A U T O D E S K

S k e t c h B o o k P ro f o r i P a d

PENCILS TO PAINT USING A LIMITED PALETTE

THE ARRIVAL

A Tutorial by Shaun Mullen

www.mull-art.com
 Introduction

This tutorial will take you through the steps I use when working from a pencil sketch through to painting
using limited palettes, by careful consideration of colour you can increase the impact of certain elements
within your painting. Within the steps demonstrated I will cover points on composition, visual storytelling,
Chiaroscuro along with other methods I use in completing a painting.

From simple pencil concept To digital sketch To completed painting

This tutorial was created using a generation 1 Apple iPad and Autodesks SketchBook Pro, the theories
and methods within the tutorial can however be used on any platform and with slight adjustments, tradi-
tional media.

I hope you enjoy this tutorial and it inspires you to use the methods from it for use in your own work.

Thanks for reading.

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Stage One

The idea for the painting of The

Arrival began as a simple pencil
sketch.

This pencil stage allows explora-

tion of different ideas based
around the same theme without
investing huge amounts of time or
resources.

I can quickly change viewpoints,

compositions and elements within
the image until I find something I
think nails the brief. With my
work I still like to leave an element
of the unknown or untold, I hope it
makes the viewer ask questions
about the image.

The sketch on the right was chosen

as the environmental elements
(rocks, debris and distant pieces)
help frame the figure which is the
main focal point.

I feel by positioning the figure in

the centre and framing it increases
the visual dynamic. This is still the
sketch and anything can be refined and adjusted during painting if any element isnt working as strongly as
I would like.

Having flexibility and not getting too attached to an image is a handy trait to have, as artists we get emo-
tionally attached to our work and often dont view them objectively, that can reduce the effectiveness of the
image.

TIP: Always explore as many ideas based on the same theme as possible in the early stages, whether pencil
or digital, as this helps establish the best base for your final painting. Each idea should generate another
idea and when you change angles and viewpoints these images can grow exponentially .

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Stage Two

The digital sketch, even after ex-

ploring different ideas during the
early pencil sketches I adjust some
parts to help strengthen the com-
position.

I could have scanned or photo-

graphed the pencils and then im-
ported them into SketchBook Pro
ready for the painting stage but I
enjoy the re-drawing stage.

During this stage I reposition the

distant rock and debris elements
so theres a gap positioned exactly
behind the figure, these have also
been purposefully drawn at an-
gles which help draw the viewers
eye towards the centre of the im-
age (as illustrated with the arrows).
The mound of earth/debris that
the figure is standing on is also
drawn to maximize this perspec-
tive pull.

Even during this early digital

sketch I use light against dark
tones to help push and pull the different plains of interest. By adding the light foggy/misty areas between
these plains helps give the impression of depth and distance in your work.

The figure at this stage could be walking towards the camera or away from it depending on what story I
wanted to try and put across.

TIP: I always try to place a figure or something recognizable within my paintings so the viewer can instantly
relate to scale of the piece.

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Stage Three

Colour plays a huge part in help-

ing define your images look and
feel, define certain areas or help
push or pull planes of interest.

I begin by selecting a range of col-

ours all from the same tonal range,
I try and have a mix of warm and
cool tones which I can use to di-
vide different elements within the
painting.

I decided to stay within the same

colour range as I wanted a dark,
ominous looking environment.
The colour palette helps put your
viewer into certain mood and you
get different emotional responses
from your colour choices.

This image painted in bright day

colours with vibrant blues and
greens would give a much different
feel to the painting.

The sky was painted using a large

airbrush tool and I purposefully
tried to keep it simple so it didnt detract from the focal area.

I painted a flat tone selected from my palette, I then started to painted to rough outline of clouds and vari-
ances in the colour to give visual interest.

I make sure that the corners of the canvas are in a darker tone which help close in the allow the eye to drop
into the centre of the painting. I reference the sketch layer and make the decision to leave the area around
the distant rock formation light, this allows me to increase the tone of that aspect without increasing the con-
trast too dramatically.

TIP: I stay away from using pure white and black when painting and use tones which are just outside of
those values, these values are kept for the nearest elements (closest to the viewers eye) and for detail work,
this high contrast makes those details stand out the most. Colours should increase in value and contrast as
they come closer to the front, if you use this method it will naturally give depth and distance to your envi-
ronment work.

