Painting Concept Art Environments with Depth

[@randyruedisueli7470]

The music, this piece of artwork, the valuable lessons. Every single thing is perfect. This is going on repeat while I do our painting tutorials in DPS 😊

[@fowlerillus]

That's super nice to hear. Thanks Randy. Glad you like it!

[@davidsuppa]

Thank you for making all these painting tutorials, I've been drawing with lines my whole life struggling to get the idea of shape building and painting and this video and your dragon painting really helped me to understand how to build the image. Thanks a lot and nice work!

[@fowlerillus]

Thanks! I'm glad this was helpful.

[@lawrenceagyeman6152]

You're a great teacher sir...my mom even says she loves how you calmly deliver your points.

[@fowlerillus]

Thanks! That's awesome to hear.

[@martmart.]

20:00 i was so immersed i went on and clicked the "minimize" for the brush settings tab.. made me pause the video and snap me back to reality

[@fowlerillus]

Haha. That's awesome - glad this really drew you in. These are so fun

[@DazzlingAction]

I've been lookin for this kind of stuff neat to see people still trying to work this out. Getting color right with depth like this is so tricky.

[@fowlerillus]

I know right! Glad it was helpful

[@EtherealAlex]

You’re changing lives ❤thank you for these videos with amazing explanations

[@fowlerillus]

Thank you :) I'm so glad you have found these helpful

[@leandroxavier8063]

Always a masterpiece... Someday I'll do something as beautiful as this. Great again, Hardy.

[@fowlerillus]

Thanks Leandro! It's awesome having you in Concept Art Academy - I can't wait to watch an artist of your talent level up each week

[@leandroxavier8063]

@@fowlerillus Well, I will put my soul on each single exercise and project... Thank you for all inspiration.

[@snowxuedietrich8456]

Soooo happy to see environment videos! Looking forward to more!!!

[@fowlerillus]

So glad to hear it! More coming soon

[@KarleeHankin]

Okay, I loooooved this. How chill. And simple enough to replicate and learn a great deal! Thanks a million Hardy :)

[@fowlerillus]

Thanks! I'm glad you enjoyed it :)

[@AlwaysDrawing2012]

This is an amazing tutorial! Thank you for sharing, Hardy!

[@fowlerillus]

Awesome! I'm glad you liked it.

[@solertree8653]

I'm so glad I discovered your channel! So much excellent information presented in a refreshingly calm way, thank you so much for doing this. And please never change the kind of music you have playing in the background, I love it, it suits the subject matter very well and is very calming. One question: is there a place I can find some of the brushes you use?

[@fowlerillus]

Thanks! I'm glad you like the general format - I'll stick with it! I don't really have a setup for sharing brushes - I usually just give them to Concept Art Academy students. If you can reach me via email, I'd be happy to email you the abr file

[@jessikacaroline72]

Amazing! I hope to be good like this someday!

[@fowlerillus]

Thanks! Glad you liked it!

[@ardelaflor]

Hey Hardy, please stop doing these videos!!! I can't stop watching them again and again! Gorgeous style, great explanations, relaxing, inspiring... They are the perfect complement to the Concept Art Academy :-). After watching it I could not help grabbing my stylus and try some environments! By the way, what's the music reference? Great choice for the video!

[@fowlerillus]

So glad these have been useful Alberto. More coming soon. Music came from Audiio on this one.

[@pablokalaka]

Awsome! like this video and the final piece! I´m learning from you and some others this drawing from shapes thing. Thanks!

[@fowlerillus]

That's awesome! It's super powerful and makes things so much more accessible

[@MichaelWesselCreative]

Cool vid but like 80% of technique wasn’t even mentioned, near dark, far light, near big, far small, seemed to be the focus. Wish there would have more about light source, shadows, color choice, atmospheric affects like blurred layers. Relaxing to watch thought.

[@fowlerillus]

Glad you liked it. Yes it's definitely an incompletely tutorial. With this series I was trying to focus on one important topic per video and (you nailed it) depth was the focus here. I have some more environment design stuff planned for the months ahead and I'll try to include more complete technique demos. Thanks for checking this one out.

