Marta Dahlig shows you how to quickly generate creative

ideas and overcome artists block with a simple exercise

ou simply cannot overestimate
the role that creativity plays in
every artists life. After all, its
our ability to generate original
ideas that determines our style, and thus
our artistic identity. We all know how
amazing it feels when were soaring on
the wings of inspiration and how
frustrating it is to lose that spark, left to
wallow in the misery of artistic block.
The main purpose of this workshop is
to let you in on a trusty exercise that I do
whenever I need to boost my creativity or
overcome an artistic frustration. The
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Finding the stock photo
The first thing to do is find a stock photo. Its tempting to spend a lot of time
searching for the perfect image, but the point of the exercise is to use as plain and
common images as possible. We want inspiration from everyday objects, so you should
never spend more than five minutes searching for a photograph. As you only have 10
minutes to complete a sketch, dont bother repainting the stock photo, just paste it into
the image for now its only a source of
inspiration, not a reference. I chose the first
thing that came to mind, a bureau.
EXPAND YOUR
CREATIVITY
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The golden rule of
creative thinking
Before beginning to sketch, I always decide
what I intend the distinctive quality of my
painting to be. There are many factors that
can make a painting special lighting,
colouring and subject, for example. The most
important thing is to know from the very
beginning what you want to achieve its
often too late to incorporate an attention
grabber once you are past your mid-
colouring phase. Personally, I prefer to plan
my images precisely to achieve the effect I
desire, but sometimes its worthwhile just to
go with the flow. For this exercise, try to
keep the object stock photo as the main
focal point of the image, as it can be all to
easy to let yourself get carried away...
exercise is simple: based on a stock
photograph, I sketch three original,
distinctive ideas, not taking more than
10 minutes per sketch.
While the first part of the workshop (in
issue 31 turn to page 91 to get your
hands on a copy) covered the use of an
environmental stock photo, this part is
devoted to placing an object within a
painting, making it the centre of your
creative attention. I find this exercise does
wonders, even if only done occasionally,
but the best results come from daily
practice. Remember to save your sketches,
Y
as they might come in useful later,
particularly when you are searching for a
subject to become a full-blown painting.
While a lot of this might seem
theoretical, Ill also be sharing some
practical tips concerning the technical
execution of particular elements. To get
the best out of the workshop, its a good
idea to own an advanced painting
program such as Photoshop or Painter
(demos are available on the DVD), and
to work with a tablet. The stock photo
shown in the early steps of the workshop
can be found on the DVD, too.
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Sketch 1: Lighting
Firstly, I decide to be creative with
mystic lighting. I change the colours of
the photo to some darker, bluish tones
and choose a contrasting yellow for effect.
I add the glow coming out of the drawers
with my Stars custom brush, but an
Airbrush could be used to similar effect.
After sketching the room, I decide to add
a narrative element, so I quickly paint a
little girl peeking into the drawer, giving
the image a Narnia-like feel. The sketch
took about nine minutes in total.
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Workshops
Marta Dahlig
COUNTRY: Poland
Born in
Warsaw in
1985, Marta is
a young and
talented
artist, and an expert in
custom brushes.
www.marta-dahlig.com
DVD Assets
The files and photo
you need are on
your DVD, in the Marta
Dahlig folder in the
Workshops section.
SOFTWARE: Painter X,
Photoshop CS3 (demos)
July 2008
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Find your style
If you cant define your
style, do a dozen
spontaneous sketches.
You can depict anything
but differ the ideas and
spend only 20-30
minutes on each.
Afterwards, compare the
sketches and youll find
common themes in your
work. Analyse what you
spend most time on, and
find out what your
favourite perspective,
subject or colour palette
is. Its often best to
analyse such sketches
over paintings, as the
extra time can distort
your original direction.
4
Sketch 2: Colour and
content contrasts
For a bit of a change, I make my next
sketch modern. I messily block in black
and white blobs to simulate a junkyard,
then run the Median filter over them to
clean them up. In the far distance, I add
ruined buildings and power lines. I block
in some black blobs in the background
and use a Motion Blur filter to make them
look like flying crows. This image is all
about colour contrast, so my bureau was
placed in the centre with some green
leaves growing out of it. The image ends
up slightly surrealistic and, when
polished, might look quite interesting.
This sketch took about seven minutes.
5
Sketch 3: Surrealistic contrasts
Characters are my favourite subject to paint, so I decide to sketch something
character-centric. The idea came to me quickly instead of painting the bureau beside
my female character, I'll make it a part of her. Where seems obvious to me, so I place a
drawer in the characters chest. To give the sketch some early narrative elements and a
context for interpretation, I add some butterflies flying out of the drawer. The full
process takes about seven minutes. I decide this is the sketch with the most potential.
6
Sketch redesign
Now Ive got my idea, I take some time to think my chosen
sketch through. The drawer isnt subtle enough, so I replace it with a
cup formed by the characters hands. To avoid a portrait feel, I decide
to push the character further back into the image; adding a swing
seems the perfect way to do this. I block in the shapes with my Hard
Ragged Round brush and sketch shaping lines on top of the blocks.
7
Defining the character
I want my character to look young
about 15 years old, as I have just come
up with an idea for a title: Adolescence.
Using the Hard Round brush I define her
facial anatomy, block in dress folds and
soften the colour transitions on the arms.
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Colour Balance
Ctrl/Cmd+B
This shortcut enables you to
quickly access the ever-
useful Colour Balance tool
in Photoshop.
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Workshops
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8
Character detailing
I shade the dress further with the Hard Round brush, then blend in the colour
blocks in Painter with the Blender tool. This produces crisp colour transitions and a
solid feel to the fabric. I quickly design a flowery pattern to decorate the plain dress.
I dont want the pattern to feature any particular details, so I simply place in a few
airbrushed blobs then play around with Copy/Paste and flipping them around, to form
a colourful hem at the dress edges. Last, I merge the hem with the dress, using the
Median filter to unify the airbrushed blobs with the crisper feel of the dress material.
9
Defining the
facial expression
The characters expression is one of the
most important elements of the whole
image. Therefore, after painting in a
neutral, cloudy background, I proceeded
to define the features of the young girl.
To underline her adolescence I add some
freckles and add a healthy pink blush. I
round the face and smooth the colour
transitions for an extra soft effect.
10
Enriching content
I decide the simple cloud plus
wheatfield base are a bit too sugary for my
taste, so I introduce some darker energy to
the artwork by adding a dry, gnarled tree.
This way the painting gains much more
edge and character, taking on elements of
my personal style. Next, I prepare the
base to paint my main focal point (the
butterflies) on, by finishing up the details
of the dress and rope swing.
11
Inspirational details
To prepare the butterflies, I block
in some basic shapes with the Hard
Round brush and, as usual, blur them
with Median and Gaussian Blur tools.
I dont want the butterflies to be too
detailed, so I aim to merely hint at the
detail instead of painting every single bit.
12
Final image
To finish the image, I copy and paste the butterflies around,
lightening them with the Dodge tool and altering colours with Colour
Balance and Hue/Saturation in Photoshop. To avoid the copy-paste
look, I take an orange Airbrush and, on a separate layer, run over the
butterflies with it, with the layers mode as Hard Light. I then duplicate
the butterfly layer, setting the layer mode to Hard Light at 70 per cent
Opacity and reducing the layer below down to 20 per cent Opacity.
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Colour pick
Alt/Option+Click Quickly pick the clicked colour, without switching to the Eye Dropper tool in
Photoshop.
July 2008
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