Digital painting is a unique way to create stunning paintings. In this tutorial, you will learn how to draw a Hulk image in Photoshop. Today I will show you some of the basic techniques that were used to create this picture.
The final result:
Step 1
Before we get started, I want you to familiarize yourself with the basics that are important to digital drawing.
Shine
Light plays a huge role in digital pictures, and also influences other factors, such as, shadows, shading, surrounding atmosphere, etc. It is very important to determine the source of light in your work before you begin to create the main elements of the picture in order to avoid repeated work on the lighting and not spend several hours on the correction.
Shadow
Correct shadows are a very important factor that give the object a sense of realism. The shadow adds depth to the scene and also gives it a natural look. Bad shadows can turn the whole scene into a fake, when objects hang in a space without shadows. Always check the shadows, focus on the details and how the shadows form under different light sources.
Combination
Smooth color matching is very important to get the desired result. Without proper alignment, your scene may look unfinished and also be loaded with brush strokes. There are several ways to combine colors. You can combine your colors with the alignment tools or you can use a soft brush and color picker to match the color shades.
Step 2
So, we looked at the basics of the drawing, which are of great importance for creating a good digital picture. Now, let’s start by creating a new document with the following dimensions of 3000 x 4000 pixels. It is better to start with a large document, in this case you will not have to redo the whole picture again if you want to print it in large format.
Step 3
In this lesson, we will mainly work with a brush, and also apply a tablet to use the full potential of the brush. Select a hard round brush, to do this, press the “B” key, now press the ‘F5’ key to open the brush settings panel. For the parameter Fluctuation of paint (Flow Jitter), set the option Pen pressure (pen pressure), and also put a tick in the parameter box Smoothing (smoothing).
Step 4
Install the size (size) brush 4 px and proceed to the creation of an approximate sketch of the character. This is a rough sketch, so there is no need to spend too much time on creating perfect contours. There will be enough simple contour lines.
Step 5
Reduce the size of the brush to 3 px, now add details to your character, creating any features that you like. Add more wrinkles to the face to get the perfect expression. Duplicate the layer with a draft of two or three times to light strokes of the brush become more distinct. Now we are ready to add colors.
Step 6. We select the color palette
Selecting a color palette is an important step that helps you choose the right colors for your picture. Therefore, it is very important to determine the colors in advance. First, set some neutral color, for example, # 46563c as the background color, and also select a soft round brush. Now start adding colors with a big soft round brush. Try different color shades for light, shadows, hair patches, and then use the tool. Color palette (color picker tool), select colors for your color palette. Do not worry if the colors are rough or imperfect, because now we are not coloring our main character, but decide which colors to choose for the palette of colors from which we could start.
So, I created my own color palette.
Step 7. Add Color
So, we have selected a color palette and we can start adding colors to our character. Remove the layer on which you experimented with color shades to create your own color palette. Choose a standard brush a piece of chalk (chalk), the size (size) brush 44 px, brush color # 506320. Add this color tone to the character as the base color. Change the brush color to # 01080b to highlight the hair area. Varying the size of the brush if necessary will speed up the process of coloring.
Step 8
Change the brush color to # 314305, and then start adding shadows. Reduce the brush size to add shadows to the face, eyes, neck, etc.
Step 9
Create a new layer, and then add dark shadows to the character, to do this, change the brush color to # 001500, draw the shadows around the eyes, in the chin, ears, neck. Avoid using pure black or white or pure green to get the desired results.
Step 10
Change the brush color to # 768a4e, and then add light highlights to your character. Vary the brush size to speed up the coloring process if necessary. Create multiple layers during the ink adding process, so you can control your process, and it will allow you to return to the starting position at any time if something goes wrong.
Step 11. Combine Colors
The next step is to combine the colors, but before that, we need to change the brush settings a bit to get the desired results. Open the brush settings panel, to do this, press the клавишу F5 ’key and then for the Opacity swings (Opacity Jitter), set control to Pen pressure (Pen Pressure).
- ATTENTION! Do not change the parameter ‘Fluctuating the amount of paint’ (Flow Jitter), in this case it is disabled, because these are two different parameters and are used for different purposes. The Opacity Jitter will allow you to control the opacity of the brush stroke with the pen pressure setting, so you can perfectly match the colors, but if you use the Paint amount fluctuation parameter (Flow Jitter ), then you will not have enough opacity control, and therefore you will not get the perfect combination. In the screenshot below, you can see the difference between applying ‘Fluctuating amount of paint’ (Flow Jitter) and ‘Flucting opacity‘ (Opacity Jitter).
