Planet Photoshop

Underpainting Inmodernity

April 29, 2009 by Corey Barker Tip of the Day Leave a comment

Underpainting is an initial layer of paint on the canvas that will serve as a base for the entire painting. There’s a popular misconception that underpainting has to be monochromatic, but underpainting in color allows the artist to easily control the overall tone and mood of the painting. Choose the underpainting color and load it as your Foreground color. Now go to the Edit menu and choose Fill, in the dialog choose Foreground from the Use menu and click OK. Add a new layer above this one to begin your painting. Now choose your Brush and be sure to turn down the brush’s Opacity in the Options Bar to let the mood of your painting shine through.

Posted by Corey Barker

Corey is the newest education and curriculum developer for the National Association of Photoshop Professionals. He is a graduate of the Ringling School of Art & Design in Sarasota, Fl, with a degree in Illustration. Over the years, Corey has worked as a graphic artist in a variety of disciplines such as illustration, commercial design, large format printing, motion graphics, web design and photography. His expertise in Photoshop and Illustrator have earned him numerous awards in illustration, graphic design and photography. Using Photoshop since Version 2, his expertise and creativity have evolved exponentially with every new version, which makes Corey an invaluable addition to the NAPP team.