eLroar, 2OO9

Workshops
UNI40.tut_bravery 72 17/12/08 6:06:43 pm
eLroar, 2OO9
Workshops
UNI40.tut_bravery 72 17/12/08 6:06:43 pm
MAKlNG
PANTASTlC
PLYlNG
MACHlNES
L// avarc vinnin_ ccnce
cesi_ner Christian Bravery creaes a
Lo_Lasec assao ccer rcn scrach
or this workshop I thought that Id do a piece of
speculative industrial design a futuristic flying
machine. That sounds like fun, right? So how do we
go about it? We start with the brief. Since Im writing
my own brief, thats easy. Im fascinated by insect body
composition, so Im going to design a flying machine based on
an insect a wasp or dragonfly perhaps. When I was a kid,
I saw a painting of a miniature robot that looked like a
housefly, by the sci-fi illustrator Tim White. I loved that
piece, it really struck a chord. So Im going to use its
concept as a reference for my new creation.
P
eLroar, 2OO9
In depth Making fantastic flying machines
Christian
Bravery
COUNTRY: EnQIand
Christian
runs LeadinQ
LiQht, an art
and desiQn
aQency that
provides
both character and
environment desiQns for
the video Qame and
entertainment industries.
www.IeadingIightdesign.
com
DVD Assets
The fiIes you need
are on your DVD in
the Christian Bravery
foIder in Workshops.
SOPTWARE: Photoshop
CS3 ()
UNI40.tut_bravery 73 17/12/08 6:06:51 pm
S
MateriaI thinking
So, now for the vehicle itself. What
materials should I choose? Well, its a
futuristic flying machine, so Im going to
make it predominantly out of metal and
more specifically polished aluminium.
This is mainly because I like that retro feel
Making your
designs crisp
Use the Unsharp Mask
fiIter to Qive work a nice
tiQht, crisp Iook. Try to
resist usinQ it mid fIow,
or overdoinQ the effect,
as subtIety is the key.
4
SiIhouettes
For this kind of painting I like to
work dark to light on the subject and
retain a plain, pale background. I make
a copy of the pencil sketch in Photoshop,
and set the Layer Blending mode to
Multiply. Next I add a new layer under
it, and fill it with dark, desaturated green.
Then I paint the pale background in,
leaving a dark silhouette of the vehicle.
1
Reference points
To help me paint insects and
machinery, I need to find some reference
imagery. A quick hunt around my
personal library of shots Ive collected
provides me with some useful images.
2
ThumbnaiI sketches
Now I draw. Using the images as
inspiration, but not simply copying them,
I work out some simple thumbnail
drawings on paper, based on my
dragonfly reference. I want the machine
to be small and agile, like a real dragonfly,
but large enough to carry a pilot. I mess
around with a few options for the pilot
3
EIevations
Once Im happy with the overall
layout in thumbnail form, I go ahead and
carefully draw up some elevations and
work out a nice three quarter view of the
vehicle. This is the one Im going to paint.
Its really useful to work out the elevations
prior to attempting a perspective drawing;
they enable you to resolve the design
simply, without worrying about
perspective and also, in turn, in form
your perspective drawing.
position, eventually rejecting a seat in the
head section for one placed just at the
back of the thorax area, where the power
plant and fuel tanks are positioned.
eLroar, 2OO9
Workshops
S
4
3
UNI40.tut_bravery 74 17/12/08 6:07:8 pm
7
Getting the Iight right
To achieve a good result, I just need
to follow some simple rules. This shot
is day lit, so a fairly uniform top-down
lighting model works best. Surfaces facing
up receive the most light, so these will
appear brightest for their given local
colour (the colour of the material under
neutral light). Vertical surfaces will give a
medium tone, so it follows that
downward facing
surfaces should
obviously be the
darkest. But wait,
these areas are
receiving bounce light
from the ground
plane. So the actual
darkest area on a
S
Brushed gIass
So thats the basics, but I also
need to render glass for the cockpit fore-
canopy. No problem. Create a new layer,
then using a brush with pressure-sensitive
opacity control and a tone slightly darker
than the background plane, paint the
canopy in a few long quick strokes, then
erase to the correct shape. Work in the
highlights with some more quick strokes
and paint in the metal framework using
our nice simple lighting formula.
9
HighIights
At this point Im looking at the
painting and thinking that the material
specularity is off. It lacks the signature
hard-edged shine of polished aluminium.
Thats easy to fix. I just harden up the
lower edge of the highlighted area of the
surface and were there. The basic rule is
this the more reflective the object, the
harder the highlight. The less reflective
the object, the softer the highlight.
6
SimpIe thinking
Since this image is a design
representation, I dont need to worry
about the complexities of mood,
character elements, action or background
detailing. Im just concerned with
material, colour and light.
Paste aII Iayers
CtrIJCmd+V
SeIect aII and copy
merQed, then use this
to paste your whoIe
imaQe as a sinQIe Iayer.
of old P51 Mustangs and Liberator
bombers from WWII, and also because
the material has interesting lighting
properties that I can explore.
As ever, its useful to have good
reference, and as Ill be reproducing the
complex lighting relationships inherent
to the subject its essential here. I choose
a few relevant pieces of photo reference
from my library, then, using these photos
as an impromptu palette, I can select
appropriate colours from them as I work
up the painting. A brief word on photo
reference: I dont restrict my search to the
subject at hand, but think beyond it to
subjects that may be unrelated in the
wider world, but whose material
properties are similar. For instance, a can
of Coke and an F-16 fighter are largely
made of the same material, aluminium.