Step 12
So, we set the brush to the parameter Opacity swings (Opacity Jitter) Pen pressure (Pen Pressure), and now we are ready to continue the lesson. Without changing the brush tool, re-sample the color. Holding the ‘ALT’ key will quickly switch to the tool Pipette 
(Eyedropper tool). Now start combining colors, because you have configured a parameter Opacity swings (Opacity Jitter) on Pen pressure (pen pressure), then your brush stroke will be low opacity with a light touch and more intense with a strong touch. This means that the opacity of the brush stroke and the color in the image when blending will give a new color when you apply a new brush stroke on top of any color. Select a new color swatch from a brush stroke, and then apply a new brush stroke, and then select a new color again. Continue combining by re-sampling color.
Step 13
Repeat Step 12 to align the highlights on the character. Change the brush size to get the perfect alignment on narrow areas such as ears, eyes, etc.
Step 14
Hold the shadow alignment, repeating Step 12. This will add volume to your character. Vary the size of the brush, if necessary, to get the perfect combination.
Step 15
If any dark shadows remain on the character, they must also be combined. Reduce the size of the brush, and then create a smooth transition of shadows near the eyes, chin, cheek, neck and ears. Do not forget to carry out all this work on a separate new layer, this will allow you to return to the beginning if something goes wrong.
Step 16. Add Light Source
We have completed the basic color alignment, and now we will add lighting effects to the character. Before we add light highlights to the character image, we need to add a light source to our scene. The light source will tell us in which direction the light will fall on our object, and how it will affect the whole scene.
Step 17. Shadows
Considering the effects of lighting, your shadows will fall to the opposite side of the light source. In our scene, the shadow will fall on the left side of the character. Properly projected shadows will give our character a natural look. If you add shadows everywhere, then maybe your scene will not look natural.
Step 18
Select round brush, brush size 50 px and rigidity (hardness) 75%. Press ‘F5’ to open the brush settings panel, set Opacity swings (Opacity Jitter) on Pen pressure (Pen Pressure). Change the brush color to # 041b00, and then add shadows in the lower neck area.
Step 19
Add more shadows to your face to make it more realistic. Reduce the brush size to 30 px, and then add shadows to the left ear, cheek, etc. Vary the brush size as needed to get the desired shadows.
Step 20
Change the brush size to 50 px, brush color # 030602 to add darker shadows to the character.
Step 21
We have added enough shadows to the character, however you will notice that brush strokes are visible on the character image. To fix this, we will soften the transitions that we created in the previous steps. Choose a soft round brush, the size (size) brush 50 px, opacity (opacity) brush 70%. Next, open the brush settings panel, to do this, press the ‘F5’ key, and then set Opacity swings and Fluctuation of paint (Opacity Jitter ” “Flow Jitter) on Pen pressure (Pen Pressure). Check the box in the parameter Smoothing (Smoothing), and also install Interval (Spacing) by 11%. Save this brush, give it a name. Brush Smooth Combination (Smooth blending brush).
Step 22
Now select the brush that you created in the last step, and then start creating a smooth alignment, repeating Step 12. With the soft brush, you will get the perfect smooth alignment.
Step 23
Repeat Step 22, soften all other areas in your character image. During softening, pay attention to small details such as face, ears, eyes, etc. Just do not overdo it with mitigation, because if you overdo it, then you may lose some small details on the image of your character.
Step 24
Now it’s time to add fine details to the face, including wrinkles, edges, etc. Turn off the visibility of the draft layer, set the brush size to 2 px, and also set Opacity swings (opacity jitter) on Pen pressure (pen pressure). Save this brush, name this brush Sketch (Sketch). Change the brush color to # 142406, and then start adding details to your character’s nose.
Step 25
In the same way, add details below the eyes, and soften the details, where there is a need, if necessary, change the size of the brush to improve your character’s facial features. Do not forget to install Opacity swings (Opacity Jitter) on Pen pressure (pen pressure) in the brush settings. This is very important; these brush settings will always be used, so use the same brush and settings throughout the lesson instead of the standard brush.
Step 26
Repeat Steps 25 and 26 to add the rest of the details to the character. Vary the size and color of the brush if necessary, create a smooth transition with a soft brush to get rid of hard brush strokes. After adding all the details, your result should be as in the screenshot below.
Step 27
Now we will add details to the eyes, for this, select the Brush Sketch, set Opacity swings (Opacity Jitter) on the pen pressure in the brush settings. Change the brush color to # 051102, and the brush size to 5 px. Add details to the eye.
Step 28
Change the size (size) brushes on 5 px, brush color # 0f1a09. Add details inside the pupil. We will now add reflective highlights to the pupil, giving the eye a natural look. Reduce the brush’s hardness to 25%, set the brush color to # 699e5c, and then add light highlights to the eye.
Step 29
Select the brush The sketch you created in this lesson, set rigidity (hardness) brushes by 50%, and brush size by 3 px. Set the brush color to # 4a422c, and then add shading to the eyeball to give it depth. Change the brush color to # 27210e, and then add more details to the eyeball.
