Painting Flames, Magic, and other FX using Gradient Maps in Photoshop.

Hi there, 

I have been playing round in Photoshop on and off over the last couple of days to sharpen my painting skills and thought I'd share with you a really neat little way of painting glow based FX.

Here are a few examples of studies I have painted using this technique.

Examples of different FX painted using the same gradient map technique.

The actual process to set-up a layer ready to paint using a gradient map is pretty simple and doesn't take more than a couple of minutes once you have completed the step's a few times.

1. Create a new canvas in Photoshop at the size that you want to paint.

2. In the layers window, create a new Group using the group button at the bottom.

Create a new Group using the Group button.

3. Adjust the groups "Blend Mode" using the drop down box. The group's blend mode should be set to "Screen".

Adjust the blend mode of the group.

Set blend mode to "Screen".

4. Add 2 new layers into the group by selecting the group layer and then left mouse clicking on the new layer button twice. 

The top layer is used to paint your design on, the bottom layer must be filled with solid black.

Create two new layers inside of the group.

5. Select the top most layer inside the group, and add an adjustment by clicking on the "New Adjustment" button at the bottom of the window.

Select the top most layer inside of the group.

click on the "Add new Adjustment" button.

6. A list of adjustments will pop up, select the Gradient Map Option at the bottom of the list.

Select the "Gradient Map" option near the bottom of the list.

7. When you select the Gradient Map option, a new layer will be created that has a gradient attached to it. The Adjustments shelf will also have appeared from your list of shelves. 

Click on the Gradient inside the shelf. This will open the "Gradient Editor". Using the gradient editor you can make new gradients and adjust them. You can also select from the default ones and any that you have made and saved previously.

Use the "Gradient Editor" to chose your gradient or to create new custom ones of your own.

I have made and saved a few new gradients of my own for Fire and Flames, Smoke and different colours of magic etc. 

Each Gradient has several different shades that go from Black on the left to a colour with a high value on the right, usually a white or slightly off white colour. I mostly try to have at least 4 or 5 different shades of colour in my gradients to control the types of values of colour I want in my designs and also to add more interest.

My custom gradients. From top to bottom. Fire, Green Magic, Blue Magic, and Red Magic or another slightly different version of Fire.

Once you are happy with your Gradient, click on the "OK" button at the top of the Gradient Editor. You can come back to your gradient and adjust it at any time while painting by simply selecting the adjustment layer in your layers window and clicking on the gradient to open the Gradient Editor again.

8.Select the centre layer of the Group. Paint your design using WHITE and the brush tool. If you have a Wacom Tablet you can get some really nice overlapping values of colour using the pressure sensitivity of the pen. If you don't have a Wacom then you can also use the opacity options for the brush (at the top of the screen) to get a similar effect using the mouse.

Paint on the middle layer in White.

I really enjoy using this technique to paint glow based FX. Because you are using just white to paint with, and letting the gradient is taking care of the colour values. (Based on the amount of white that you are putting down on the canvas). It really frees you up to focus on the shapes and design of the effect.

Here are the above examples again but in larger versions.

Flame.

Small Flame.

Not much to the design here, the main thing to try and get into the painting is the overall shape of the flame. Asymmetrical shapes work best.

Magic Bolt.

Magic Bolt.

When painting magic I try to get layers of interest and detail into the design. Again an asymmetrical design works best for the overall shape. I have tried to incorporate more intricate lightning within the overall design to indicate power within the bolt.

Magical Smoke.

Magical Smoke.

For this example I tried to imagine smoke rising from a cauldron, with tendrils of magical power mixed within. Again this design it all about asymmetry and layers of interest.

Flame beast shape thing.

Flame beast shape.

Of all of the studies on this page this one took the longest and is still in need of more work. I am still pleased with the overall look of the design, again it is asymmetrical and contains more of my layered thinking on the detail.

The next evolution to creating these FX based paintings is to combine several of the different coloured gradient maps into the same design for yet more layers of interest.

Anyway I hope that you have enjoyed this quick infotainment tutorial! Now go have fun with your own designs!