Many movie spaceship interiors have that
back end of a fridge look. In this case,
why not take a photo of the back of your
fridge and comp it into your scene? The
results may surprise you. Or horrify.
Theres no guarantees when you throw
caution to the wind like that.
given convex surface is at the point which
receives the least light from the main light
source and the reflected light of the
ground plane combined. Make sense?
Its pretty simple really. Think about this
formula and youre on your way to
painting convincing convex bodies.
eLroar, 2OO9
In depth Making fantastic flying machines
6
S
9
7
UNI40.tut_bravery 75 17/12/08 6:07:19 pm
S
MateriaI thinking
So, now for the vehicle itself. What
materials should I choose? Well, its a
futuristic flying machine, so Im going to
make it predominantly out of metal and
more specifically polished aluminium.
This is mainly because I like that retro feel
Making your
designs crisp
Use the Unsharp Mask
fiIter to Qive work a nice
tiQht, crisp Iook. Try to
resist usinQ it mid fIow,
or overdoinQ the effect,
as subtIety is the key.
4
SiIhouettes
For this kind of painting I like to
work dark to light on the subject and
retain a plain, pale background. I make
a copy of the pencil sketch in Photoshop,
and set the Layer Blending mode to
Multiply. Next I add a new layer under
it, and fill it with dark, desaturated green.
Then I paint the pale background in,
leaving a dark silhouette of the vehicle.
1
Reference points
To help me paint insects and
machinery, I need to find some reference
imagery. A quick hunt around my
personal library of shots Ive collected
provides me with some useful images.
2
ThumbnaiI sketches
Now I draw. Using the images as
inspiration, but not simply copying them,
I work out some simple thumbnail
drawings on paper, based on my
dragonfly reference. I want the machine
to be small and agile, like a real dragonfly,
but large enough to carry a pilot. I mess
around with a few options for the pilot
3
EIevations
Once Im happy with the overall
layout in thumbnail form, I go ahead and
carefully draw up some elevations and
work out a nice three quarter view of the
vehicle. This is the one Im going to paint.
Its really useful to work out the elevations
prior to attempting a perspective drawing;
they enable you to resolve the design
simply, without worrying about
perspective and also, in turn, in form
your perspective drawing.
position, eventually rejecting a seat in the
head section for one placed just at the
back of the thorax area, where the power
plant and fuel tanks are positioned.
eLroar, 2OO9
Workshops
S
4
3
UNI40.tut_bravery 74 17/12/08 6:07:8 pm
7
Getting the Iight right
To achieve a good result, I just need
to follow some simple rules. This shot
is day lit, so a fairly uniform top-down
lighting model works best. Surfaces facing
up receive the most light, so these will
appear brightest for their given local
colour (the colour of the material under
neutral light). Vertical surfaces will give a
medium tone, so it follows that
downward facing
surfaces should
obviously be the
darkest. But wait,
these areas are
receiving bounce light
from the ground
plane. So the actual
darkest area on a
S
Brushed gIass
So thats the basics, but I also
need to render glass for the cockpit fore-
canopy. No problem. Create a new layer,
then using a brush with pressure-sensitive
opacity control and a tone slightly darker
than the background plane, paint the
canopy in a few long quick strokes, then
erase to the correct shape. Work in the
highlights with some more quick strokes
and paint in the metal framework using
our nice simple lighting formula.
9
HighIights
At this point Im looking at the
painting and thinking that the material
specularity is off. It lacks the signature
hard-edged shine of polished aluminium.
Thats easy to fix. I just harden up the
lower edge of the highlighted area of the
surface and were there. The basic rule is
this the more reflective the object, the
harder the highlight. The less reflective
the object, the softer the highlight.
6
SimpIe thinking
Since this image is a design
representation, I dont need to worry
about the complexities of mood,
character elements, action or background
detailing. Im just concerned with
material, colour and light.
Paste aII Iayers
CtrIJCmd+V
SeIect aII and copy
merQed, then use this
to paste your whoIe
imaQe as a sinQIe Iayer.
of old P51 Mustangs and Liberator
bombers from WWII, and also because
the material has interesting lighting
properties that I can explore.
As ever, its useful to have good
reference, and as Ill be reproducing the
complex lighting relationships inherent
to the subject its essential here. I choose
a few relevant pieces of photo reference
from my library, then, using these photos
as an impromptu palette, I can select
appropriate colours from them as I work
up the painting. A brief word on photo
reference: I dont restrict my search to the
subject at hand, but think beyond it to
subjects that may be unrelated in the
wider world, but whose material
properties are similar. For instance, a can
of Coke and an F-16 fighter are largely
made of the same material, aluminium.
Many movie spaceship interiors have that
back end of a fridge look. In this case,
why not take a photo of the back of your
fridge and comp it into your scene? The
results may surprise you. Or horrify.
Theres no guarantees when you throw
caution to the wind like that.
given convex surface is at the point which
receives the least light from the main light
source and the reflected light of the
ground plane combined. Make sense?
Its pretty simple really. Think about this
formula and youre on your way to
painting convincing convex bodies.
eLroar, 2OO9
In depth Making fantastic flying machines
6
S
9
7
UNI40.tut_bravery 75 17/12/08 6:07:19 pm

