Some people asked me how i do my pictures with tablet pen. I use very few features of Photoshop - and one of them is layering. Here i will show how i use layers during the creation of the picture.

1st step: I make a dirty scetch of my future picture.

2nd step: When the scetch is finished i turn the opacity of this layer from 100% to 5-20% and create a new layer over it. It will be used for creation of more clean and detailed scetch. Each layer can be edited independently from the others.

3d Step: Final scetch is ready.
4d Step: After it we can turn the opacity of the scetch layer to 30-50% and create some new layers.

In the example shown here i use 5 layers for different zones. It makes me free to edit them without being afraid that whole picture will be corrupted. Here it was very usefull for me when i tried different colors for the sky.

Step 5: To obtain more realistic picture I add details.

More layers can make the creation of picture more easy (In this example i could make own layers for trees, mountains, houses) but a very large amount of layers will slow your work due to the problems of navigating around them.

Tafs..thanks for the explanation!! Awesome picture by the way. I have saved all of it to try it out. Using your directions, of course. I will try and do the exact same picture. When I finish I will post it here.

If u will have new questions - ask them here.

And i forgot to say that after step 5 i hide all layers with black lines (scetches). Also if you want to make detailed picture using tablet pen you need to create a big enough file.. For example this picture originaly is 1600x1200 and here is posted just 800x600.

Thanks, I might try this if I can find the time. lol. You really explain it so clearly that I feel I should be able to do it.

I'm not complaining but I've had to turn down jobs. I'm only accepting portraits now.

bob

Tafs,
Thanks for the info. Why do you change the opacity?

Bob,
Wow, thats great to hear. I hope there all paying customers. You do great work!
Paulette

One of those I turned down was a tropical mural on the side of a building, lol. I told the lady that I would help if she could find a younger artist to do the painting.

Yes, the portraits are paying. I have four at the present.

bob

Because it is much more easy for me to color some elements of picture through transparent lines (especially small details).

That's great Bob!

Thank you Tafs.

Paulette