I could never draw anything like the sketch, ever

 

cant wait to see the outcome!!!


the skecth looks nice but the colors are a little much for me!

 

Wow, that sketch is amazing...blows my chance of doing this.

 

STEP 4: Laying down accurate color and gradients.

Ok, now that the layers are already blocked in, you're ready to start giving accurate value, hue, and saturation to each part of the car.

Now, before you paint on a layer, click on the little checkerboard box that is first in line next to the word: LOCK in the layers pallet. This turns on the Transparency Lock. When this is on, only the pixels that have been painted can be changed. Effectively, you can only paint where you've already painted. Now you know why we started off just blocking in the color.

With the transparency lock turned on, I first start by re-painting everything much closer to an accurate value. Once the colors are closer to what they should be, then I'll begin to define the surfaces with gradients.

Here you can see I've started to do the color on the wheels/tires area, as well as lay down the gradient for the windows:



The transparency lock allows me to make broad sweeping strokes across the window, and yet still only affect the "window" pixels.

Once you've begun to assign correct color values to each layer, you'll begin to have a very flat car. No more ricer paint:

 

STEP 5: Making it shiny.

Ok, now that the "basecoat" for the color is laid down, you can start shading things. Without going too deep into the theory of light, shadow, and reflections, or: why things look the way they do, a good rule of thumb to start with is:

Upward facing surfaces: Lightest
Vertical surfaces: Medium
Downward facing surfaces: Darkest

In terms of placing the reflections on a car, it works the same way. Look at how the body of the S2000 begins to turn upward along the ridgeline that runs through the door handle. Above that line is going to reflect the sky. The same goes for the fenders.

Here, I've started to indicate where the reflections are going to go:



On a shiny surface, the reflections are going to be very crisp and sharp. Don't be afraid to use a harder brush to define the edges of the reflections. The higher contrast in the reflection, the shinier the object will be. I stylized the reflections in this rendering to make it not quite as shiny as it could be, almost like a super high gloss matte. (Yes, I know that's an oxymoron).

Be patient with the reflections, they will make the rendering what it is. It will take some practice learning where they go, and also how to make them look like you want. I find it's best to render one small portion of the car completely (for instance, the rear fender), and then use that as a template to pick my colors from as I do the rest of my car. That way, I know all the hues and values will be the same.

Here it is with the reflections almost complete:

 

STEP 6: Finishing up.

The body is the most time-intensive part. Once that's done, it's just details here and there.

Tires, ground, windows, etc. etc. They all need to be done. Once you've done all that, you can start to go in and clean up parts of the original sketch that you may or may not want to show.

When cleaning up your original sketch, don't use the eraser. Remember that the layer is still set to MULTIPLY. You can "erase" lines on that layer by painting over them in white.

Now is the time to go back and pop out every rivet and screw head with a dot of grey, add in the final reflections, and touch up every little bit here and there.

Almost done:

 

Wow. You sir are damn good at PS. Props for skillz!

 

wow that is lookin good

 

DONE:



That's it. Remember- work slowly, and consult photos for help. Like everything, this takes practice. This is all practice for me, actually. Once you try to capture a surface, you begin to appreciate it much more, and see things differently.

So have fun. And remember, if it's taking you more than 25 minutes, you're doing it wrong .

 

You have mastered this! Nice sketch---> artwork.