Despite not having done much armor, I really enjoy working with it. I’m still practicing this myself but in the following video you can see the basic concept on how I sketch and shade the armor for Everflame’s Aurgelmir, the Norse frost giant.
First, you may want to have a general idea of what kind of armored look you’re aiming for. I would highly recommend having a few references to look at to pull your inspiration from. Second, you want to sketch out your design. If you have a steady hand, you may be able to simply use a regular brush or the lasso tool. The method I go to is the pen tool with a hard round brush and a size of 2 or 3 depending on what I’m doing and the size of my canvas. YouTube is an excellent resource if you want to further your knowledge of using the pen tool so I won’t be too specific on drawing your lines and curves. When you’re satisfied with what you have, use the Stroke Path with Brush option in the Paths window. At this point, be sure your brush and size are correct as this will be applied to your path.
When your sketch is finished, block in your design using the colors of your armor. If your armor has layers, I recommend blocking it on separate layers to make it easier to shade. Keep in mind where your light source is coming from and how thick your armor is (i.e. plates, straps, etc.). Shading and highlighting can be done in several ways. When you block in your armor, use colors that are in the midrange, not light but not dark. To add shadows, either create a new layer or apply to the block layer using the same midrange or darker color and set to multiply. Highlights can be done the same way using the midrange or lighter color and a lighter layer setting (overlay, soft light, etc.). You may continue using this method until your armor is completely done or you can switch to the dodge and burn tools to give it more of a pop.
If you have any special requests you would like to see included in The Art Corner, please contact me through Horse Eden (#28845).
Until next time,
Coldwater Meadows
Coldwater Arts 