inspires you!
This is awesome, love your work! What app or site is this? Looks pretty cool
Thanks! I did this with Photoshop and my website (if that's what you were asking) is www.digitalpaintingstudio.com
Adored this video. Thank you for sharing your expertise and insights with us. It's deeply appreciated.
Glad you enjoyed it!
Thank you, Hardy!
My pleasure!
Hardy, I'm just so grateful for everything you post!
Thank you! Very kind of you to say and I'm really glad you're enjoying them
Thanks for the amazing video, Hardy! I always pull my sketchbook to listen to your thoughts and lessons! Great times!
That's so cool to hear. Glad you're enjoying these :)
you paint the same way i do!...that's so cool, dragon looks amazing too btw!
Thank you so much 😀
wow you are a great teacher. thankyou so much.
Wow, thank you!
SOOO helpful! would love more videos like this one. Also if i can recommend something, can you do more portfolio reviews?
I'm so glad! Thanks for the suggestion! That's an awesome idea and something we haven't done in quite a while.
So on the whole thing of sharing at the ‘finished’ stage, I like to post on my instagram or less professional account and have the final art piece, the one that I refuse to touch anymore, be what makes it to ArtStation, that way I never have to go back and only show my best stuff
That's an awesome idea - save one portfolio location for the complete, polished items. Thanks!
@@fowlerillus course man, keep it up, your a massive inspiration!
There is something soothing about your videos) thank you
That's really nice to hear :) Thanks, that's totally the goal - it's usually what I seek out on TH-cam for myself too.
hardy got a different view of the world with the way he colors his art.
Thanks :)
i really like that type of wing that you used, the human hand-type of the base of the wing. like, smaug for example, his wings are extremly humannoid, and i like that about some dragons. and i never thought about using other animals anatomy, when i draw my dragons, they look really wierd and now i know why, so when i draw my dragons i will keep that in mind. by the way, this dragon looks absolutly awesome! keep up the great work man!
Thank you! I'm glad you liked it.
I'm planning to do a Dungeon Meshi's Falin in Dragon form , this is a really good inspiration
Awesome! I hope it goes well
I feel like ny frontal lobe developed with this video...thank you HAHA
I'm so glad! :)
I just started doing dark grey flats and adding light to them because of you. It just makes sense... I mean why add shadow AND light on different layers when you can just add light in one shot. Also, it's a light source, not a shadow source!
Awesome! I'm so glad that clicks for you. There are definitely different schools of thought on that, but I agree completely. It just feels like adding light is the easiest way to understand forms as they take shape. Thanks for the comment!
I had a few questions regarding the various career paths when it comes to digital art.
1. Is there a difference between concept art and character designing ? If yes what are those ?
2. Talking about concept artists specifically. Are they responsible for both character and environment concept art ? Or even concept artists can also specialise? Like someone is a character concept artist or someone might be an environment concept artist ?
Can you please help me out here ?
Awesome questions. 1)You may get different answers from different people on this, but I think of the character design being more of a personality and story design about who the character is whereas the concept art is how we describe those ideas visually. So, most of the time that I am tasked with creating character concept art - the character design has already happened by my art director or the team who created the brief. The concept art certainly helps to shape the character design but I think of it as two distinct steps in a sequence.
2. Concept artists can choose to specialize in a specific niche OR they can generalize and do multiple things. Both strategies can be successful but I have personally gone the generalist route and I have like it because I can cast a wide net in multiple markets. My advice is to make exactly the kind of art that you would like to do professionally - if that is characters - awesome!
guys yes dragons are looked to have 6 limbs in western that’s not the only factor that determines a dragon wyverns can’t breath fire dragons can so if it’s a lizard with wings it is considered a dragon
design is 80% something believable and 20% is what we get to play with to create another world, wise words, wish the concert designers would have heard this before designing those characters (ig I can call what they did character design)
I'm glad that resonated - it has been such a helpful principle for me.
awesome as always!
Thank you!
Thanks for this!
You got it! Glad you liked it
Awesone work! Learned a lot from you :D
Glad to hear it! Thanks
Hi Hardy. I subscribed to your newsletter and I couldn't get the brushes. Your drawing style is one of my favorites.
