Books I recommend

WRITTEN_BY David REVOY - - 29 comments
I bought many books over the last decade, and I wanted to share a small list of my top 5. Those books are not directly about "digital painting", but they learn the core. Note: 'Reading' a guide will not increase your skill. You'll need to study, copy examples, and draw a lot to 'get it'. Studying a good book can take months... or years! ## 1\. Figure Drawing: Design and Invention _by Michael Hampton, 240 pages_ This one I discovered last year. Before this one, I learned mostly with the anatomies methods of George Bridgman, and Burne Hogarth ( I have all their books ). But training with this book made the real impact on my skill ; really clean geometric break-down, simple explanations of every parts. Link : [http://amzn.com/0615272819](http://amzn.com/0615272819 "http://amzn.com/0615272819" ) ![](data/images/blog/2013/12/05-figdrawingdesign.jpg) ## 2\. The Artist's Complete Guide to Facial Expression _by Gary Faigin, 288 pages_ I appreciate this large book about facial expression mostly for the first part ; a complete guide for the anatomy of the face, with really interesting comments and tips to build the main features. Main part of the book about the expression is complex and really goes deep. For sure, I still only scratched the surface of studying this one properly. Link : ![](data/images/blog/2013/12/01-gary-faigin_facial-expression.jpg) ## 3\. Color and Light: A Guide for the Realist Painter _by James Gurney, 224 pages_ All or almost about color theory, in details, and also about shading. The reference about 2D rendering in my opinion. A book made for traditional painter, but easily understood by digital painter. Link : [http://amzn.com/0740797719](http://amzn.com/0740797719 "http://amzn.com/0740797719" ) ![](data/images/blog/2013/12/03_gurney_color-light.jpg) ## 4\. Framed Ink: Drawing and Composition for Visual Storytellers _by Marcos Mateu-Mestre, 128 pages_ A guide about image composition, but also about how to play with the eyes of your audience to tell your story. All in black and white, with a 'speed' style , the author draw a lot of examples and attract eyes on a wide variety of effect. A must have if you practise storyboarding, storytelling or comics. Link : [http://amzn.com/1933492953](http://amzn.com/1933492953 "http://amzn.com/1933492953" ) ![](data/images/blog/2013/12/04_framed-ink.jpg) ## 5\. Atlas of Animal Anatomy for Artists _by W. Ellenberger, H. BAUM, H. DITTRICH_,_ 151 pages_ Not really a guide, or tutorial; but pages of raw black and white fine drawing of animal's anatomies. Horse, cat, dog, goats, etc...etc... most popular species are gathered on this thin book. Rich view angle ( front, side etc...) and often muscular view, and bone view. A very good reference if you have to illustrate horses ( like on my 12 books of "Le Club des chevaux magiques" ) or if you like to do creature design in general and need to know how some part of them 'work'. Link : ![](data/images/blog/2013/12/02_ellenberger_animal-anatomy.jpg) **And you , what's your favorite art book ? ** Feel free to share the title+author on the comments and discuss about it. _Note : this article contain visual copyrighted and can't be licensed under a creative commons license._

