Influences
It’s hard to say what my direct influences are, because I always try to keep an open mind to all different influences in art. I have never developed a truly unique illustrative style, so there are a still a lot of artists from different corners of the world who influence me, and I enjoy this freedom. Because of this, my range of illustrative styles is probably a little broader than that of most other artists.
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About the Artist
I studied at the Cologne International School of Design with a focus on illustration. Over the past 12 years, I have worked as an illustrator, and I switched to digital painting in 2004. Since then I have won several prizes for my digital artwork, including the Painter Master award from Ballistic, first and third place prizes in the CG Challenge, the German International Docma award, and the Corel Painter award. Most of my work reflects daily commissions for advertising, magazines, TV, and games. These include stern, FOCUS, WirtschaftsWoche, Playboy, Jung von Matt, WDR, Blue Byte, and KARAKTER Concepts.
Artist’s Statement
Frankly, I’ve never completely understood the mystery that people make about being an artist. I think that if you have a vision and the strong urge to share it, it’s merely a matter of time and hard work to find a unique way to express yourself. Tools like Painter make it easy for me to transform my painting experience into the digital world, which leads me to new inspirations by other artists, a still joyful game in which it is fun to learn from each other. I’m grateful every day to have this wonderful profession.
Torsten wolber
Studio
Software: Painter, Photoshop, and sometimes SketchUp for perspective
Hardware: MacPro, Quato Intelli Proof monitor, Wacom Intuos 4 A4
Contact
Torsten WolbernCologne, Germanyn
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Chapter 11Techniques
Step-by-Step Tutorial: “Trophies”
1. I begin by drawing a small sketch of my idea. By small, I mean that my doodle is not more than 5 inches in height on my screen. I use the regular Acrylics, Opaque Detail Brush 3, and every now and then, I alter it to an ellipsoid shape by changing the angle and form. To prevent losing my vision of the drawing, I work as fast as I can at this stage. It shouldn’t take more than an hour and a half to complete this first step. I don’t limit myself by focusing on details right now. It’s the big picture I’m looking for. See Figure 11.1.
2. After I decide that I like the colors, I check on the overall composition using the Divine Proportions tool and the Layout Grid. See Figures 11.2 and 11.3. I often do this right after blocking things out so I get a better idea of balancing out all the elements in my image. I start pushing things around using the Lasso tool and do some “paint-overs.” Every piece of artwork results from decisions to be made, and grids and proportions help me to easily get on track. However, I take them as loose guidelines rather than relying on them too heavily.
3. In Figure 11.4, I enlarge my initial sketch. Using the Sargent Brush tool with default settings, I do a paint-over, as seen in Figure 11.5. Using this technique is the easiest way to define wrinkles.
Figure 11.1 Initial sketch.
Even during the earliest stages of designing your image, you can get helpful hints from Painter by using the Divine Proportions tool or the Layout Grid to check your
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Secrets of Corel Painter Experts
Figure 11.2 Using the Divine Proportions tool to check the composition. Figure 11.4 Initial sketch. Figure 11.3 Layout Grid settings.
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Chapter 114. After Dodging, I work on the details with a Fine Oil Brush. See Figure 11.6.
Figure 11.5 Paint-over with Sargent Brush.
5. After detailing each element of my picture individually (see Figure 11.7), I combine all the parts again onto a new can- vas, adjust some of the colors and positions, and then Drop All into one background. See Figure 11.8. In Figure 11.9, I have combined all the different parts of my image into one layer and over-painted them using the Sargent Brush.
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Secrets of Corel Painter Experts
I know that combining all parts of my image into a single layer isn’t a common way to work, but because I am used to working on one canvas only, this has certain benefits. For example, I can concentrate on my work without both- ering to check whether I’m working in the right layer. Even more important is the fact that the formerly separated objects begin to interact with each other once again— this includes the fuzzy edges and all. Maybe it’s just my “analog habit,” but I definitely encourage you to try to get out of “safety mode” by trying this.
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Chapter 11Figure 11.8 Drop All into a new single layer.
Figure 11.9 Elements recombined onto one canvas.
6. At this point I decide to add a textured layer to my image. I add a brushed texture but erase it in certain areas where it appears to be too dominant; it’s easy to overdo this. See Figure 11.10. I add the texture in a separate layer with Brushwork On in Overlay mode and adjust the Layer Opacity to approximately 20 percent. See Figure 11.11.
I often add a textured layer in the final stages of my work because it helps me avoid a digital look that, especially when printed, appears to be a tad too clean and smooth.
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Secrets of Corel Painter Experts
Figure 11.10 Partially erased brush texture.