Thanks! Sorry for the trouble on the brushes. They are in the freebies channel on our discord but if you want to just email us at office@digitalpaintingstudio.com we can just send them to you directly
I would love to see a background.😍
That would be cool - I'll have to do one of these as a fully painted scene
There is a video of a gentlemen, I believe he is maybe in South Korea, who creates a beautiful coiled dragon sculpture from a piece of redwood. If you search dragon redwood sculpture on TH-cam you should find it. The incredible gap between what you have deemed a dragon and what he did is instructive to me.
There is no such thing as a wrong answer when it comes to fantasy. Dragons are many things to many people.
This was a very helpful video and your dragon is cool!
Please check out that redwood dragon sculpture. It is insane.
I think I found it! th-cam.com/video/np78oH4Afjk/w-d-xo.html Such a cool thing to see take shape and, you're absolutely right, there is so much to learn when we examine different cultural takes on similar subjects. Thanks for the recommendation and the cool stuff to ponder
Un trabajo increíble, super hermoso, solo una observación sobre la anatomía ese es un wyverno no un dragón
Thank you!
What do you mean with dont change the color ? The HUE ? Can i change the value ? Can i change the saturation ?
Iam beginner sorry if i ask stupid questions..
Edit oh and can i run into problems if i try to follow you in CSP ?
Not a stupid question at all! By that I mean, only paint with a single color for the entirety of the value phase. Don't go to the color picker and switch to a light or darker value for example and don't sample midtones from anywhere on the painting and then add them back in. Think of it as squeezing just one color out of the tube onto the palette and then only adding or erasing away that single color for this entire step. If we can do this, then the later steps where I switch to color will work without any weirdness. I hope that helps but let me know if you try this and get stuck
@@fowlerillus wow, thank you very much for the detailed answer, that helps me a lot, thank you very much ^^
I have never seen light mode photoshop before and wow it looks so much better, i think it looks a lot less clausetrophobic
I like that as well. Many prefer dark mode but this works for me - just as you described :)
Hey Hardy, you're absolutely one of my fav artists and i don't mean this in ANY negative way, but is there a possibility that you create something exciting from a different perspective than from a 2D side view. Don't get me wrong, i love every single thing you create but i'd love to see something totally different from these side view masterpieces. Much love!
That's an awesome idea! You're totally right, I've been leaning on these direct views a lot and part of that is because they are simpler and easier to make succinct videos out of but I'll stretch out a bit in future videos. I sincerely appreciate the feedback!
Original dragon vid is what caused me to start painting. Is there any chance of ever getting a tutorial for this style in krita?
Oh awesome! Wow, that is so cool that it has that effect for you. I hope it has been going well so far. Unfortunately I have never used Krita - however, I need to practice a bit more of what I preach and try new things more often. I need to give that, Clip Studio Paint and Procreate a more sincere shot. Thanks for the comment and good luck!
Thank you!
My pleasure. Thanks for watching
hey absolutely stunning! worthy of 15 years man. anyhow i picked up a few things from this. but whats the point in line variation to that extent if youre just painting over it etc?
Great question - I do usually obliterate line art by the end of a painting, so if I know I'm going to paint something, I don't bother to do super clean line art. The line variation is sort of a habit and helps me see things clearly in a sketch, but I still consider the line art in this one fairly rough and disposable.
@@fowlerillus i see. thanks for the reply. I consider this pretty advanced line art imo though haha. this is actually a different topic but i figured id ask. how can you train your memory to draw from your imagination? iv been drawing from refs with fair accuracy lately and then i take it and try to 1 to 1 from my head and its always off. is there a way to train this memory thing specifically. is memory something i need here at all? anyway thanks.
I'm a little stumped by the wings. They break my suspension of disbelief. I like how they are attached to the hands, but then they are these triangular flappy things that can't provide any lift. I really think the back part of the wings should be attached to the lower part of the body. Especially with such a muscular and heavy dragon.
