nazSTUFF - Digital Fish Paintings 04

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Digital Fish Paintings _ 04

Using Illustrator outlines to build alpha channels, friskets and the anatomical features of freshwater fish as digital paintings in Photoshop

Note: These projects were painted completely using only a mouse, software and a Power PC Macintosh computer in 1999. No digital tablet was involved.

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In Tutorial 002 we completed explaining the groundwork of importing vector outlines and using them to create alpha channels or “friskets” to spray color and patterns into isolated layers, building the skin anatomy and color.

Illustration 09 shows much of this work. Each fish painting in this series went through this initial phase of body work before fin and scale texture was added. As you study this screen shot remember that there are separate layers for everything you’re seeing. The original background blend (silhouette) is the first layer, see the LAYERS window that I’ve included. The “middle painting” contains the soft vertical stripes, subtle and transparent. The “overpainting” layer contains airbrushed or painted shadows that make up the face anatomy, plate-like structures. These were all painted using the alpha channels (refer to Illustration 11 for an example of these alpha channels) created by selecting the many “closed areas” created in Illustrator while “tracing” the fish’s features and turning them into closed windows to paint into. NOW you see the importance of making each area closed while still in Illustrator. It provides the “friskets,” or closed shapes which can be made active and INVERSED shapes as need to control hard and soft edges when painting. This is a very powerful technique and I use it profusely both with the PAINTBRUSH tool and the ERASER tool. I also manipulate transparency amongst the layers to essentially blend them like watercolors for my desired result. I also click on and off the imported guideline layers to keep control of my work. I never paint on these layers, I just use them like a map as reference.

Looking through the chicken wire

The time has come to IMPORT the scales guidelines, created several days ago, from the Illustrator files folder. The LAYERS window included in Illustration 10 tells you a lot about what I’ve just done. (I’ve even imported the side fin layers, but more about that later.) You’ll note that I have my layers visible or invisible according to what I want to see at a given time. This screen shot gives you a good idea of how the project looks when you add the scale guidelines and place them over the work done so far. Illustration 11 shows you what I do next, activating the face anatomy alpha channels as I need them as selections, I use the ERASER tool to erase or TRIM the areas of scale guidelines I won’t need, using a soft edge just like a paint brush that removes instead of adds on. I do this editing over the entire image.

The rubber stamp custom brush TOOL

Now fun part begins, the part that prompted thousands of Emails to my web site asking me how I did this. Well, here it is!

In a new small document window about two inches square I traced the size and shape of typical scales within the illustration I’m currently working on, using the PEN tool. See Illustration 12a. I saved this as a working PATH for future reference. I converted this PATH into a SELECTION on a transparent layer (very important). I then took a large PAINTBRUSH and black foreground color and painted just over the upper portion of this little scale shaped selection. Still selected I turned this into a custom BRUSH shape and it was added to my brush palette of choices. I re-sized this graphic and made several custom “scale highlight” brushes of various sizes

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Gallery of Game Fish Paintings:

Here's a snapshot of the entire collection of digital fish in this collection.

Species illustrated above include: Largemouth Bass, Carp, Smallmouth Bass, Pumpkinskin Sunfish, Walleye, Striped Bass, Black Crappie, Grass Pickerel, Yellow Perch, Spotted Bass, White Crappie, Bluegill, Sauger Fish, Red-breasted Sunfish, Northern Pike, Great Lakes Muskie, White Bass. This was the major portion of my digital painting project. These mages are now available as reproductions and gift imprints of many forms.

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Enjoy these digital fish paintings... CLICK on thumbnail for more info. Featuring Rainbow Trout, Black and White Crappie, Striped Bass (Striper), Walleye, Northern Pike, Blue Gill, Yellow Perch and a Large-mouth Bass, all created using these digital tools... Illustrator (vector) and Photoshop (raster).

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Official USPS Fish Postage Stamps

Fishing Stamps selection includes Yellow Perch, Bluegill, Walleye, Striped Bass (Striper), Large Mouth Bass, Rainbow Trout, Black Crappie, White Crappie and Red-breasted Sunfish. Other products also available.

More Info is on our BLOG