When I first started painting textures, I didn’t have any information at hand on how to do it right: no books, no lessons, not even access to the Internet. But, in those glorious times, all the problems were nothing to me and no difficulties stopped me on the way to solving the task! A lot of time has passed since then, and I will definitely never sit down to draw textures without a scan, without an already created model, and even watercolor on paper! But, nevertheless, I had this. However, it was the textures that became something special and beloved for me. Now I do a lot of concept drawing - it's fun, I've had to model and that's great too, but textures are like a song to a nightingale for me! In general, I really like this work, or even this kind creative activity, if you like.
Drawing my first textures, I first of all focused on real textures taken literally from nature. As a result, I have accumulated a decent collection of all sorts of pebbles, sticks, bark, rusty iron, half-decayed burlap and other strange property at home. I also had to take a lot of pictures. My camera leaves a lot to be desired, but pictures of real textures are invaluable material for analysis.
By the way, a small recommendation: do not go photographing textures alone :). Always take someone with you - it's more fun and safer. Since a person who photographs moss growing on the foundation of some building in the city center, while practically lying on the pavement, causes an unhealthy, but quite understandable interest among passers-by. However, if someone nevertheless decided to find out in more detail what you are doing, then perhaps the only thing left to do is to purchase creative look a la Salvador Dali, and say the sacramental phrase: “I am an Artist!”.
Focusing on photos, you can create wonderful textures. Look at the complex structure of the straw, at the transitions between light and shadow, the contrast of these relationships.
All collected and photographed materials are carefully studied, considering the "live" texture, you can do a lot important discoveries. However, the most important thing, subsequently, is to transfer all these observations and conclusions to drawn textures. By the way, why draw textures? After all, looking at a high-quality photo of straw, you just want to use it in your game! The answer is quite simple and complex at the same time. On the one hand, photo textures are wonderful and at first glance can greatly speed up the work process. But, on the other hand, there are a number of nuances that also need to be taken into account. For example, using hand-drawn and photo textures at the same time is very difficult, because of this, the whole integrity of the game can “fly”.
For the game "Legends of Allods", at one time, several test character textures were created using photographs. We almost immediately abandoned this idea, since the photorealistic faces of the characters looked too contrasting with the hand-drawn "Allod" landscapes and surroundings.
Accordingly, it is necessary either to make tremendous efforts to create a harmonious set of textures (drawn textures must be the highest level, a special coloristic control is needed so that the color and lightness of the textures drawn and photos are the same), or use an exaggerated style when realistic objects with photo texture suddenly appear in a stylized, drawn world. There is another point that is often observed when using photo textures by beginners in games - a certain dullness. The graphics are mediocrely the same, without zest. And the fact that photo textures are supposedly a lifeline and thanks to a good camera you can move mountains is actually nothing but a myth. Again, to make a texture out of a simple photo, you need to work as much, if not more, than just drawing it from scratch, and the result will not always be better.
Look at the texture of the old red bricks. They are tiny, almost friable. A similar feeling is caused by a lot of details on each brick, cracks, crevices, as well as a “faded” color scheme.
However, I will not delve into the problems of making photo textures, but will immediately move on to drawing. Here, it should probably be said that in drawing textures, as well as in drawing in general, there is no universal way that could be called the best and most convenient. In my article I will talk about how I do it myself, and I hope that the reader will find useful information here. However, it should not be surprising that there are still a great many other ways to draw textures. Both simpler and more complex.
Very interesting natural texture of the earth. Similar cracks, but only small ones, can be observed on the surface, where there used to be a puddle dried up in extreme heat. I managed to find these large, picturesque cracks on a deserted island, on the site of a dry estuary.
Traditionally textures are painted in Adobe Photoshop, but it so happened that I do it with the help of another graphic editor, namely Corel Photo-Paint. Basically, it doesn't mean anything. It doesn't matter where the textures will be drawn, the result is important, as well as comfort in work. For example, I really like Photo-Paint's interface. And one more important point: Graphics tablet, this is, of course, very good, but you can also create wonderful textures by drawing with the mouse. I'm writing this in case you don't have a tablet, it shouldn't get in the way of making good quality textures. And mouse-drawn and pen-drawn textures are evaluated equally. In many ways, this "injustice" is similar to traditional painting – good artist will write good picture even on bad paper and bad colors. And vice versa, best paper and most the best paints do not "stretch" a weak painting.
