Introduction to Digital Painting by Jean Fraisse

Learn digital painting from scratch by learning how to capture lighting, color, and volume with brushes in Photoshop
Observing the world around you through an artist’s perspective begins with practice. Rediscover your surroundings by delving into volume, depth, and color to create harmonious digital paintings with Jean Fraisse–illustrator, concept artist, and art director.

Create an original digital painting in Photoshop with Jean’s step-by-step process and expert insights. See how to sharpen your perception of tonal values, understand lighting, and learn to apply different techniques to create a digital painting filled with realism.

This is Jean Fraisse’s sixth course at Domestika. If you are interested in further exploring color theory in digital illustration, see Color Theory: How to Apply It to Your Images. If you’d like to learn how to start illustrating on Photoshop, see Drawing 101: Introduction to Digital Illustration. You can find all his courses here.

Meet Jean Fraisse and hear about his professional achievements. He shares his journey to becoming a better artist over time and how it relates to mindset. Explore his favorite artists and learn why they are an important source of inspiration for Jean.

Understand what digital painting is used for, and how it differs from drawing. Learn how to represent volume by applying values to 3 basic shapes and seeing how to use contrast for visual depth. Go over some drawing basics with Jean before discovering his method for sharpening value perception. Get familiar with the basic principles of light and how it affects our perception.

Now it’s time to start painting! Explore the different kinds of brushes available in Photoshop and paint a gradient to see them in use. Then, create your own brushes and paint a sphere with them. See how to paint volume by exploring lighting position and value distribution before creating your own lighting scheme. Learn how to analyze your work with a simplified black and white version of your image and start painting the values of each zone.

Delve into color theory and learn how to create harmony in your paintings. Explore the three layers of color and see how they diffuse with light. Learn how to apply local colors using different kinds of brushes to simulate textures and patterns. Then, follow Jean’s step-by-step demonstration on painting the light variety of your objects. Finish off your painting with illumination adjustments, color correction, and edge control.