Yeah, I totally see what you mean and I wasn't super sure about that either. The decision came down to wanting to show more of the cool parts of the muscular anatomy on the rib cage and hands but you have a very solid point here.
This looks absolutely amazing! what kind of painting practice do you have to do to get to this level?
Thanks! I've been at it quite a while but I don't think this method is terribly difficult to learn - I've seen many artists pick it up quite quickly. If you can slowly build up tones (by layering low flow and opacity in your brush marks) then you can control values and get the effects you're after.
Great tutorial and tips as always, Hardy. Thank you!
The brush hardness/flow quick-fine-tuning thing is probably the only thing that bothers me with Procreate, where you only get 2 sliders for opacity and size. So I guess I would have to create duplicate brushes for each 20/40% flow, and whatever hardness I wanted them to be. Or does anyone on here have a better idea how to get around this problem in Procreate?
In Affinity Photo/Designer (pixel persona) I get all 4 functions, but somehow never felt as organic painting in these apps as Procreate. (I got to design and painting only 3 years ago and never really got into photoshop - sorry 😬).
Ah, sorry I wish I had some advice on how to make this work on other apps, but I only use Photoshop. My advice would be to join our discord server and ask around - tons of helpful artists in there.
@@fowlerillus thanks so much, Hardy. And no need to apologise. It was a question to the round of commentators.
Yes, I should definitely pop by the discord again (work has been way too demanding).
Apologies if I came off a bit whingeing. I am sure the Procreate developers had their reasons of only including 2 sliders and I enjoy the app otherwise and I have been putting your brush set to good use. Thank you for sharing this with the world. 😊
Hi, thanks for the amazing tutorial! I really love your work. I was wondering if you might consider creating a tutorial on blending or character creation in Procreate? I’ve been using it for a year now, and while it’s incredibly user-friendly, I find that achieving high-detail, 3D effects like this character is easier in Photoshop. It would be really helpful if you could share some tips on how to create that 3D feeling in Procreate, and perhaps also touch on transitioning those techniques to Photoshop. Thanks so much!
Thanks! I'm glad you liked it. That's an awesome idea but I'm pretty much just a Photoshop user. Theoretically it should all be transferrable between apps - is there a way that Procreate blends layered tones differently than photoshop? All I'm really doing is using a very low flow and opacity brush and tapping repeatedly. Then some smudging to blend things in. Unless I am misunderstand some fundamentals of how Procreate works - I think those functions should work on both apps?
@@fowlerillus Thanks so much for your detailed reply! I really appreciate the insights. I haven't fully explored the technique with a low flow and opacity brush in Procreate yet, especially with the repeated tapping and the smudging tool, so I'll definitely give that a proper try. Your approach sounds like it should work well across both apps, and I’m excited to experiment more with it. Thanks again for your help and for the amazing content you create!
Gorgeous, ty for the vid! Btw this is a wyvern, dragons has 4 legs and 2 wings
Thanks! Yes, the wyvern community has educated me on this :) Thanks for watching!
Dude, wyverns are still a type of dragon. So are things like wyrms or drakes
6:54 dude, if this dragon could talk, it would 100% sound like keith david
Haha. I can hear it
Hey man! I really loved the drawing, the explanation and the shared knowledge, thank you so much. I have a question, how much time it takes you to paint a piece like this? I'm an artist myself, having a full time job (not art centered, but I can sometimes do and explore some things) and really focusing on painting in my free time. The thing is I struggle with setting realistic time expectations when painting, and I end up feeling maybe I'm painting too slow, or feeling I undercharged a comission after spending tons of hours on a piece. I know your 15 years of experience translate on more efficient time management but I'd really love to know how you manage your time.
Thanks! Glad you liked it. This one had a little over three hours of actual drawing and painting time. I definitely took some breaks and there was some time spent on research and inspiration, but that's about what I would budget for something like this - roughly half a day. I totally get what you're saying and yes, I have definitely gotten more efficient with years but I think it's mostly being comfortable with a bit of looseness in my work and having confidence in my decision making. I no longer spend too many hours second guessing or backtracking which really helps a piece feel breezy and linear from start to finish. I hope that's helpful
hi, I wanna use your sketching brush but i cant find it in the free pack, is it not there? i have some problems with textured/transparent brushes in photoshop
It should be in there - it's the second diamond shaped brush with a 40 in that pack. If that doesn't work for you, please email us at office@digitalpaintingstudio.com if you need an assist
how do you flip the canvas? I couldn't find any shortcut key to do that in photoshop.