DeviI is in the detaiIs

Nearly there. Now I add final
details such as decals, the identification
number, warning tags and cockpit
controls. Then I work around the whole
piece with a homemade texture brush
and some nice bright turquoise, adding
highlights and rim lighting to soften the
whole thing and make it feel less clinical.
Play with this technique if you like it; I do.

Bringing to the fore

Here and there the bodywork of
the machine is getting lost in the
background. I make a copy of the
collapsed image and make it darker using
Curves, then erase back to the original to
leave a subtle vignette look to the image.
Finally I give the whole thing a blast
with the Unsharp Mask filter to harden
it up. Play with the settings and youll
find a look that works for you.

The finished articIe

Okay, there we are, one vehicle,
designed and rendered. I hope you like
the result, and I hope you learned
something along the way.

A spIash of coIour
Okay, thats the base coat done, but its looking a bit too uniform. All that
unbroken, polished aluminium is starting to look bland, so I decide to give it a lick of
paint red paint. To do this without losing existing detail I create a new layer and set its
blending mode to Multiply, then choose a middle red and paint in the colour scheme.
I try a few options, erasing those that dont work, adjusting and refining the ones that
do, painting in slapdash strokes and using the eraser to tidy up later. Brighter, more
saturated highlights are added on another layer in Normal mode.

Casting shadows
Now I drop in the ground plane
shadow, just to make the vehicle feel like
its situated in a real environment, rather
than floating in space. This really helps
with the solidity of the piece and how its
perceived. I just bosh it in loosely on a
new layer and erase the parts I dont like,
or that cover the object itself.
Returning to the lighting issue, its
useful to point out that crevices and holes
will be the darkest parts of the object and
also more saturated for their given local
colour. We also need to consider shadows
cast across the object.
eLroar, 2OO9
Workshops

UNI40.tut_bravery 76 17/12/08 6:07:28 pm