Photoshop: Lizard Painting Tutorial

This is a tutorial to teach us how to effectively apply textures to a painting in Photoshop. We were given a line drawing of a lizard and tasked with painting in the colour and lighting before applying a texture.

I filled out the base layer and the background. I then locked the layers so I couldn't edit the base by accident.

Finished base layer and background.

I added basic lighting and shadows to try and bring the character out of the page. This starts to create a basic shape. The light source is above the character. 

I masked the layer before adding any paint or texture to ensure I do not paint outside of the base layer. I then applied a texture taken from the internet, I used scales from a snake to add texture to the lizards head. 

Tidying up the painting. Adding light and refining colour.

Finally I lowered the opacity of the scales and warped the image to wrap the texture around the lizards head.

I may revisit this painting to finish the image. If I do then I will work on adding more detail to the character, I will continue to do this until the painting doesn't require the line drawing to hold its form. If I did have the chance to re do this piece then I would make sure I added more textures and bounce lighting. I would also begin fleshing out the lizards body armor to make the image more believable.

Overall though I do feel my ability to paint using a tablet has improved over the past few months. I am hopeful continued practice drawing with a drawing tablet on my computer and traditional media in my sketchbook will improve my drawing/ painting skill.