Compile Krita from source code on Linux for cats

WRITTEN_BY David REVOY - - 158 comments
[info] **Update:** If you plan to follow this guide; you might consider to follow instead [the updated building instruction](https://docs.krita.org/en/untranslatable_pages/building_krita.html) on the official documentation. It's now maintained by the Krita team directly. The illustrations of this article were ported to this place. The article receives now a better maintainance while keeping the same 'keep it simple' philosophy. I'll keep the article under as it is for search engines and also to keep the souvenir of one of my best and most useful guide I ever published, imo. link: [Build instruction on Krita official documentation](https://docs.krita.org/en/untranslatable_pages/building_krita.html) [/info] ## Intro : **Changelog:** - [2019-03-28] The guide was ported to [Krita official documentation here](https://docs.krita.org/en/untranslatable_pages/building_krita.html "Krita official documentation here" ), thanks to [Wolthera](https://wolthera.info/ "Wolthera" ). - [2017-09-09] Remove specific obsolete notes - [2017-08-20] Krita 4.x, and specific notes for Linux Mint 18.2 / Ubuntu 16.04 - [2016-04-24] moving from calligra repository, Krita 3.0, adding library for plasma/Qt 5.0 - [2015-05-07] Refactoring for using the 2.9 branch while Krita split Calligra - [2013-11-18] First publishing, during Krita 2.7 development **Why?** I wrote this guide after maintaining during a full-year a set of scripts to help user to compile and install Krita. This project was named [Compilscripts](https://github.com/Deevad/compilscripts "Compilscripts on GitHub" ). I decided to discontinue it because the script was always breaking. But this script was useful for many artist who wanted to beta-test Krita. So I had to find a solution and I thought the best approach was "the Arch-way": not providing any automatic tool, but a badass and dead-easy documentation to make artist independent in the full process and understand what they do. Artists should be able to install, update, go back in the history of code if something doesn’t work for them. I also decided to illustrate the article with funny pictures (all licensed under [CC-By](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ "CC-By" )). I hope those pictures will also help other project's documentation to be more user friendly and appear more simple to understand by using a simple analogy : a cat building a house. **But why for cats ?** Because it's well known on the Internet : you can't go wrong with cats. =^.^= Let starts! ## Setup directories ![](data/images/blog/2013/11/krita-build/Krita-building_for-cats_001-init-dir_001_by-deevad.jpg) First obligatory step : preparing the place. Around 5GB of disk space will be needed on your home folder. We will set the structure advised by developers : * /home/_<your-user-name>_/krita/src for the source code. * /home/_<your-user-name>_/krita/build where Krita will be built * /home/_<your-user-name>_/krita/inst where Krita will be installed Note : understand <your-user-name>** **as your user name on this documentation _( Ex : /home/deevad/krita/src )_ To do it, open a Terminal, copy the line under (Ctrl+C) then paste it on the Terminal (Ctrl+Shift+V ) : mkdir -p ~/krita/src ~/krita/build ~/krita/inst Also check with your distribution** package-manager** that no **calligra** and **krita** packages are installed. Use the search field of your package manager and remove packages. ## Get the source code ![](data/images/blog/2013/11/krita-build/Krita-building_for-cats_002-git-clone_001_by-deevad.jpg) Navigate your folder using the command **cd** ( change directories ) and the **tab key** for auto-completion. cd ~/krita Install **git** from your distribution package-manager ( eg. for Ubuntu; _sudo apt install git_ ) Then ask **git** to download the source files in your src folder, pasting this line code in the **Terminal** , on the _~/krita_ directory : git clone https://anongit.kde.org/krita.git src So we enter the Krita source folder, then check if everything is updated : cd src git pull ## Get the libraries and dependencies ![](data/images/blog/2013/11/krita-build/Krita-building_for-cats_003-get-libs_001_by-deevad.jpg) This part can be tricky : each distribution got a different way to manage packages and so installing required libraries. Krita needs a large amount of very fresh libraries and you'll need a GNU/Linux distribution with fresh packages for that ; CentOS, Debian Stable, Linux Mint, Elementary or Ubuntu L.T.S are often too outdated to build Krita... Not so long ago, the community around Krita had a place to share installation instruction for dependencies (the KDE Community Wiki) : , but it was cleared recently.... Now and according to the dev you need "to read and understand the cmake output instead". That sounds complex at first, but it is not: it's just very long to do. You first need to run cmake. It exits with a warning asking for eg. "PACKAGE5". You note the name. Then you use your package manager to install anything related to PACKAGE5 because of course the name will differ (packagers love to get their own name for things). So, you'll try: lib_pck5, packg5, five_libs-package, libP5.0.0.04 until the cmake doesn't complain anymore. If you accidentally destroy your O.S. because of the trial and error process of installing random libraries that collide with larger dependencies: just reinstall your full OS later with your precious list of package name that finally worked. (sorry, I don't have other simplier and faster solution to propose nowadays.) ## Configuring ![](data/images/blog/2013/11/krita-build/Krita-building_for-cats_004-configure_001_by-deevad.jpg) Configuring with **cmake** will check if your system is ready and if you get the good libraries installed. So, if any configuration problem happen you'll be able to read what libraries are missing as mentioned previously. That's why it's important to read if all is ok. Also, we will inform **cmake** our directories structure : cd ~/krita/build cmake -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=$HOME/krita/inst $HOME/krita/src -DWITH_GMIC=ON -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=RelWithDebInfo -DPRODUCTSET=ALL -DPACKAGERS_BUILD=ON -DBUILD_TESTING=OFF -DKDE4_BUILD_TESTS=OFF ## Building ![](data/images/blog/2013/11/krita-build/Krita-building_for-cats_005-build_001_by-deevad.jpg) After