So, how do you get a texture from a normal scan? First you need to "dial" local color spots. Typically, there is a pre-made color sketch by the concept artist, which helps the texturer a lot with the colors and common idea. You paint over the entire scan at once, or you will work out in detail the entire skin of the character, and only then will you take, for example, clothes, it doesn’t matter.
However, it is best to illustrate each step step by step. For starters, enough simple example, such as an ordinary (more precisely, not quite ordinary, but a real elven!) bow.
First we need to unwrap, but in this example it will be a little different, so instead of unwrapping, we just used the render of the model. This is perfectly acceptable for simple object such as a bow or sword. However, the use of a sweep is also, to some extent, a sign good manners, which also should not be forgotten.
Now the color is typed, the location of the decor is determined.
The structure of the material is being worked out, in this case, wood. Decor elements are also being worked on.
Well, and, finally, the volume is worked out, shadows and light are solved. It takes me no more than 10 minutes to make such a simple texture.
Another example of turning a scan into a texture. If you have a good scan, there are no problems with drawing, and it takes very little time to create such a texture. The main thing to remember about the seams and joints on the texture / model. Therefore, when drawing, you should go a little beyond the edges of the scan.
In this screenshot, we can see the orcs already in the game.
More complex textures are drawn according to the same principle. The main differences are only that there are much more elements and details in the texture. True, not everything is as simple as it might seem at first glance. As in any graphic work it takes a lot of effort and practice from the texture artist. And the creative part will require the manifestation of imagination and resourcefulness. After all, textures are undoubtedly very interesting, but many novice artists do not take into account the fact that the textures for the game will require VERY many, and many of them will be quite monotonous.
Another onion texture. For the game "Legends of Allods: Legacy of the Necromancer" more than ten textures of bows were drawn - and during one day. And this requires from the artist a certain perseverance and the ability to perform monotonous, but also creative work for a long time.
If you want to express your worldview through a vision of the life around you, for example, in a city landscape (Fig. 26), then you need to learn how to reflect the walls of houses, asphalt roads, shrubs, trees, the water surface of a river, using the means available in the artist’s arsenal, on paper or canvas, bound by stone or cast-iron parapets of embankments, sky, clouds, etc.
figure 26 A.E. Alekseev. City landscape (Krakow). Paper. Marker. 1974
In still life painting, it is very important to convey the materiality of household items made of glass, metal, leather, plastic, and also to achieve the “liveness” of the image of flowers, fruits, etc.
In the portrait, the individuality of the person is significantly complemented (and sometimes expressed by deep essence, revealing secrets carefully hidden under the mask of restraint), costume, dress, jewelry, other accessories, which artists always treat with great attention, technical means his craft and style, conveying the texture of fabric, leather, metal, precious stones.
In order to vividly and emotionally convey the texture and texture of various objects, it is necessary to use those laws of the image of objects in space that we studied above - these are the laws of linear and aerial perspective, location of chiaroscuro on objects, their tonality.
If the tonality is correctly conveyed in the drawing, then the texture of the object will be shown most expressively. For example, in one of the portraits painted by the great Russian artist Ilya Efimovich Repin (Fig. 27), in the foreground, there are books on the table. The one closer to us is an old edition with a tattered spine. But if we take a closer look, we will see that the spine of the book is written with one broad stroke of the brush, without drawing details (see sidebar in Fig. 27). The art of the artist is correct definition and expressing the tonality of the subject, which made it possible to express both the texture and the materiality of the spine of an old book with a single brushstroke.
figure 27 I.E. Repin. Portrait of I.M. Sechenov. Canvas. Oil. 1889
IN graphic technique, starting with a sketch, the ability of a graphic artist to correctly express the materiality of an object on paper is also very important.
A visual representation of the material gives texture- state of the surface of the mass of material.