[@Mr.McWatson]

I really like the music combined with the speed painting, super relaxing. Do you do some thumbnails first, or just dive right in?

[@fowlerillus]

Glad that the format is working! For this type, I usually just dive in and adjust as I go.

[@sawabialczynska]

Could you please let me know, what kind of brush, and brush settings are you using? I'm struggling to find something that would work for me.

[@fowlerillus]

Hi! The brushes that I used here can be downloaded for free in our discord server (in the freebies channel). discord.gg/mH35E3fYJt I believe the one I used most heavily in this one is one of the very long wide shaped brush tips with sharp points on the sides. The settings should be built in. I hope this is helpful! If I can help further, feel free to contact me on Discord or [e-mail]

[@sawabialczynska]

Thank you!

[@gabrielm6454]

Hardy ... truly inspiring work, I am so grateful for allowing us to enjoy the creative processes. Some time ago I purchased almost all the courses you had on Udemy. As soon as I can economically I would like to sign up on your own platform in the concept Artist career. I really admire your work and have learned a lot from it. In the future it would be fabulous if the race could have Spanish subtitles for all those fans who are Spanish-speaking. Thank you very much, Hardy ... happy new year.

[@fowlerillus]

Thanks Gabriel. I'm so glad that it has been helpful. We would love to have you in the academy! Happy New Year to you

[@EricOlorunfemi]

Oh! This video just gave me an epiphany!!! I'm trying this out right now...

[@fowlerillus]

Awesome! Good luck

[@marinamaximchuk4859]

😍😍😍😍😍😍

[@fowlerillus]

Thanks :)

[@mayudrake00]

Beautiful video and very chilling to watch. I love looking at your environment paintings to explore them. You have the talent to make the viewer curious about what may be behind those hills and stones. If your environments were for a video game, I would be very tempted to buy it just to explore the beautiful world in it! Hardy, have you ever considered to do an underwater environment painting for one of your courses or youtube videos?

[@fowlerillus]

Very cool idea. Thanks Jennifer!

[@lexmaun69]

I wish I have a hand to draw, looking at your beautiful work is amazing and inspiring, I tried drawing with my mouth with pen and h950p but it seems I can't get the right flow of things. Anyway I love your work and you are awesome ❤️

[@fowlerillus]

Thank you so much. I'm glad you enjoyed it.

[@johncathcart8685]

I have recently discovered you through Skillshare and am loving your teaching method. You have a great way of explaining in a logical and relaxed way which I find incredible. What I am curious about it the brush that you use. You appear to use the same one across most of your videos and I love the texture and shape of it. Do you have a brush pack where I could purchase it?

[@fowlerillus]

Awesome - thanks! Actually, those brushes are available for free in our DPS Discord "Freebies" channel - invitation link: discord.gg/mH35E3fYJt . It's a cool community with support and challenges but feel free to jump in and out if you just want the brushes. Cheers!

[@johncathcart8685]

@@fowlerillus Great, thanks Hardy will check it out. Currently having my morning coffee watching your ‘Painting Concept Art Environments with Depth’. After that, over to the Mac and Wacom to continue one of your Skillshare courses. Thanks again Hardy, you’re a gent!

[@angelojayproductions]

I don't understand... its amazing how when the black boulder is on the left the composition feel ominous some how but the minute its flipped suddenly it feels calm and peaceful... Maybe its just me 😂

[@fowlerillus]

That's so interesting. I have had some crazy conversations about that topic and how flipping things changes how you feel about it. Super interesting stuff - thanks for sharing.

[@robertmatolcsi746]

Thank you sir.

[@fowlerillus]

Most welcome

[@aszasz5863]

It looks great. Watching you paint is a pleasure. I just finished the Painting Environments course on udemy (which is a game changer for me ;D) but I think I'll try to paint something like that as well. Thank you very much. ;)

[@fowlerillus]

Thank you! Glad you like it

[@slotess]

This is a really great video and was exactly what I was looking for! thanks so much for the help!! 😁 You said that as we go further away in the canvass the objects get lighter, does the same principle apply for when it’s night even though the sky is darker?

