Workshops

Alexander Nanitchkov paints a

card art image for Spellweaver,
featuring a lizardman…

his illustration started as

Alexander
T a speedpaint for Facebook
group Daily Spitpaint, which
is a useful composition Photobashing the rocks
Nanitchkov exercise. The group comes up with daily I browse my personal photo library and pick
LOCATION: Bulgaria
topics, and members can create and post out relevant rock and cliff-side imagery.
Then I photobash and overpaint, using
Alexander is speedpaints as long as they’re done
normal brushes and the Smudge tool. It’s
a traditional within 30 minutes and without using important to continue expanding a library of
artist who’s photo-techniques. If any of my good-quality photos, pictures and textures
embraced the in order to have a wide variety of options
digital canvas speedpainting concepts either have
when photobashing.
in recent years. His potential or were well accepted, then I
favourite subjects to turn them into fully developed artworks.
explore are conceptual
environments and
This concept was chosen and
character design. commissioned for Spellweaver, a card
http://ifxm.ag/alexnan game that I’ve been working. It features a

GET YOUR
mythical race I’ve had a lot of fun with:
lizardmen. I wanted to convey the
RESOURCES
See page 6 now!
character as strong and agile, and I used
the pose, tail and even the strain on the
rope, to hopefully achieve that.
When working I regularly flip the
image horizontally to look for mistakes
in composition or anatomy. At the end,
I applied Smart Sharpen at 100 per cent
to tighten up the image.

How I create…
A LIZARDMAN ON THE LOOK-OUT

Thumbnail for speed Adding details The final touches

1 I start off by working on thumbnail
sketches of the character, to be used
as silhouettes for the character’s pose. Then
I do a line sketch over the thumbnail,
enhancing the pose, outfit and items.
2 I paint the parts of the lizardman’s
body, in particular his hands with a Normal
brush, followed by a strong Smudge effect.
This helps me to refine the smaller details,
such as the veins in his hand.
3 Painting takes many hours of
rendering. Next is some photobashing for the
background rocks and clouds, and a lot of
overpainting. I polish with the Smudge tool
and made final touches with sharp brushes.

74 June 2016
 Artist insight Speedpainting

Chest details
I spend extra time on references, to make
sure the chest is anatomically realistic.
I start with normal brushes and continue
with a Smudge tool, to softly blend the
normal brushes and incorporate values.
I also use a rock texture brush on 50 per
cent Opacity, to depict the scaly skin.

Leading the eye

I use diagonal shapes within the shades,
cliffs and the overall composition, to direct
the viewer towards the focal point. I use
flocks of birds, as well as vegetation details
at different distances, to add depth of field
and a sense of scale.

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PHOTOSHOP
CUSTOM BRUSHES:
NORMAL BRUSH

Good for rendering and

blending, sometimes on
20 per cent Opacity, but
in most cases on 50 or
more, with Flow on 100.

ROCK TEXTURE

Good for skin and rocks.

Sometimes I use this
brush on a separate layer
with the Overlay option
on, for even more depth.

BIRDS

I find this brush comes

in really useful for
painting birds.
History brush
I strive to give all the different materials ARTBRUSH 1
a unique and realistic volume and texture,
and dictate how they react to light. For the
belt and quiver I use my custom artbrush1
(see right), set to Sample all Layers. This Good for a more artistic
enables me to achieve a rougher, more approach. I also use it for
artistic brushstroke with an interesting aging surfaces, in this
texture that can resemble leather. case the leather effect.

June 2016 75