reading the configure output, if all sounds ok , then it's time to build your own Krita. Still on the folder /krita/build, call **make** with **-j_<number>_**, where _<number>_ has to be replaced with the number of parallel job your processor is able to do ( and +1 recommended sometime ). Mine is a 8 core, let's use **-j9** . make -j9 Tip : if you don't know the number of core you have, this little command will answer you the number : cat /proc/cpuinfo | grep processor | wc -l ## Installing ![](data/images/blog/2013/11/krita-build/Krita-building_for-cats_006-installing_by-deevad.jpg) If make built all the part of Krita without getting a mistake, and till 100% , you can ask **make** to install it in our install folder. make install -j9 ## Path and environment variables ![](data/images/blog/2013/11/krita-build/Krita-building_for-cats_007-making-path_by-deevad.jpg) Your install is now done, but your system will not consider your install folder as a part of your system's application. Let's show to your system the right path, inside a **Terminal**, copy line by line : export KDEDIRS=$HOME/krita/inst:$KDEDIRS export PATH=$HOME/krita/inst/bin:$PATH Unfortunately those environment variable are not persistent, and will be lost after a shutdown or a restart of your system and our bridge will collapse. To set them at any login , write them with your favorite text editor at the end of your **~/.profile** file ( on certain distribution, the profile is named xprofile , check your hidden file in your home/<your-user-name> folder ). ## First run ![](data/images/blog/2013/11/krita-build/Krita-building_for-cats_008-running-success_by-deevad.jpg) Congratulation ! you can run "last-Krita-from-a-minute-ago" by typing **krita** on a **Terminal** or via your desktop main menu. If this one doesn't show Krita, look at your desktop-environment 's documentation : "how to create a custom launcher" . ## Updating ![](data/images/blog/2013/11/krita-build/Krita-building_for-cats_009-want-update_by-deevad.jpg) You've heard of a new feature developed , or you read about an annoying bug fixed, and want to update ? Fine, call **git** again . This time it will only append to your source folder the missing code lines. Not downloading the whole source pack. ![](data/images/blog/2013/11/krita-build/Krita-building_for-cats_010-git-update_by-deevad.jpg) **cd** into the source folder, then ask **git** to **pull** to update your source : cd ~/krita/src/ git pull ![](data/images/blog/2013/11/krita-build/Krita-building_for-cats_011-git-update-success_by-deevad.jpg) But updating the source will not be sufficient ; to experience your new Krita version, we need to repeat the configure,compile and install process : cd ~/krita/build cmake -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=$HOME/krita/inst $HOME/krita/src -DWITH_GMIC=ON -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=RelWithDebInfo -DPRODUCTSET=ALL -DPACKAGERS_BUILD=ON -DBUILD_TESTING=OFF -DKDE4_BUILD_TESTS=OFF make install -j8 If you update daily, you might like to automatise those command by making your own minimal bash script. ## Rescuing ![](data/images/blog/2013/11/krita-build/Krita-building_for-cats_012-git-update-fail_by-deevad.jpg) Recent development version might break, and sometime be unusable. Experimental changes are made daily. It might affect your productivity if you don't know how to 'go back in time' ( _ex: your favorite brush doesn't work anymore_ ). But If you know how to do it, **no issue can really affect you**, because you know how to come back to a previous state. ![](data/images/blog/2013/11/krita-build/Krita-building_for-cats_013_by-deevad.jpg) To travel the source in time we need to read the timeline history. The Terminal tool for it is **git log** cd ~/krita/src git log With **git log** , you can consult all the last changes to the code, named 'commit' . What interrest us is the long identification number ( ex: cca5819b19e0da3434192c5b352285b987a48796 ). You can scroll **git log **, copy the ID number then quit ( letter Q on keyboard ). Then time-travel your source directory : git checkout cca5819b19e0da3434192c5b352285b987a48796 Now, configure, compile, and you'll be again in a safe place. Note that I advice the packages **gitg** or **gitk** to have a graphic user interface to visualise **git** history. Also [an online version exist here](http://quickgit.kde.org/?p=calligra.git&a=shortlog "an online version exist here" ) . To update again to the actual and fresh from a minute ago source-code named **master** , simply ask **git** to come back to it with **git checkout** then **pull** to update : git checkout master git pull ![](data/images/blog/2013/11/krita-build/Krita-building_for-cats_intro_by-deevad.jpg) ## Conclusion I hope this documentation will help many user to have good time using Krita development version. Use the comments to give your feedbacks or ask questions, I'll do my best to update the information on this page. **Useful Links :** \- Official Krita [development wiki 'Build instructions'](https://community.kde.org/Krita#Build_Instructions "development wiki 'Build instructions'" ). \- The [/krita/3rdparty/README.md file](https://cgit.kde.org/krita.git/tree/3rdparty/README.md "/krita/3rdparty/README.md file" ) \- Krita [Git activities and history](https://quickgit.kde.org/?p=krita.git&a=heads "Git activities and history" ) \- List of the [last updated Krita bugs](https://bugs.kde.org/buglist.cgi?product=krita&query_format=advanced&order=changeddate%20DESC%2Cbug_status%2Cpriority%2Cassigned_to%2Cbug_id&list_id=789091 "last updated Krita bugs" ) \- [Form to enter a Krita bug](https://bugs.kde.org/enter_bug.cgi?product=krita "Form to enter a bug" ) \- Krita [blog](http://krita.org "blog" ) \- Krita [forum](http://forum.kde.org/viewforum.php?f=136 "forum" ) \- Krita [IRC channel](http://krita.org/join-krita/irc-chat "IRC channel" ) _( answer can arrive sometime after 1 or 2h, be patient )_ **Special Thanks : **Boudewijn Rempt**, **Aurélien Gâteau, M.Beast**, **Yu Asakusa, Matthieu Harel** **for feedback and help with corrections. Gerson Alvarado for Spanish translation. **Translations available :** \- Español, by Gerson Alvarado :[ Lewatoto's blog](http://frechako.blogspot.fr/2013/11/compilando-krita-en-linux-para-gatos.html "Lewatoto's blog" ) \- Polish, by Adam Druzd : [Adam's blog](http://adam.druzd.pl/tutoriale/krita/kompilowanie-krity-pod-linuxem-dla-kotow/ "Adam's blog" )

