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To build a monster, you need ‘pieces’ and this is where students will start. Over the first few weeks, as individual pieces are worked on, students will gradually combine them into a character. Some of the things students will cover in this workshop are;
Eyes. The eyes are after all the window to the soul and what we look at first when confronted by another person or animal.
Mouth. Most monsters have mouths and most these mouths have lots of teeth. Students will work on both mouths and teeth.
Parts of a monster head. This may include ears, noses, horns, dewlaps, the head shape and really anything else that you might find on a monster head.
All the main parts of a monster. The talons, tails, and what ever you can imagine.
How to paint and give the illusion of volume to your 2D creation.
Sources to help define the form.
How to paint different types of skin, hide, scales, fur, and any other surface you might find on a monster.
Some tricks that will help create mood and a sense of place for your creation.
In the last few weeks of the workshop, everything is brought together and students will be able to paint monsters of their own design. By the end of this workshop it is hoped that everyone will have received a good shot of creativity and feel more confident of their painting skills.
Note: In every week, Don will provide a step-by-step video or series of images along with related text demonstrating the subject of the weeks tutorial.
Week One: Welcome and lets get down to business. Painting Eyes
Welcome to monsters 101 - Lets Paint!: In week One, students will be introducing themselves, showcasing some of their work and discuss with Don about what will be covered in the workshop. Don will be demonstrating how to paint several pairs of eyes.
Assignment One: Paint two pairs of eyes or more. Make them look monstrous.
Week Two: Review and show off of eyes. Painting mouths
In week two, students will spend time painting mouths and teeth. Lots of teeth. Don will be demonstrating how to paint teeth and mouths. Drool may also be covered.
Assignment Two: Paint some monstrous mouths with lots of teeth. Include your eyes from the previous week if you want.
Week Three: The monster head. Painting horns, tusks and ears and where to put the wrinkles.
The monster head can have lots of cool stuff…In week three, students will be learning about how to paint a monster head and cover how to paint wrinkles and folds on their character. Don will once be demonstrating how to paint horns and how to add wrinkles. All of these will be flexible so they can change if something interesting comes up.
Assignment Three: Students will paint some horns, tusks and other monster bits and continue to explore and paint some eyes and mouths. The assignments will basically be geared to individual speed and interest.
Week Four: The other parts of a monster. Wings, spines, claws, etc.
In week four, students will learn how to accessorize their monster and cover things like painting wings. These may be bat wings, feathered wings, insect wings or anything else the student would like to do. Don will demonstrate how to paint a type of wing. (If time permits, several types of wings)
Assignment Four: Students will add wings and the rest of the body to your monster. (If they have wings)
Week Five: The rest of the monster.
In week five, students will be painting everything else. Spines, claws….and anything else they wish to add. This week will also cover painting fur and creating a brush in Painter to make the job easier as well as painting paper textures to make painting scales easier. Included this week will be texture brushes and paper textures to help make painting hide and skin more interesting as well as creating large texture brushes in Photoshop. There’ll be lots and lots of information in this section…It may spill into week six.
Assignment Five: Students will create some brushes and textures to help in their painting process and use them to add features to their growing monster.
Week Six: A bit on lighting and making your painted forms have the illusion of volume.
In week six, students will cover some simple lighting tricks to add interest to their characters painting. We will also discuss how to give volume to a painted form. Don concedes, that although this is rather basic material, it is never covered enough.
Assignment Six: Students will finalize and add the final touches to their monster created in the first weeks of the workshop.
Week Seven: Painting your own monster with in progress critique.
In week seven, using everything you have learned, students will attempt to paint a friendly monster, with ‘in-progress’ images.
Assignment Seven: Have a finished friendly monster with ‘in-progress’ images.
Week Eight: The final monster.
In this final week, students get a final critique and make the final touches to their friendly monster masterpiece. Don will also be painting his monster with ‘in progress’ images.
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Level of Ability
It is recommended that students have more than a passing familiarity with both Photoshop and Painter as this will not be a workshop about how to do the basics in each application. This class is for the intermediate to advanced artist that wants to improve their painting skills, improve their creativity, and just have a blast working with like-minded artists.
Other Requirements
Students need to be familiar with web navigation and browsing, as well as email.
Students need to be familiar with using a bulletin board system (such as CGTalk.com).
Software and Hardware Requirements
Students must have access to a machine (PC or Mac) with the necessary hardware to run Corel Painter and Adobe Photoshop.
A Wacom Tablet and scanner are required.
A web browser and internet connection is required. A broadband connection is mandatory as some of the lessons will be in the form of videos for students to download.
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