[@fowlerillus]

Great question. To be more accurate - the farther away we go, the more the object takes on the color and value of _the sky_ . So not necessarily lighter if the sky is dark and the objects are receding from a foreground light source. The general principle is the same though - foreground objects should have a darker base value and more contrast and things can get "foggier" and more like the sky as they recede into the distance.

[@amitpatil1079]

You are an inspiration.

[@fowlerillus]

Thanks! I'm glad you like this one :)

[@dentanlim]

I'm confiused about the transition from tone to color. So things that are closer are darker? In what sense? Saturation or brightness?

[@fowlerillus]

I try to think of it this way - the farther away something is, the closer it becomes the same color and value as the sky. What we are trying to do with atmospheric perspective is show that there is a lot of air/atmosphere between our eye and a distant object and less air between our eye and a foreground object. What that ends up doing is giving the closer object a darker bottom value range (so the shadows or cracks in the rocks will be darker than those in the distant mountain).

[@fiddlewheelx]

The further away the more air is in the way. This is why stuff also gets bluer further away during sunny days.

[@filmrecorder5717]

how did you make the brush you're using? or do you have the pack of that brush?

[@fowlerillus]

Yes! It's available for free in our discord community which you can check out here www.digitalpaintingstudio.com/community

[@filmrecorder5717]

@@fowlerillus where at in the discord? Do i have to do a course?

[@zoidartzz]

Sir i just wanna know what kind of brushes do you use? I have noticed that you used a lot of different brushes in the whole painting please tell me i really wanna know

[@fowlerillus]

Hey! No problem, the brushes I was using here can be downloaded for free in our discord community discord.gg/mH35E3fYJt Just check out the freebies channel.

[@zoidartzz]

@@fowlerillus thank you so much sir

[@TWartzz]

My problem is is that I never get the colors right when I want to add a character into the mixture :/ I also have difficulty with making something look actually large

[@fowlerillus]

That can be quite a challenge. I think using a photo or another piece of art to sample colors from is a great way to practice and to master that atmospheric perspective bit. As for making something seem huge - those color queues can help communicate distance (and hence size) but there are other ways like density of detail and other scale queues that can help make something seem massive.

[@pariszelfora]

Hi Hardy, I've seen the perspective grid at the start of the video. Is it possible to create a grid from scratch in Krita? (I don't have Photoshop ^^")

[@fowlerillus]

Unfortunately I have no experience with Krita but I would think that this is totally possible. Basically if you can make a straight line, then you can make a perspective grid. The way I do this in Photoshop is by holding down shift and clicking straight lines toward the vanishing point. For the other two grids, I just make a full canvas of straight parallel lines, merge the lines together into one layer and then distort or skew them so that they bend.

[@pariszelfora]

​@@fowlerillus Thank you so much! :D Will try that!

[@imkuelllgremlin]

do you have any advice on how to apply this to more abstract backgrounds? things that are less organic? I wish to create the rooms and architecture I see in dreams but the sense of scale and grandness gets lost.

[@fowlerillus]

I actually approach interiors and man made environments in much the same way - by carving shapes and defining near, middle and far with base values (lighter generally equalling far). I don't really have any content showing an interior rendering though and I totally should. I love the idea of painting what you see in dreams :)

[@SARUAKI23]

hello sir im interested in the brushes that you have used, I saw u shared Discrod links with ppl but that invite seems to have expired and I cant join ur discord community cuzz of that.

[@fowlerillus]

oh sorry about that - old link. You can join here www.digitalpaintingstudio.com/community

[@innamakhlai9408]

🥰

[@fowlerillus]

🙌

[@loozerzart9109]

It often gets daunting when I start putting colors , my values aren't maintained .... my environment concepts lack depth it seems like all elements are close and doesn't have any depth which makes viewer feel boring ....

[@fowlerillus]

I know exactly what you mean - I would recommend boosting your atmospheric perspective - lighten those distant elements or use an airbrush to put fog between near and far layers. It's really powerful and can instantly push things back into the distance.

[@loozerzart9109]

@@fowlerillus thanks hardy!