The texture can be mirror or matte, smooth or rough, etc. For example, the difference between the surface of glass and the surface of concrete. The structure of the mass also matters, its structure is what artists called texture.
For example, the texture of wood is different from the texture of marble. IN graphic drawing characteristics materials are emphasized with the help of various technical means of image. So, for example, for the image of glass, the technique is used watercolor painting and a soft brush (Fig. 28), for vegetation - a stick, for concrete - dry) brush and ink or oil paint. In addition, widely used graphic pencils. soft pencil it is good to convey the different texture of the stone on a granular ( watercolor paper), harder, longer strokes on smooth paper, you can show the transparency of glass or the expanse of water.
figure 28 The image of the texture in the technique of watercolor painting
So, in order to convey various textures and structures (textures) of objects and materials, one must be able to use various technical means: pencil, felt-tip pen, pen, drypoint, etc. (Fig. 29).
figure 29 The image of the texture and texture of the material by various technical means
Hatching in the picture is of considerable importance. Therefore, in addition to the ability to draw the shape of an object and convey its volume, the artist must master the pencil in such a way as to convey the texture of the surface or the materiality of the object. IN academic drawing have their own traditions in terms of stroke culture. For example, hatching geometric bodies, such as a ball or a cube, is made according to the shape of the surface. I wrote about what types of hatching exist in a classic drawing in. Now, I want to pay attention to how, with the help of simple pencil you can convey the texture of the surface of foliage, grass, tree bark ... How often do novice artists ask themselves such questions: how to paint glass, water, clouds, animal hair or hair in a portrait? How to hatch a drapery or a wicker basket in a still life? The answer to questions like this lies partly in the technique of creating texture through pencil hatching. This process can be figuratively called “pencil painting”, because the pencil is capable of many “tricks”, like a brush and paints.
For this reason, I publish 30 different textures and varieties of hatching in the drawing. Of course, these are only approximate possibilities of a pencil. There can be many more such textures - their number is limited only by the artist's imagination. But these examples are enough to clearly see that shading is not just a left-right movement of the pencil. This is very creative process. But with this approach, it is important not to forget - the main task stroke is to convey tone. That is, by means of a stroke, the artist makes parts of the drawing darker or lighter. And only then, the stroke creates texture and other effects.
- As you can see in these examples, the pencil line can be either wide or narrow. This is achieved by the fact that I drew either with the plane of the pencil lead, or with its tip. As a result, the line became either thin and sharp, or wide and soft.
- The direction of the stroke lines also affects the texture. It can be multidirectional, or it can only be directed in one direction.
- The stroke line is also different. In some hatches it is straight. In others it is curved. Thirdly, "clumsy". Fourth - oval or wavy ...
- Of considerable importance is the connection of hatching lines with each other. The surface of the drawing is shaded in parts or fragments. The shape and size of these pieces may vary. And consequently, the combination of these parts into a single whole will be different. This affects the creation of a particular texture. In addition to joining these “pieces”, the connection of individual stroke lines also affects the texture. And it can be different too.
- Different ways of superimposing hatching layers on each other also affect the formation of the texture.
- Pencil touch can be different. For example, the pencil is strongly pressed on the paper, a line is drawn and then the pencil smoothly comes off the surface of the sheet - a line similar to a comma is obtained. In the second case, the line is drawn in such a way that the pencil does not come off the paper at all - a zigzag is obtained. And in the third version, the pencil smoothly begins to touch the surface of the sheet, then a line is drawn, and then the pencil also smoothly comes off the drawing. In addition, the line can appear abruptly and end abruptly, which forms a completely different hatching.
Applying wood texture to various surfaces by means of paints and varnishes is practiced for a long time professional artists and designers.
But, as it turns out, there is a special paint imitating wood on the market. We will talk about the characteristics of these coatings and how to use them in this article.
Turning metal or plastic into wood is easy
In the photo - KAOWA SEMENTOL - "liquid tree"
On the net you will find many videos in which professional artists, using special brushes, foam swabs and other means on various objects, they recreate the texture of wood. After varnishing, analogues.
stock up necessary tools, patience and try to do something similar. Unfortunately, you most likely will not be able to draw the texture of a tree by hand. But do not despair, there is a way out - this is a special paint that imitates the structure of a tree.