Krita Workshop: Capitole du Libre 13

WRITTEN_BY David REVOY - - 8 comments

Join me and Timothée Giet ( aka Animtim ) for a French workshop about Krita on the event Capitole du Libre 2013. The workshop will be split in 2 parts , first by Timothée about toon character creation , with line art and flat coloring , and second part with me , introducing easy way to layout toony painted background.

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Autumnus

WRITTEN_BY David REVOY - - 5 comments
November rains , mushrooms and falling leaves inspired me an autumn dragon. A decorative piece optimized for printing.

Futuristic car concept-art

WRITTEN_BY David REVOY - - 10 comments
I started a collaboration with Kuhn Industry; they hired me to design a concept-art for a futuristic car: ![](data/images/blog/2013/10/01-vehicule-concept_by-Kuhn-industry.jpg) ![](data/images/blog/2013/10/02-vehicule-concept_by-Kuhn-industry.jpg) ![](data/images/blog/2013/10/03-vehicule-concept_by-Kuhn-industry.jpg) And here the modeling and renders of the resulting high-poly model. A work made by Chris Kuhn. ![](data/images/blog/2013/10/04-vehicule-3Dmodel_by-Kuhn-industry.jpg) ![](data/images/blog/2013/10/05-vehicule-inside_by-Kuhn-industry.jpg) Purchase the mesh on Turbosquid : Kuhn industries page :

Exellence Portrait Award

WRITTEN_BY David REVOY - - 15 comments

A shot done on Montauban, France in front the Ingres Musuem

I am one of the lucky artist to be part of the famous book serie EXPOSÉ . EXPOSE book is a sort of yearly published CG bible, and I never been published in it before. They even subtitle it "The finest Digital Art in the know universe ".  Two of my artworks are now in. I'm really proud of it. I'm also honored to receive an 'exellence award' ( Portrait categories ) for my portrait of Charles Darwin. The other artwork featured is my Alice in Wonderland illustration. Also, it's cool to see Krita, Gimp and Mypaint in the credit.  The book is amazing... surprisingly , all this digital artworks looks even more amazing printed on paper, probably because of the hires printing, and full-res files transmitted to Ballistic Publishing. I can spot details of my fav artist and subtle textures I never saw before. I warmly recommend this experience to any digital art lover.