Step 30
Next, we add veins to the eyeball to give it a more natural look. Add veins with a brush Sketch, brush size 1 px, brush color # 2e1d0f.
Step 31
Repeat Steps 27 through 30, add details to the second eye to give it the same natural look. Do not forget to add reflective glare to the eye to make it more realistic.
Step 32. Add Details to the Mouth and Lips
Next, we add the details to the mouth and lips, but first we will draw the teeth. Select a brush Sketch, change the brush color to black, and also reduce the brush size to 1 or 2 px to paint the teeth.
Step 33
We will add details to the lips to create the desired contour of the mouth. Choose a soft round brush stiffness (hardness) 70%, brush color # 5f3d10, set Opacity swings (Opacity Jitter) on Pen pressure (Pen Pressure). Next, change the brush color to # 563810, and then add shading to the lips. Vary the hardness of the brush, if necessary, to get the desired result.
Step 34
Now change the brush color to # 3a2c0a to add a darker shading to the lips.
Step 35
Next, we add highlights to the lips. Decrease Rigidity (hardness) brushes up to 50%, set the brush color to # 9f8925, and then start adding light highlights to the upper and lower lips.
Step 36
Change the brush color to # afa66c, and then add light highlights to the lips in random order. Avoid too hard brush strokes. This will create a beautiful reflection of light on the lips.
Step 37
We need to highlight the contour of the lips, because It is blurred at the moment. Therefore, change the brush color to # 302605, and then add shadows to highlight the edges of the lips.
Step 38
Add more shading to the lips with a soft brush, the size (size) brush 15 px, brush color # 56431a. Set the parameters Opacity swings (Opacity Jitter) and Fluctuation of paint (Flow Jitter) on Pen pressure (pen pressure) to get the desired result. Save this brush, name this brush Softening brush (smooth brush).
Step 39
Continue to work with a softening brush. Paint around the mouth to highlight the edges, brush color # 22340b and # 67722f.
Step 40
Change the brush color to # bcbb86, reduce rigidity (hardness) brush up to 25%. Paint along the upper edge of the lip to add light highlights and give your lips a more natural look.
Step 41. Draw Teeth
It’s time to draw our character’s teeth. Select the brush Sketch you created in the early steps, change the brush size to 8 px, set the brush color to # 7a7036, and then start painting the teeth. Change the brush color to # 7f855b to add light highlights to the teeth.
Step 42
Change the brush color to # 6d6738 to add shadows to the teeth, this will give them depth and a natural look. Be careful when adding shadows between the gaps of the teeth, too saturated shadows can darken the teeth and hide the details.
Step 43
Now we add light highlights to the teeth to give them a natural look. Change the brush color to # 8d9377. Add glare to your teeth depending on the location of the light source that we identified in the early steps.
Step 44
Next, we will add dark shadows behind the tooth row to give the character’s mouth depth. Select brush Sketch stiffness (hardness) 75%, brush color # 090900, paint over the brush next to the tooth row.
Step 45
Now we add dark shadows to the lips. Change the brush size to 5 px, set the brush color to # 090900, and then draw the shadows to add depth. Change the brush size to 35 px, set rigidity (hardness) brush on 0%, and also set the parameters Swingopacity (Opacity Jitter) and Fluctuation of paint (Flow Jitter) on Pen pressure (pen pressure), and then add more shadows along the edges of the lips to give them a natural look. Save this brush, name this brush Smoothing (smoothing).
Step 46
Next, we smooth out the rough lines on the skin. Choose a brush Smoothing (smoothing), change the color of the brush to # 081603, and then paint over the cheeks, neck, folds and nose to smooth facial features.
Step 47
Next, we will conduct a smooth combination of shades on the skin of the character. Choose a tool Finger 
(smudge tool), and then press the ‘F5’ key to open the brush settings panel. Choose a brush of 20 px, stiffness (hardness) 0% and interval (spacing) 25%. Install Scattering (scattering) by 38%, and Counter (count) to 3, then go to the setting Broadcast (transfer) to install Fluctuation of paint (flow jitter) on Pen pressure (pen pressure). Do not forget to put a tick in the parameter box Smoothing (smoothing). Save this brush, name this brush Combination (blending).
Step 48
Press the keys (Ctrl + A) to select the entire canvas, and then go Editing – Copy merged data (Edit – Copy Merged) or you can press the key combination (Shift + Ctrl + C). Now paste the copied data on a new layer, select the tool Finger (Smudge tool) and then install the brush Combination (blending) you created in the previous step. Hold a combination of shades to make the skin texture perfect.