For example, in some specialized stores you will find paints and varnishes represented by the KAOWA SEMENTOL trademark. On cans with these products, you can see such designations as "mahogany paint" or oak, ash, teak, etc.
That is, these paints and varnishes allow not only to imitate the location of wood fibers on certain surfaces, but to reproduce the texture of valuable or exotic wood species. This advantage is especially true when decorating furniture and other elements of the entourage.
Scope of application
Special paints and varnishes, sold as liquid wood paint, are designed to treat various surfaces with a high and medium degree of density. These coatings can be applied both for indoors and for finishing outside.
The paint is applied with equal success on wooden, plastic, metal, ceramic, glass and other substrates with a matte, smooth and glossy surface. Specialized paints for imitation of wood texture do not contain wood-based fillers, and therefore are resistant to the negative effects of environmental factors.
As already mentioned, the use of special compositions is relevant when decorating furniture and other elements in the interior with your own hands.
These paints have found wide application in workshops engaged in the improvement of car interiors. Thanks to special paints and varnishes, unpresentable plastic dashboards, covers of various drawers and other surfaces in the car can be made "wooden".
Despite the fact that the price of coatings imitating the texture of wood is many times higher than the cost of traditional enamels, this method is still more affordable than paying for the services of a professional artist.
Features of applying "liquid wood"
The use of special coatings is no more difficult than the usual coloring of wood. But there is one condition: you must use the right tool: a hard flat brush based on natural bristles.
The length of the bristles determines how pronounced the texture of the tree will be. That is, if you need the fibers to be well drawn, use a brush with a short pile. The longer the pile, the more subtle the texture will be.
The paint is applied directly from the can without special preparation and without the use of solvents. It is necessary to decide in advance on the required color, since it will not work to change the tone or color of the paint during application.
Important: Special paint designed to imitate wood is not mixed, but only shaken just before opening the can.
It is necessary to prepare the surface before decorating in the same way as before applying any paintwork materials based on organic solvents. That is, the base is cleaned of bumps and dirt,.
If a glossy finish is being decorated, it should be matted with zero sanding paper to ensure maximum adhesion.
The paint is applied in long strips from one edge of the product to the other. Rubbing the applied layer, as is done with conventional coatings, should not be done, as the texture of the imitation of wood fibers will be violated. A shiny film appears literally 15 minutes after application, and complete drying occurs after 1-3 hours, depending on temperature and humidity.
According to the people who applied KAOWA SEMENTOL in accordance with the specified instructions, the finished coating is an order of magnitude superior to vinyl veneer in terms of quality and degree of similarity with a cut of a tree.
How to do without special paints
In the photo - drawing the texture manually
What to do if there are no special compounds for imitating the texture of wood in the nearest hardware stores, and most likely will not appear, but it is necessary to decorate this or that surface?
In this case, you have to awaken in yourself creative potential and get to work.
- In order to draw wooden surface we need acrylic paints and varnish on a similar basis. We select paints of two colors: one is dark brown, the other is several tones lighter closer to beige. We also use two types flat brushes with hard bristles. One brush with longer hair and the other with shorter hair.
- We prepare the surface. We clean from dirt and dust, primer if necessary.
- Apply the first layer dark paint . The layer should be even, it should be applied with a brush with a long bristle. When the first layer is completely dry, you can start applying the texture.
- We apply light paint with a second layer, also using a brush with a long nap.
In the photo - a tool for simulating wood using simple paints
- Then we wait until the second layer begins to dry out, take a short-haired brush and draw one line across the coating from side to side. Veins will appear on the surface of the painted coating, resembling wood fibers.
Tip: If the brush is not hard enough, you can use a clothes brush to apply the texture.
- After the second coat of paint is completely dry, you can apply varnish.
Conclusion
As you can see, the instruction to imitate wood using various paints and varnishes is not difficult. deal with this creative work Surely anyone can. More useful information you will find out by watching the video in this article.