I took the photo above for the Ballistic Publishing's blog where all artist around the world contribute with a shot to a 'Expose 11 around the world' series of post. Fun to see ! You can see me on the whole page here.  Thanks Ballistic Publishing and congratulations everyone who contributed to this brillant book.

more info / purchase : http://www.ballisticpublishing.com/books/expose/expose_11/

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Getting started with Krita (3/3)

WRITTEN_BY David REVOY - - 54 comments
[![](data/images/blog/2013/09/gettingstarted3/final_net.tb.jpg)](data/images/blog/2013/09/gettingstarted3/final_net.jpg) _The result of this blog post tutorial exercise over the first part & second part, click to enlarge_ "**Getting started with Krita**" is a tutorial series of **three blog post** and this one **is the third**. The tutorials were designed for [Krita 2.7](http://krita.org/ "Krita 2.7" ) in 2013 + [my brushkit V3](http://www.davidrevoy.com/article180/krita-brushkit-v3 "my brushkit V3" ) . This brush were added in Krita's default brushes after Krita 2.8. Using a newer version of Krita ( eg. 2.9.7 ) you should have everything you need. **I updated a bit the tutorial in september 2015**. I hope you'll learn something with this series. My goal here is to share the passion I have for digital painting and help new talents to get faster rid of the technical aspect to do the essential : telling stories, sharing beautifull pictures, expressing an artistic soul, etc... My third and last tutorial of this series cover the last steps necessary to bring the artwork to a 'final'. We'll increase 'a bit' the details. * [Part 1. : black and white : setup and modeling](http://www.davidrevoy.com/article185/getting-started-with-krita-1-3-bw-portrait "Part 1.   :  black and white : setup and modeling" ) * [Part 2. : colorize : layer stack of blending mode](http://www.davidrevoy.com/article186/getting-started-with-krita-2-3-colorize "Part 2.   :  colorize : layer stack of blending mode" ) * [Part 3. : finalising : details, and final touch](http://www.davidrevoy.com/article187/getting-started-with-krita-3-3-details-and-final-touch "Part 3.   :  finalising : render, post effect" ) ( you are here ) **Let's paint ! ** **Info :** I let you the care to save your document often during the process as on the part 1 and 2. By the way, do you know you can save your picture to the Open raster format (*.ora ) too and keep your layers and blending modes ? Open raster is slower to save, but offer a good advantage over the Krita document *.kra : you can open *.ora with Gimp or Mypaint ; if you need to edit your picture later in one of this software._ **1\.** Open your artwork done on the second part. Set your zoom to 50% and center the artwork into your viewport. Don't forget to activate the mirror mode in the top toolbar as usual. [![](data/images/blog/2013/09/gettingstarted3/tutorial-getting-started-krita_part3_01.tb.jpg)](data/images/blog/2013/09/gettingstarted3/tutorial-getting-started-krita_part3_01.jpg) **2\.** Flatten all your layers ( Ctrl+Shift+E ) , name the result 'base' . Then duplicate the layer above and name it 'paint'. [![](data/images/blog/2013/09/gettingstarted3/tutorial-getting-started-krita_part3_02.tb.jpg)](data/images/blog/2013/09/gettingstarted3/tutorial-getting-started-krita_part3_02.jpg) **3.** We want now to upscale our artwork to the double ( 200% ), to increase the resolution and get more room to add details. Go to the menu Image > Scale to new size (1) . Change the method for width to Percent (2) insert 200% . The lower number 'Height' should follow proportionally. For the interpolation , choose 'Lanczos3' , then press Ok . Let Krita compute... [![](data/images/blog/2013/09/gettingstarted3/tutorial-getting-started-krita_part3_03.tb.jpg)](data/images/blog/2013/09/gettingstarted3/tutorial-getting-started-krita_part3_03.jpg) **4.** The artwork should now appears much more bigger than it was before in the viewport, especially at 50% zoom of the viewport. It should be exactly the double. Keep painting at 50% viewport ; our brushes preset are sort-of optimized for this zoom. The artwork will now use more disk space and resource, but we will use smaller brushes so we wont notice a very big lag. We need this resolution to increase the details and be able to publish it. The minimal resolution to print an artwork is 300ppi. If you zoom out to 33% on a regular 96ppi screen, you should have an idea of the 'real' size of the artwork. If you want to pan your canvas ; hold Spacebar and drag with mouse. [![](data/images/blog/2013/09/gettingstarted3/tutorial-getting-started-krita_part3_04.tb.jpg)](data/images/blog/2013/09/gettingstarted3/tutorial-getting-started-krita_part3_04.jpg) **5.** Now a little part outdated, coming from 2013. We don't do it this way in 2015. So don't pay attention too much to this screenshot under, this dialog don't exist anymore. In this step, we will add our favorite brushes to the 'stylus/mouse right-click' palette. Yes, the little palette ring poping-up over the canvas as in 'step 6 (2)' screenshot. The new 2015 way to add brushes to this 'Palette' is much more simplier : in your brush preset docker, right click on the brush you like , and assign them to the tag group 'Favorite Presets'. Done. [![](data/images/blog/2013/09/gettingstarted3/tutorial-getting-started-krita_part3_05.tb.jpg)](data/images/blog/2013/09/gettingstarted3/tutorial-getting-started-krita_part3_05.jpg) **6.