The use of the computer is very important in artistic industries. Artists use specialised software to create very imaginative images for adverts, websites, games and film.
Graphics Packages are very sophisticated applications that are used in many industries e.g. Advertisement, Photography, Web Design and Film. Let us start with a brief overview of real life applications and the most basic features that a user will need.
Editing Photos
Below is a list of features commonly found in photo graphical editors:
Adjust Hue and Saturation
Crop
Minor Correction e.g. over exposure or red eyes
Test
Deleting Objects/Background
Adding Objects/Background
Retouching
Compositing
Working on Design
Spoiler Alert — We will be working on a design!
Below is a list of features commonly found in graphical editors:
Creating Lines or Curves
Colour Picker
Text
Basic Shapes
Fill
Gradient
Brushes
Zooming
Pan
Eraser
Let's Try Krita: Disintegration Effect
Photoshop is the most well known raster graphics editor the software at the moment. It has become the industry standard not only in raster graphics editing, but in digital art as a whole. However Krita is a very good free and open source alternative! Such applications are heavily used amongst digital illustrators, graphics designers and concept artists.
If you never used sophisticated graphics packages like these before then I highly recommend going through the beginners tutorial👇.
Now that we know the basics we can try and do something interesting. There are so many tutorials online. For this lesson I had adapted a Photoshop tutorial. To keep things short I chose the most important 5 steps to create a cool disintegration effect. Copying an example is the best way to learn how to use tools. I don't know why I really wanted to do this example in class. I think it is because it reminds me of...
So without further ado...
Step 1 Create a New Document
A4 Dimensions 1748 px by 1240 px
Portrait
70 ppi
Step 2 Import Storm Clouds Layer In the document we are going to insert an image of a dark cloudy sky and try to make a minor improvement. I started out with a royalty free image I found on freepik.com. When you find a free image to your liking you may do the following:
Import Layer ➔ Import/Export ➔ Import Layer... to include the image.
See if you can enhance the layer with a very light gradient. I used a very simple gradient from a light yellow colour to transparent and set the opacity to just 55%. Feel free to experiment with different percentages, directions and colours!
When you are finally happy with the look of the layer rename it to something like "Storm Clouds w Gradient".
Step 3 Importing Our Character
We would like to pick our main subject for disintegration. It could be anything so you can use your imagination. I found a young dancer that I think looks pretty cool on freepick.com. If this is your first time, try not to choose a very complicated subject to work with.
Import Layer ➔ Import/Export ➔ Import Layer... to include your subject.
If the image you picked is too large, use the transform tool and resize the image so that it fits nicely into the layer.
If your subject image had a background then it needs to be removed. Use the bezier curve selection tool and outline the subject as best as you can. This step can take a while so be patient! The zoom and pan tools are really helpful as you carefully create the outline, so do use them. If you make a mistake as you are building your curve do not undo! Whilst you are doing this, a right click should remove your error.
When your outline is ready, right click and select Cut Selection to New Layer. Rename the newly created layer to something like "Main Subject".
If you feel the main subject is taking up too much space, or perhaps the positioning is off use the transform and move tools to adjust to your liking.
Step 4 Customisation of the Erase Tool
We are finally ready to start building our disintegration effect slowly. When I do this kind of work I always like to work on a duplicate layer so that I can easily go back to a previous state if I need to. Before moving on I suggest that you right click and select Duplicate Layer or Mask. Rename the newly created layer to something like "Erase Features" because that is what we would be doing next. Make sure to hide the other layer so that you can see what you are doing!
Select the Freehand Brush Tool and from the brush preset on top select the Soft Eraser. Edit the brush settings and look for the flow options (on the left) and tick scatter. Look for the button (top right) to save new brush preset... and name it "Scatter Eraser".
Very gently use small and mouse drags to erase parts of your character. I decided to erase some of my subject's legs only. This is a fun step, but do not over do it.
Step 5 Painting the Explosion
We will now be using a similar paint brush with scatter to add shapes on and behind the character. If done well it will create an illusion of an explosion. Before proceeding duplicate the last layer you worked on and do not forget to rename.
Pick a suitable paintbrush for your effect. I really like the Ink-7 Brush Rough for this exercise. Just as we did for the eraser, we will be editing the brush settings to really get a cool look. If you are following this tutorial to the letter you want to tick scatter and this time you want to tick spacing (also under flow). Spacing has a lot of options and I ticked on pressure and fuzzy dab. I also selected a curve as oppose to a clean straight line so that the spacing looks more organic. Save the new brush preset and call it "Scatter Ink 7 Brush Rough".
Finally for the best part! Where you erased earlier you want to paint on fragments of colour using the paintbrush we just created. Use the colour picker to select a colour that you erased earlier and very gently use small drags to paint over and above the these parts. If the spots are too big you can adjust the size of your brush from the tool bar on top. I worked with a very small tip of 4px.
If you are comfortable experiment with many brush sizes to create an amazing effect. A tip — the bigger the brush size the smaller your mouse drags need to be. You can have fun with this. Just make sure to always look the colour picker first so that it looks realistic.
And that is it! Let us admire the final result.
If you would like to use your image in another application like a website or a word document, just save it as a PNG. Or else save it as a Krita document to work on it some more later.
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