I can definitely help with that. So right, there isn't a native keyboard shortcut for that one but you can setup your own custom keyboard shortcuts in Photoshop. Just go to Edit > Keyboard shortcuts and you can navigate to Image > Image Rotation > Flip Canvas Horizontal and set it to any key combo that you'd like. I set mine to command+shift+F FYI.
Beautiful dragon, but I got a quick question. What software do you use to draw? I'm recently learning to do digital art and make dragon concepts for games, but I don't know which software to use. what's the software used in the video?
Thanks! I use Photoshop for the painting and Camtasia for the screen capture and video editing
About the value painting, how do u know where is the line art? Or you just paint by memory or something
It's hard to see but I actually have the line art on top of the base silhouette layer. It's just barely darker than the silhouette so that I can see it faintly. I definitely can't remember that well :)
@@fowlerillus ohh i see, rlly cool i love it
Hey mr. Fowler, im thinking about getting your course on digital painting intro, could you pls recommend some nice tablet for a beginner? Thx
Cool! I hope you enjoy the course. I use a Wacom Intuos Pro which is really great but certainly was something I had to save up for. If you are looking for something relatively inexpensive, I see the Huion Kamvas Pro 16 consistently at the top of the reviews for beginner tablets. I have never tried it but everyone seems to love it.
@@fowlerillus Thanks for answering 😄👍
Hi!! I've been an artist for a while now, but I never seem to be able to... design my own creatures. I always copy other people's designs, any tips on how I would be able to make a dragon drawing much like this? I think I lack the imagination to create designs of my own :/
Hi! Yeah, that's tricky isn't it. There are a few good ways to go about that. It all starts with shapes and creating a curve and an action line that looks cool and energetic. There are other shape design principles that give us a good base but that is the most important one with creatures - so starting with simple gesture lines or curves to get that initial line is key. From there I try to gather details from animal model references (shapes and details from a frog or alligator etc.) and then sort of reassemble the ingredients into something that feels new. That's about as well as I can describe it in a few sentences. I hope that helps!
@@fowlerillus Ooooh, that's a really good description actually. I'm gonna make some test sketches using these tips, and see how it goes. Thank you so much!
34:10 this version of the coloring for the dragon was the best imo
I could not pick a favorite - haha. Thanks for letting me know - I did like that one too :)
Awesome work,Mr.Fowler. Regarding your method with the orange color … are you familiar with the painting technique of Caravaggio? I find your method similar to his.. he goes first with color similar to yours and it makes the whole process easier to follow and understand in the beginning and most crucial point I would say. Did you got inspired by him? If not,you should check what I talk about ;). Anyways,thanks for the great video!
Thanks! I need to check that out - I had no idea that Caravaggio did something similar but that is really cool. I'll go and learn more - thanks for letting me know!
@@fowlerillusyou share knowledge,i share back! Thats all about i think:)) My pleasure !
Hey Hardy! I have a few questions that I wanted to ask-
I've noticed that you use swatches only and avoid using a color wheel. Is that something you do for every painting? And if so, why do you do it?
Should I look to use swatches too? Are there any reason you have those specific swatches chosen?
Thanks! The video was amazing
Hi! I mainly do that for convenience and consistency. I have saved those colors over the years just because I found that I was seeking them out repeatedly so I decided to just save them. Things like that orange value color or the dark cyan silhouette are colors I use in practically every painting. That is the only reason - I think it's totally fine to use the color picker too if that works for you. There is never just one right way to do something in digital art :)
very interesting
Thanks! Glad you found it interesting
I need to know what app do you use for drawing?