Step 49. Add Hair to the Eyebrow
In this step, we will add hair to the character’s eyebrows. To do this, select a brush. Smoothing (smoothing), change the brush size to 2 px, brush color # 0a100d, and then draw hairs on the eyebrows. Change the brush color to # 172018 to add light highlights to the eyebrows. Next, change the brush size to 10 px to soften the edges of the eyebrow.
Step 50
Download the “Blur’s good brush 4.0 pro” brushes, install them in your Photoshop program. Select the “Silk brush – 1” brush. Change the brush color to # 090d11, set the brush size to 50 px, and then draw the hair.
Step 51
Select the “Hair – fine” brush from the “Blur’s good brush 4.0 pro” brush set, change the brush color to # 505e6d. Draw small strands of hair. Vary the size of the brush, if necessary, to give your hair a more realistic look.
Step 52
Next, we will correct the shadows with a soft brush to get the perfect shadows on our character. Add shadows on the muscles as well as in the chest area. Vary the color of the brush as needed to avoid 100% saturated colors and 100% black.
Step 53
Using a soft brush, brush size is 40 px, brush color # 9aad6d, add light highlights to the specified areas.
Step 54. Add Texture to the Skin
Next, we will add a texture to the character’s skin. To do this, select the “Concrete – 2” brush, change the brush color to #bdbaac, and then start adding details to the character’s skin. Change the brush color to # 394c16, add a dark texture to balance the skin texture. If necessary, reduce Opacity (opacity) layer with texture up to 80%.
Step 55
After adding the texture, you may have to hide the extra details of the texture in some areas of the image, because the skin is not so smooth in all areas. On the skin texture layer, click the icon. Add layer mask (layer mask) at the bottom of the layers panel to add a layer mask. Choose a soft round brush Opacity (opacity) 40%, press the ‘D’ key to set the background / foreground color to black / white and then use a soft black brush to hide the extra texture details from the skin.
Step 56
Select the brush “Concrete – 2”, change the brush color to # b4b3a2. Add bright highlights to the character’s skin.
Step 57
Repeat Step 56, add more bright highlights to give the character’s image a natural look. Your character should look like the screenshot below.
Step 58
Our character looks lifeless in green, so let’s add warm tones to it to liven up it. Create a new layer. Choose a soft brush, brush color # cbc129. Add soft colors to the character. Change the blending mode for this layer to Chromaticity (color). Name this layer Warm color (warm color).
Step 59
Create a new layer. Increase brush size to 100 px, set rigidity (hardness) at 0%. Change the brush color to # d5c600 and db8c16. Add more warm colors to the character. Change the blending mode for this layer to Chromaticity (color).
Step 60
Next, we will add a bright edge to the outline of the character image. Choose a brush Sketch (sketching) you created in this tutorial, install Opacity swings (opacity jitter) on Pen pressure (pen pressure). Change the brush size to 10 px, brush color #cfddbf. Add a bright edge along the edge of the character image.
Step 61
Choose a soft brush, the color of the brush is black to hide the lower edges of the image of our character. Next, select the “Spotted -3” brush, change the brush color to # 081f05. Add texture to the bottom of the character image. Group all layers, to do this, press the keys (Ctrl + E) to merge all the layers. Name the merged layer Character (Character). Duplicate this layer, discolor the duplicate layer, change the blending mode to Hard light (Hard light) and also reduce Opacity (opacity) layer up to 20%.
Step 62. Add a Cut to the Skin
Now we will add a cut and stitches to the skin. Select the “Cut (Multiply)” brush, change the brush color to # 1d1f11, and then add the cut to the skin. Select the “Stitch (Multiply)” brush to add stitches.
Step 63
Next, we will add drained blood from the wound wound. Paint the blood with a hard brush, brush size 10 px, brush color # 490707. Next, select a brush. Sketch (sketch) you created in this tutorial, change the brush color to # ce9696, and then add bright highlights to the blood image. Next, change the brush color to # 36180e to add shading over the piece of blood. Then add a blood shadow on the body to give the effect a natural look. To change the color of blood from red to green, create a new layer, fill it with the following shade # 093900. Right-click on this layer and in the appeared window select the option Create clipping mask (Create Clipping Mask), to fix the layer with fill to the layer with the effect of blood, change the blending mode to Chromaticity (color).
Step 64. Making Color Corrections
This is the final step in this tutorial. We’ll do the Hulk color correction to make it look perfect. Add adjustment layer Curves (curves). Set the following settings for this adjustment layer: entrance (Input) -113, Output (Output) -113. Add adjustment layer Color Balance (color balance). Set the following settings: Red (red) +5, Greens (Green) +10, Blue (Blue) -5.
I hope that you liked this lesson, and you learned something new for yourself. Thank you for attending the lesson, and I wish you a good time at this lesson.
The final result:
PSD lesson
Posted by: Narendra Keshkar