** Ok, our right-click on the canvas "Palette" (2) is setup now, we fed it with 'Favorite Presets' we like. Press Tab to hide all the docker around, and enjoy a larger view port. Press tab again at any moment to exit this mode. Other tool can be found on canvas. The history color pop-up with 'H' key (3) show a color history palette. The color selector with Shift+i (4) can offer more comfort ( because more room, size is bigger than in the right-click palette ) to switch color. [![](data/images/blog/2013/09/gettingstarted3/tutorial-getting-started-krita_part3_06.tb.jpg)](data/images/blog/2013/09/gettingstarted3/tutorial-getting-started-krita_part3_06.jpg) **7.** If you are not comfortable with using Shift+i ( I'll understand ) go to Settings > Configure shortcut (1) and in the search field enter the keyword 'show' (2) then in 'show color selector' enter the custom shortcut 'C' ( reasign if necessary ) , press OK to accept (4). [![](data/images/blog/2013/09/gettingstarted3/tutorial-getting-started-krita_part3_07.tb.jpg)](data/images/blog/2013/09/gettingstarted3/tutorial-getting-started-krita_part3_07.jpg) **8.** Now, you can start a long painting session with all this tools, fullscreen. Here I'll spend around 4 hours on detailing. Paint to sharpen the edges, smooth the surfaces and bring a whole new level of details and ease for your (future potential) spectator to understand volumes and the materials. Use the 'Bristles_hairy' brush with blending mode 'normal' / 'addition' / 'glazing' if you want to darken or brighten the detail. You can paint directly on your 'paint' layer. It's a long step , reviewing zone by zone to adjust or correct and to increase the details. As most of the colors are around , use only the Ctrl+Click color pick on canvas to pick your needed color. Zoom out from time to time to see the overall and turn off and on the visibility of your details layer, to see if you are not destroying the zone instead of making it looking better. In case of accident, you can still remove the details with a soft eraser. That's why I keep two layers, because working on a zone doesn't always result as an improvement, and I have to keep a security to go back at a earlier step. The detailing step is the longest of all the process ; but one of the most relaxing :-) [![](data/images/blog/2013/09/gettingstarted3/tutorial-getting-started-krita_part3_08.tb.jpg)](data/images/blog/2013/09/gettingstarted3/tutorial-getting-started-krita_part3_08.jpg) **9\.** While detailing, I changed the eyes expression a bit ; to test, but I didn't liked it, I also found the whole shading of the face a bit flat, and decided to continue to work on shading it zone by zone, and rework the volumes. I also tested glossy hairs, then erased half the effect to make it more subtle, because it was definitely too artificial. Details is really a part of test and corrections, to improve the artwork. You can even dive to zoom 100% to solve little light as a reflect in the eyes. Here I use 'Airbrush_pressure" with low size to add subtle lines. Also, keep constantly an eye on the overall by zooming out. [![](data/images/blog/2013/09/gettingstarted3/tutorial-getting-started-krita_part3_09.tb.jpg)](data/images/blog/2013/09/gettingstarted3/tutorial-getting-started-krita_part3_09.jpg) **10.** When you'll start to really have some credibility into your lighting and volumes, you may start to feel a certain discomfort in front of the piece. That's because of a too symmetric drawing. It's too artificial. Time to start to break it ... [![](data/images/blog/2013/09/gettingstarted3/tutorial-getting-started-krita_part3_10.tb.jpg)](data/images/blog/2013/09/gettingstarted3/tutorial-getting-started-krita_part3_10.jpg) **11.** To break symmetry , easy enough , just unactivated the mirror icons and fix the eyes with brush manually ; for making the two eyeballs react to the same reflection of a light source ( you see it? the white in the eyes are now not symmetrical and react to a source of light coming from left of the model ) and paint subtle change here and there. Then also sign your artwork. You can now save your final result in a lossless flat format such as \*.png and flatten the picture if you want. [![](data/images/blog/2013/09/gettingstarted3/tutorial-getting-started-krita_part3_11.tb.jpg)](data/images/blog/2013/09/gettingstarted3/tutorial-getting-started-krita_part3_11.jpg) _Note: [_Jpeg/internet export] If you want to share your result on internet ; I advice going first into File > Create copy from your current image , then scale down your image with Image > Scale to new size and turn the width to a much lower resolution ; for example 720px large. Press ok and save it as JPG with a quality a bit above 90%. Then why not share your image to the world? Ok, probably not this time if it's your first try :-) Maybe soon on the Krita forum art gallery ?_ This third and last part of this tutorial end here... [![](data/images/blog/2013/09/gettingstarted3/final_net.tb.jpg)](data/images/blog/2013/09/gettingstarted3/final_net.jpg) All along those 3 past weeks and tutorials I shared with you a path and some of my 'cooking receipt' to make picture. Feel free to experiment around and develop your own ; -there is endless way to make a picture- . I hope this tutorial was a good way to "get started" and make you discover some of the feature of Krita you needed to start to draw and paint with comfort. Keep painting ! Stay tuned for the next series ! _A question ?_ - Want to share the link of your results ? - discuss ? use the comments, I'll be around :-)