Sure! This is Photoshop
@@fowlerillus ok thakns great vid bdw.
which drawing programm does he use
Hi! This was Photoshop
@ thanks
is there a reason you keep flipping the painting from left to right and vice versa ? i think i remember someone mentioning that if you only focus on one “side” of the artwork and then flip to the other “side” it looks wonky for some reason but i can’t remember why. is that why you do that ?
Great question. I do that for a few reasons. Most importantly, it keeps the image "fresh" in my eye. When I flip it, it seems new again for a few seconds. This can be really helpful when something doesn't seem quite right but you don't know exactly what it is. Weirdness seems to jump out when you see the image flipped and lets you identify the problem to fix. The other reason for this is that it is often just more comfortable to make brush strokes at a certain diagonal as opposed to the opposite, so flipping the canvas can make certain lines or brush strokes more comfortable to execute. I do this so much that I even made a custom shortcut for it which you can do in Photoshop by going to edit>keyboard shortcuts.
I’d like to show my skills with one art piece too, but I don’t like dragons. Closest thing to dragons in real life would be dinosaurs maybe, but you mention you like the dragon for the serpentine gesture. Do you know of any other animal you can draw that you can apply all the fundamentals you use in this drawing? Maybe a bird? I’ll draw a dragon if that’s the only thing that can nail all the techniques, but I’m hoping you can choose what to draw to show off the fundamentals.
Definitely! Birds are a perfect example (in fact my latest video is exactly that!) - they are full of really energetic curves and action lines and feathers give us enormous freedom to create patterns or silhouette shapes so it becomes practically pure shape design.
What program do you use?
Photoshop for this one
Could you pls draw sunfyre from hotd I never really got a proper look
🤘 that would be cool!
thanks
I had a few questions regarding digital art. If u dont mind i would like to ask that here.
Absolutely! It's what the channel is here for. Ask anything
holy shit you are like a well of artblock dissolving water
Maybe my favorite comment ever. Thank you :)
A dragon can have a surprising amount of catapillar. Don't believe me? Look up the dragonheaded catapillar
Of lizards I recommend: earless monitor lizard and red-eyed crocodile skink.
That is awesome! That is an animal I have never considered as reference - thank you!
BEAUTIFUL WORK! but that is a wyvern :P
Thank you! Cheers! Yes, I have learned much about wyverns after posting this :)
wyverns are a type of dragon
@@st.godlessness It's a draconic creature. Wyverns are often considered 'cousins of dragons,' similar to the relationship between dogs and wolves or cats and lions. They are part of the same family but not the same species.
o cara é o guilherme briggs se tivesse seguido uma carreira diferente
Haha, OMG you're right
Consumate v's TROGDOR!
Literal art god, this is beautiful! (ok now get back down to earth. Mortals can't stand constant exposure to gods - their heads explode!) o.O
Thanks :) Super nice of you - glad you liked it!
😮
🤘
He is in episode 4 of season 2 of houseofthedragon
I remember! I got really into the show over the summer. That would be fun!
how you look 21 and 54 at the same time ?
Haha, exactly how I feel my friend :)
how old are u Hardy, ? you look young :)
Well, thank you! I'm 42
@@fowlerillus still young , haha, I've read somewhere young people are categorized till 45, then till 65 mid age Imo, rest is old age :D
Excuse me sir, that’s not a dragon, that’s a cucumber. 🤓
Haha. You had me there. I was about to put another dollar into the Wyvern jar :)
@@fowlerillus lmao gotcha. That dollar goes to me
Is not a dragon but wyvern aktually
Yes! thanks for the heads up. The Wyvern community has really showed up for this video :) Good to learn more about this - cheers!
your drawing is just insane, I really like the style, the atmosphere, your artistic touch, just well done
This is like digital sculpting, a clay like look. That's likely to be true no matter what the subject is, it's definitely cool but lacks the spark of master illustrators. I picked up two books by James Gourney, one by John Howe and one by Gary Lippincott.
I have come to the conclusion after reading those there's only one masterful approach to painting:
1. Thumbnail sketches.
2. Refined sketch.
3. Pose models or stitch pictures of yourself together wearing appropriate clothing, gather reference for nature/architecture.