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Stage Four

Mountains or large rock forma-

tions always feature heavily in
my personal work, I enjoy the
challenge and diversity of paint-
ing them.

I start off by selecting a base col-

our for the mountain, from this I
can increase and decrease the to-
nal range to the highlights and
deep recesses as seen in nature.

I use a range of texture brushes to

break up the surface of the base
layer, taking consideration over
the perspective and shape of the
mountain.

Once I have a nice range of tex-

ture, colour and contrast I begin
to refine the shapes using finer
brushes.

This is the stage when refining

the shapes created with texture
brushes can take the most time and
consideration of perspective. You should try and keep away from
adding detail as the piece will become too busy and over worked, we
are just looking for refinement of the shape.

TIP: When refining your mountain shape always paint at 100% or less,
Detail
resist the urge to zoom in as you will automatically become too tight
and start adding unnecessary details and you can see the entire section
progress.

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Stage Five

1.

2.

Atmospheric Perspective is some-

thing which I use within my paint-
ings where I want lots of depth and
distance. When viewing an object
at distance its colour and contrast
are affected by a scattering of light due to particles in the air. To replicate this effect I reduce the contrast of
the mountain layer by overpainting a layer of the sky colour using the airbrush.

Image 1 shows the painting without any atmospheric perspective, the mountain appears clear and sits
prominently in the piece. Image 2 shows the added atmospheric elements and instantly the mountain is
pushed backwards and the image appears to have depth.

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Stage Six

The middle ground section is painted in the

same steps as seen in stages 4 & 5.

You can see how the distant mountain ap-

pears a lot further away due to the atmos-
pheric elements added.

As the painting progresses further forward I

increase the amount of contrast.

I again add the atmospheric elements to help

separate this section and the foreground. I
add different details within this section rather
than just a rock formation.

By adding different shapes it adds more vis-

ual interest and breaks up the image. Because
the image is being created in a limited palette
I need other visual changes to keep the image
fresh and interesting.

Stage Seven

The base layer for the foreground is my dark-

est tone which helps bring it closer to the
viewer.

When I paint these sections I always paint the

basic shape, making sure my edges are crisp
and clean. I then lock the layer transparency
which allows me to add the texture elements
without worrying about painting over the
background and then having to erase the
unwanted parts.

TIP: Now the foreground layer is

painted and the canvas is com-
pletely covered, reduce the canvas
or walk away from the image to
see if your values are reading cor-
rectly in this small scale.

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Stage Eight

Time to add the texture and refinement to the fore-

ground layer. I adjust the overall shape of this layer
to help with the flow and directional cues (arrow).

Again because of the limited palette, different shapes

make the area visually more interesting, I pay more
attention to the light and shadow of this area as its
closer to the viewer and under closer scrutiny.

Stage Nine

At this stage in the painting I need to address the

story telling part. In the pencil sketch I explored the
idea of having different elements growing or living in
that lower space. During the painting stages I de-
cided upon having something which looked like va-
por or a spiritual residue, as if something or some-
one had just arrived in that space.

I explored different ways of trying to illustrate that

idea and had to use plenty of creative license to
complete it. I wanted to illustrate a ghostly trail
but also something which looked like it was dissi-
pating into the air.

TIP: Using a contrasting colour you can emphasis

a specific element or section, ideal when working
with limited colour palettes.

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Stage Ten

When I was making the decision over the arrival idea and the vapor it
made more sense to have the figure walking away from the scene. My
thinking was that the figure had somehow made the arrival by some fu-
turistic teleportation system and was walking away from his entry point,
the evidence of that transport is the dissipating vapor. I find it helps me
when Im painting scenes of fantasy or conceptual art to conjure a story for
the image.

The figure is firstly shaped to appear solid and 3D (form & shape) with
emphasis on the low light source. This is using the same method of locking
the layer so I only paint within the shape of the figure. By adding some
lines of detail I imply the details and fittings some form of suit.

The base colour for the figure was enhanced by its position being at the lightest part of the
painting.

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And that completes the painting, this tutorial explains some of the methods and techniques I take when tak-
ing a simple pencil sketch to finished painted image with only a limited palette.

I hope you enjoyed following the process of this image and have taken something worthwhile from the
methods or techniques. Thank you for reading.

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