Getting started with Krita (2/3)

WRITTEN_BY David REVOY - - 68 comments
[![](data/images/blog/2013/09/gettingstarted2/tutorial-getting-started-krita_part2_09.tb.jpg)](data/images/blog/2013/09/gettingstarted2/tutorial-getting-started-krita_part2_09.jpg) _The result of this blog post tutorial exercise over the first part, click to enlarge_ "**Getting started with Krita**" is a tutorial series of **three blog post** and this one is **the second**. The tutorials were designed for [Krita 2.7](http://krita.org/ "Krita 2.7" ) in 2013 + [my brushkit V3](http://www.davidrevoy.com/article180/krita-brushkit-v3 "my brushkit V3" ) . This brush were added in Krita's default brushes after Krita 2.8. Using a newer version of Krita ( eg. 2.9.7 ) you should have everything you need. **I updated a bit the tutorial in september 2015**. The screenshot are old and won't match your interface, but it's the best I can do at the moment to refresh this three post. My goal here is to share the passion I have for digital painting and help new talents to get faster rid of the technical aspect to do the essential : telling stories, sharing beautifull pictures, expressing an artistic soul, etc... My second tutorial cover the steps necessary to bring a black and white artwork to the world of colors. **Contents :** * [Part 1. : black and white : setup and modeling](http://www.davidrevoy.com/article185/getting-started-with-krita-1-3-bw-portrait "Part 1.   :  black and white : setup and modeling" ) * [Part 2. : colorize : layer stack of blending mode](http://www.davidrevoy.com/article186/getting-started-with-krita-2-3-colorize "Part 2.   :  colorize : layer stack of blending mode" ) ( you are here ) * [Part 3. : finalising : render, post effect](http://www.davidrevoy.com/article187/tutorial-getting-started-with-krita-3-3-details-and-final-touch "Part 3.   :  finalising : render, post effect" ) **Let's paint ! ** _**Note :** I let you the care to save your document often during the process as on the part 1 . I advice the 'Krita document' ( *.kra ) files , but this time , why not using a different saving option? a feature in the menu "File > Save incremental version" is useful to keep track of your 'work in progress' steps. Press it, and check on your disk what this feature does._ _**Note 2:** As usual, click on the pictures to enlarge them. _ **1.** Open your artwork done on the first part. Set your zoom to 50% and center the artwork into your viewport. Don't forget to activate the mirror mode in the top toolbar. [![](data/images/blog/2013/09/gettingstarted2/tutorial-getting-started-krita_part2_01.tb.jpg)](data/images/blog/2013/09/gettingstarted2/tutorial-getting-started-krita_part2_01.jpg) **2.** Flatten all your layers Ctrl+Shift+E or in menu Layer > Flatten Image , name the result 'b&w' . Duplicate your 'b&w' layer, name it 'colorbase' and call the Hue/Saturation/Windows color filter by pressing Ctrl+U. Check the 'Colorize' box. [![](data/images/blog/2013/09/gettingstarted2/tutorial-getting-started-krita_part2_02.tb.jpg)](data/images/blog/2013/09/gettingstarted2/tutorial-getting-started-krita_part2_02.jpg) **3.** With the Hue and Saturation slider, search the main tone of your picture ( don't use the Lightness slider, keep it at 0 ) . Here I want a desaturated blue hue. Then press ok [![](data/images/blog/2013/09/gettingstarted2/tutorial-getting-started-krita_part2_03.tb.jpg)](data/images/blog/2013/09/gettingstarted2/tutorial-getting-started-krita_part2_03.jpg) **4.** Create a new 'paint layer' above, named 'color' with the blending mode HSY > Color . Take the 'Airbrush_pressure' brush preset. Do a first pass of tinting area of your artwork with pure colors and test around. Fun , right ? on a 'HSY color' blending mode layer, all the stroke affect only the Hue and saturation , not the value. So you can keep your value and paint color without destroying them. [![](data/images/blog/2013/09/gettingstarted2/tutorial-getting-started-krita_part2_04.tb.jpg)](data/images/blog/2013/09/gettingstarted2/tutorial-getting-started-krita_part2_04.jpg) **5.