Wrapping it up

And here it is. I think it's the final version. There's not that much difference between this and the image in the last post. Often, it's just small, significant details that get that last push to 100% complete. To get to this point, I added more highlights to the water wings, the shorts, and the top of the head. This is to pop out a bit of contrast in those areas. I also wanted to give a rougher feel to the rock he's sitting on. This was done by painting more defined highlight and shadow areas. I also added a layer with Noise to give it a bit more. I hope it comes through. I think this image is finally done. I think I like it. I would call this one successful. In case you were wondering, there's no message or commentary; it's just a frog sitting by the water.

It's the little things

My intention all along was to add some kind of fun, colorful designs on the swim trunks. Some of my students suggested flies and that seemed like a good idea to me. That's what those little blobs are if you can't tell. I also painted the valves on the water wings. One is out and one is pushed in. I don't know why, but that's just how they are. It's good to avoid too much symmetry and that's important in a scene like this; the left side should not be a mirror image of the right. It was also time to start thinking about the bottom of the image where the frog is barely dipping his toes in the water. Reflections like this can be simple scribbles. They don't need too much precision. And for reflections, they should not be as bright or saturated as the item that's causing them.

Working with shadows and more details

To increase contrast and work toward a finish, shadows must be considered. I paint shadows on their own layer, set to Multiply mode. This is in addition to any value ranges underneath. In this case, I painted the shadows with PMS 7526, which is a very reddish brown. I want to keep a lot of warm colors in the shadows. This also helps with the translucency I'm going for in the amphibian skin. The shadow layer is above everything and not clipped to any one layer, so I'm able to use it all over, not just on the frog. This might tie disparate colors together a bit. I also paint some details on the water wings, going brighter and darker than their base color. It should be noted here that these images don't represent a strict step-by-step approach; I didn't wait until this part to start on shadows.

Changing swim trunks

I wasn't really liking the color of the trunks, although they may have been fitting in well with the overall color scheme. I used the base layer of the shorts as a clipping mask for a layer on top. That's where I painted the blue and put in some details for wrinkles. It might not fit in perfectly, but I like how they stand out more and seem whimsical. I figure this frog doesn't have a great sense of color anyway. To bump up the contrast and give it more texture, I paint shadows under the frog on the rock he's sitting on. Of course, these are on their own layer in Multiply mode. I used PMS 448 as it's the darkest step in the yellowy brown I'm painting here. In Multiply, it made some nice shadows. They're dark, but not quite black yet. I also painted in reflections on his eyes to give them some life. The solid dark abysses on either side of his face staring into my soul were starting to get to me.

Adding highlights

It's a good idea to start out with a bit of limited values and work toward the extremes of dark and light as the image progresses. This means staying away from black and white for as long as possible. I don't usually paint with those colors anyway. As it was time to go brighter and add highlights, I did that on a new layer in Linear Dodge blending mode. Instead of white, I used Warm Grey 1 to continue the pinkish hues on the front of the frog. The densest areas may actually become white, but but areas of lighter opacity will brighten underlying colors while still allowing the warmth to show through. All these layers overlaying each other also help to suggest the skin translucency. I'm also thinking about the added elements like the swim trunks and water wings. For these elements, I'm using my traditional method of starting with solid color silhouettes on their own layer. The water wings are the usual orange. For the shorts, I'm thinking about a warm red to keep with the color scheme, which is leaning complementary.

Next step in the process

I continued working on this image during down times in class while my students were working. In this step, I lowered the opacity of the sketch layer and began painting on a layer on top of it. For the green values, I picked from the darker steps after PMS 580. Working this way is useful in that it gives me a range of values in the same hue to work from. The warmer areas were painted with 7620. Even though I'm starting with simple PMS colors, as I vary the pressure, they mix with underlying colors and create new colors. The painting becomes my palette. I continued to vary my brush choices, sometimes adding Scatter to add randomness. To refine the edges, I used a smaller brush and painted more carefully. Pretty quickly, it's starting to come together. At this point, the values should tell the story, even if they aren't to the extremes of dark and light yet.

First artwork of the year

It's quite a surprise, but did my first digital painting of 2025. I hadn't actually planned on this, but sometimes things just happen. The origin of this odd piece is  is as follows. In one of my classes this semester, I was asking for suggestions of an image to search for. I heard 'frog' and did an image search. An unexpected image was among the results. I liked this little guy just sitting on the edge of a rock, dangling his feet in the water. It just called out to me to paint it, but I felt it needed something. Frogs aren't known for wearing clothes, but I felt that this guy needed some swim trunks, especially given his pose. I couldn't stop there and thought he might need some water wings, if only to boost his confidence. I started with this simple sketch, done freehand while looking at the reference image. You may notice that I used a toned background; that's almost always a better idea than starting out against while. 

For the brush, I decided to step out of my usual comfort zone and started with a different brush from Photoshop's Natural Brushes group, now assigned to Legacy status. I didn't use either of the two brushes I use for just about all my work. I made some modifications to the brushes I chose this time, but was always mixing up the brushes used for this piece. I was trying to see if the working process or the end result would be noticeably different from what I usually do. In this next step, I painted on a layer underneath the sketch layer. For the green areas, I used a Pantone 580. For the pinker skin areas, I used light Warm Greys. This is a common practice for me that I kept up with here: I start out with a range of PMS colors to start out. Painting lightly and loosely, I allowed some of the background color to show through.