Creating hand painted textures.

joe gracey · Feb 2009

Does anyone know of any good tutorials? I'm having a bit of trouble finding any. I did a search here but couldn't find much, and the web doesn't seem of much help either. I'm sure I am not looking the right way though.

I really want to put some custom textures into my portfolio to make it more appealing.

I was hoping to get tutorials that are along the lines of TF2 or WoW style textures.

Thank you for the help!!

Slum · Feb 2009

I don't mean to be rude here... but why do you feel like you need a tutorial to explain this? Maybe some tips or something for a specific task, but do you really need somebody to explain in detail how to do something before you try it out? I feel like everyone coming up in games or computer art in general has become very tutorial-dependent.

Ranting aside...

I would suggest you find some really excellent work and study it. A few polycounters who come to mind:

DH - http://horribledeath.com/2d3d.htm
Bobo - http://www.bobotheseal.com
peppi - http://www.peterboehme.com/gameart.php

Mark Dygert · Feb 2009

http://itchstudios.com/psg/art_tut.htm
http://www.eatpoo.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=27

ChaosEidolon · Feb 2009

Hand painted textures aren't systematic and procedure based like a lot of realistic next gen stuff can be.

It's...well...hand painted, so what you want to look at is 2d painting technique. Surf around conceptart.org and check the work out there. You will need to be able to render texture, color and form, so pay special attention to the light in art pieces you look at.

Those promethiusANJ tuts that Vig posted are freaking gold for what you want to do.

joe gracey · Feb 2009

@Slum - no offense taken. I guess what I was looking for was seeing a professional in action, their techniques and style. I know that I should just sit down and practice, practice, practice but I was hoping to get a good starting point before I do that. Also, I guess I learn better when I'm being taught versus me trying to learn on my own. I was taught pretty much through tutorials during school and so that's how I learn now. Also, thanks for the links!

@Vig - Thank you for the great links as well.

Em. · Feb 2009

What everyone else said, paint, paint, paint, paint.....and then paint some more. Study as many painters as you can, both game artists textures and classical painters. Grab a photo from online of some stone, or wood or something and try to paint it. Good luck!

joe gracey · Feb 2009

@Em. - I really like your work btw, gonna check it out more later.

00Zero · Feb 2009

if you really want to mimic TF2 style, get the game and rip the textures from it. I have a collection of the textures from the game. it helps to study them.

Ninjas · Feb 2009

TF2 is not any more hand painted than any other next gen asset.

A lot of the old tutorial material is gone. Basically one good tip is to start with some nice baked lighting as a base. From there I usually smudge that around to get decent looking faked geo. Then layer stuff on top of that; colors, etc

hobodactyl · Feb 2009

Yeah, your best bet is to get a bunch of ref and then just try copying it, if you're trying to copy a style.

joe gracey · Feb 2009

I'm not after a style really, but more on just learning how to create textures by hand. I don't know, I guess that is a broad term, and I should just go after a style and make it easier on my self.

I really appreciate everyone's feedback and help though, if anyone else has suggestions or words of wisdom please share.

Ged · Feb 2009

I think the others have pretty much said what needs to be said but heres a little tutorial by a good Illustrator/artist on how he paints game textures http://www.michaeldashow.com/tips_texturepainting.html

JohnnyRaptor · Feb 2009

theres some pretty dec "how it was made" threads on conceptart that show some good techniques for coloring sculptures that could be applied to painting 2d textures. check em out..

joe gracey · Feb 2009

@Ged - Thanks for the link very very helpful!

penrod · Feb 2009

Josh Singh also has a good tutorial. I'd take a good look at his work and Bobo's. Two of the best at hand painting textures IMHO.

http://boards.polycount.net/showthread.php?t=47912#Post205019

Sage · Feb 2009

http://lounge.ego-farms.com/ there is a complete series of tutorials for texturing.

Justin Meisse · Feb 2009

I haven't checked out any of the links that have been posted cuz I'm in a hurry but:
try messing around with some noisier brushes and use the eyedropper alot, use that to blend colors together

breakneck · Mar 2009

kinda slow but I knew i had this link around somewhere:
http://www.carloscabrera.com.ar/tutorial.html

G3L · Mar 2009

Yeah it's best just to practice and look at other people's work as some have mentioned already. Mess around with brushes and the filters in photoshop to blend things or create random patterns. Pen tool and and then applying the brush stroke over the path I made with the pen tool has also come in handy for me.

Kawe · Mar 2009

http://ryanhastings.com/treegate.html

this one is nice stuff and has examples of textures for studying.

Creating hand painted textures.

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