4. Detailed fully sized sketch with a smaller value/color thumbnail besides it.
5. Rendering on top of the final sketch from photo reference.
Even when it comes to a dragon, using a picture of a lizard is going to result in a more realistic render. 1000's of hours of painting practice from imagination resulting in something neat looking still can't beat the real thing. It seems all legends used reference and a lot of it, even most popular comic book artists. I bet some of them probably got models in the basement of castles that they take outside to photograph in natural light. So much hidden trickery.
The benefit of using the trickery is you can focus on the sketch and get away with a lot more. If the sketch is lit realistically it doesn't have to be perfect. But there's definitely some benefit to being able to improvise beyond the reference as well. But that likely develops naturally when you study reference, sort of like a jigsaw puzzle. You've got reference up until a point, you have to fill in the missing pieces. That might be an interesting practice, take a photo, sketch over it, erase the paint under the lines. Attempt to render the missing piece. But this is a great video, especially the sketching part. Can't understate importance of primitive shapes and anatomy.
Awesome points. Totally agree - using references and really anchoring something in reality is hugely powerful and essential for selling whatever you're designing and something that could plausibly exist in reality. Thanks for contributing!
First
Blue ribbon!
@@fowlerillusLETS GOOOO
I have a very interesting reqeust
Not to be that guy but technically thats a wyvern but like you say in the video with the bat characteristics you do you man its a free world.
Not at all - thanks for the heads up!
If Bill Clinton did art
Haha.
thanks for this, I need more picking the head of master artist process. It helps a lot. Also ya I also love that human and other animals share the same anatomy and shapes. I always look at my dogs musculature and compare it to mine. Im like damn maybe you can be my biological son
Haha - I loved that last comment. Super interesting how similar the basic muscles and forms are among related animals. I'm glad this was helpful!
love your vids but this is a wyvern not a dragon xx
Interesting! help me out on those details - does it need arms and wings in order to be a proper dragon?
@@fowlerillusa Wyvern’s arms and wings are the same thing, but it is still a type of dragon
@@fowlerillus Western Dragons are 6 limbs; four legs and a pair of wings, and Wyverns are 4 limbs; with their front wings and legs as one. Addiontional note of a Eastern dragons have 4 limbs; 4 legs and snake-like, they're more based on sea serpents with addiontial traits from other animals to make them majestic looking. Also amazing video so far I'm new to concept art drawings and starting this up.
@@KiwiViper Excellent info - thank you! Wow, so House of the Dragon should be House of the Wyvern! :)
@@fowlerillusThat's the thing about dragons, they're unfortunately fictional. I like categorizing dragons and am a total dragon nerd, they are the only thing better than wizards. Even if you say they have hollow bones and are based on birds, they wouldn't physically be able to fly unless the fire came out of their butt. Your dragon is a dragon if you want to call it a dragon. Do your thing and your lore. But that's exactly what makes it such a great object to draw. 🐉❤🎉
Did you ever think to just paint it all on one layer or did you mindlessly use layers from the influence of the nature of digital? Arts always been painted on one layer called a canvas. What brought this up is how technical your process became with the layers. This is my curiosity now
I guess I try to do both. One thing I really like about layers is they are a safety net that makes me unafraid to try things. They also give you a lot of control over how to apply effects. BUT, you're totally right - in order for this to feel like a painting, we do need to eventually get to that single layer version of things where we can mess things up, rake our hands through the paint (metaphorically) to make things feel expressive and artful.
@@fowlerillusI disagree, you can achieve the look and feel of the traditional painting or any similar style regardless if you have one or many layers if you want to, and a lot of your work feels really pleasing for the eyes, which I believe is the ultimate goal of any art piece.
I believe that having multiple layers doing different things and affecting the rendering in various ways is the absolutely best thing about digital art and it can be fun, way less frustrating and also gives a lot more room for both risk-free experimentation and mistakes to be corrected compared to traditional painting, so it makes sense for any digital artist to stick to a multiple layers approach in my opinion.
photoshop with white ui bruh noway
Haha - I get called out for this a lot. To each their own :)