Photoshop Tutorial- Robot

Want to make metalic mechs with photoshop?
Here's how I did this one...

You will need: Adobe Photoshop CS, a basic understanding of how to use photoshop, and a drawing tablet or a good steady mouse (optical works best).

-Step 1. SKETCH
-Make a new project with a fairly high DPI and make it as big as you think you want the picture to be (anything beyond 1000 pixels in any direction works pretty good). Create a new layer, then use a bright colored paint brush with a size between 4-12. Sketch out the rough pose and structure of your figure.

-Step 2. INK
-Set the opacity of the sketch layer to around 15%-50%, then create a new layer, and make sure it's over the top of the sketch layer. Set your brush to a hard, black color, and a size of between 4-12. Now trace your final line draft from the faded sketch.

-Step 3. COLOR
-Once you clean up your lines, and are satisfied with your ink job, hide the original sketch layer (don't delete it). Make a new layer, and this time make sure it's underneath the ink layer. Now you can fill in the base colors from behind the ink lines. Just like in cel animation, the ink is on the top of the cel, and the paint behind it. this like coloring inside the lines of a coloring book, you can go over the lines, just not outside.
-If your making a complex color sceme, you may want to make seperate layers for each color/part of your figure.

Step 4. FX
-Usually this isthe longest step, depending on how complex your figure is. Make a new layer for shadows. Ctrl+Click (PC) on the color layer you want to shade, shis should select the painted areas. Make shure that although you clicked the color layer, that you did not select that layer to be modified. Set your brush to black, with a hardness of 0%, and a size of between 25-100 (you may want to change brush sizes for different sized paint areas.
Now brush the parts of your figure where the shadows should fall. You can later go back and Make a new layer for highlights (light/reflection). Just use the same brush technique as the shadows, and use a white brush.

-All shade/light areas should have their opacity turned down to what workd best for your figure (usually anywhere between 25-75% depending on how intense you want the lighing.

-If you want texture as well as lighting, Ctrl+click (PC) on the Color layer again (if you have more than 1 color layer, hold Ctrl+Shift+Click on each layer) to select ALL colored areas. Click on Edit, then click Copy Merged. Then Click Edit, and Paste. After you paste the new merged layer, you may have to move it to fit over the top of the old layers. Now with the newly pasted layer selected, go into the Stylize menu. Here you can add texture and FX.

-If you want more than one effect, paste another merged copy. Treat this one with a different texture or effect, and then lower the opacity to the desired %.

-Make sure to save your file regularly, just in case something goes wrong (and you know that it can).

Most importantly, use your eyes and your imagination, and don't be affraid to EXPERIMENT FOR YOURSELF!!!!
When learning art, experimentation can realy help you develop an original style and skill of your own.

Hve fun.