Kiwicarpool Stage 2 Animation

I have been super busy of late working on a vast range of different projects some of them animated, some illustrative and allot not related to animation at all. I hope to find more time to devote to animation soon once all of my non animated projects have been completed.

In the mean time here is another Kiwi carpool infomercial that I had the fortune of working on a few weeks ago. 

This job came through rather urgently one afternoon with the client wanting the completed clip back within a few days. In the end I managed to turn this clip around in less than 24 hours.

Most of the animation is the same as in the last clip. The running time and most of the facts that the client wanted to hi-light have changed from the stage one animation and had to be re-timed and animated. The result I think is a much punchier and easier to assimilate informational video.

Enjoy!



Kiwicarpool Infomercial Stage 2 from Geoff Ind on Vimeo.

Kiwi Carpool Infomercial

Hello Everyone!

Over the last few weeks I have been really busy with a few freelance projects and and a never ending list of domestic duties.

The latest project I was involved in has just been posted on Youtube, it was an infomercial style animation that aims to inform New Zealand drivers about the benefits of carpooling.

I was involved with the animation side of the project working with one other animator. I was asked to create several animated elements that move within the design provided by the client. Then to assemble all of the different parts and export for the web.

All of the animation was completed using a combination of Flash and After Effects.

Here is the completed video.


I enjoyed working on this project and learned allot about working on a project that had a really tight brief and a quick turnaround time.

As always I am looking for more animated or still freelance projects so please get in touch!

Spaceman Pose and lighting Test

Hey everyone, 

Sorry its been a while since my last post, I have been super busy making preparations to move from Auckland down to Waihola and have not had too much time to put towards my own projects. I will be moving on the 21st so will more than likely be offline for a week or so until we can get everything straightened out again in the South Island.

In the mean time I have been busy recording my brain waves onto the school hard drives so that a small part of me can live on and manipulate the minds of future generations of south seas animation students!

On my own front I have been testing the spaceman rig and ironing out any bumps, kinks, and bruises in the rig so that he is ready for the school project which starts production on the 8th of July. Our second year students are busy working on pre-production design work for the world, props and vehicles as we speak.

All I can say is that the project is looking like its going to be a doozy this year, and I will be looking forward to seeing the completed product.

Posed and lit test render of the "Spaceman".

Banana Anyone.......Complete!

Yesterday, I promised to give you an update on my banana texture which I was demoing for our students.

There are a few things I want to tweak a bit more but for my first ever time painting a banana skin I think that it came out pretty well!

Here it is...

The completed banana as of yesterday afternoon.

The completed colour texture map.

Banana Anyone?

I sometimes look at what I do in a day and think this is strange. Today is one of those days!

At the moment I am teaching texturing at South Seas. Today we have been looking in great detail at banana's, each of our students for homework had to find and bring one in and analyse what makes a banana look like a banana.

They then have to paint a texture for a 3D banana and infuse all of the gathered banana essence into their textures. All the while I have been demoing the process to them. 

Here is my results so far, I will update again at the end of the day with the final result of a days worth of texturing!

I love animation...

Progress render.

and here is the colour UV map so far.

Progress Colour UV Map.

Quick Update

I have been kept extremely busy at work of late getting ready for the next series of classes that I will be teaching. As always I have also been hard at work creating new teaching resources and improving the resources we already have.

The latest piece that I have completed is a new texture for our "Big Guy" rig which we use during the key animation module. This is a close up head and shoulders version that can be used for facial acting and dialogue. For his texture I have gone for a more feature quality look which I am quite happy with.

The spaceman rig is also now officially complete after a few small bugs found during testing phase. I am also happy to report that he is now an official South Seas animation rig which will be used during classes and he will also be the star of the school short film project this year!

I am super excited about this development and for one cant wait to see the short start production or see the animation that our students will be creating with him.

In the mean time I will still be animating with him in my spare time, so keep you eyes peeled for more updates to come.


BigGuy Bust from Geoff Ind on Vimeo.