Krita

Pro illustrator Toby Willsmer shares his key techniques for painting and adjusting standout lighting in your artwork

In this workshop, I’ll be focusing on some techniques I use to add dramatic lighting to illustrations. We’ll start from the beginning, where I’ll describe the initial sketching stages and set up some simple masks to use while painting. From there, it’s on to the process of painting our light sources, including using Adjustment Layers to enhance colours, and some post-colour adjustments to give your finished illustration depth.

Throughout this tutorial, I’ll share pointers to keep in mind such as tweaking your saturation levels and adding movement when painting with light effects. This workshop will also take a look at shadows and how you can use a simple technique to add more depth to them. I’ll be using the painting software Krita for the entire piece, explaining the default brushes that I’ve used for this piece, plus how you can give a finished illustration extra pop with the help of an overall Filter Layer.