** Keep painting. Note : the color picker ( hold Control key plus click ) works fine on a Color type of layer , you can use it. Adjust when necessary by removing the color with 'E' the 'eraser mode' to reveal the base color underneath or enrich the range of colors in your artwork by using hue from the Advanced Color Selector. I often restrict myself to unsaturated tones because it's easier to saturate or enrich later. You can see on the screenshot my 'layer preview' ( a dialog who appear on the bottom right, it will appear also for you if you keep stylus over the layer name ). This preview will give you an idea of the painting work I do on it. [![](data/images/blog/2013/09/gettingstarted2/tutorial-getting-started-krita_part2_05.tb.jpg)](data/images/blog/2013/09/gettingstarted2/tutorial-getting-started-krita_part2_05.jpg) **6.** Create a new paint layer named 'glaze' and with the blending mode Arithmetic > 'multiply'. We will do now an almost similar pass than a traditional [glazing with oil painting](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glaze_\(painting_technique\) "glazing with oil painting" ) . Take again the "Airbrush_pressure" brush preset with mid opacity and glaze the colors, add red in the shade of the skin to flesh the model , make deeper the zone where the skin doesn't reflect light , and let see more the blood color under the skin. Crease also some deeper shade for the hair. Glaze the eyes as if you would perform a make-up on them. Resize your brush if necessary to perform more little details. I don't advice to zoom in. Glaze also the lips as if you were applying lipstick on them. Remember glazing will darken only the colors and so it's important to keep doing it steps by steps, low opacity strokes by low opacity strokes. Glaze the overall artwork till you reach a good aspect ; this include hairs, backgrounds, etc... ( Note : Glazing steps is good to add stain, tatoo, patterns but to keep this tutorial clean and generic, I'll keep my basic character ). [![](data/images/blog/2013/09/gettingstarted2/tutorial-getting-started-krita_part2_06.tb.jpg)](data/images/blog/2013/09/gettingstarted2/tutorial-getting-started-krita_part2_06.jpg) **7.** Create a new paint layer named 'vivid' and use the blending mode Mix > 'overlay' on it. With a dark airbrush at low opacity , vivid the shadows. It should increase the contrast in those areas, unify the local tones and add saturation. Do the same with a bright color to brighten zone and so, increase the intensity of the lighting. With white , do little and subtle corona of light around your higher values ; such as reflection on the lips, and on the eyes. [![](data/images/blog/2013/09/gettingstarted2/tutorial-getting-started-krita_part2_07.tb.jpg)](data/images/blog/2013/09/gettingstarted2/tutorial-getting-started-krita_part2_07.jpg) **8.** Create a new paint layer named 'texture' and use the blending mode Mix > 'overlay' on it also. With a dark grey and a variety of preset who do textures on the canvas as the 'Splat_texture2' or 'Sponge_texture' in the default brushes, we will add a soft texture to part of our artwork. For example, a bit of grain to the skin. Be subtle , the effect should not 'jump' into the eyes, but be a secondary thin effect. If your effect is too strong , erase it. [![](data/images/blog/2013/09/gettingstarted2/tutorial-getting-started-krita_part2_08.tb.jpg)](data/images/blog/2013/09/gettingstarted2/tutorial-getting-started-krita_part2_08.jpg) The colorization setting for our artworks is now done. The goal was to 'sketch' the colors of our artwork. Also, I kept the color choice simple on my example even if it's a bit boring and generic. But i think a tutorial example has to be generic to be enough open to any interpretation. The important is now about what you can do with it. Feel free to test make-up ; tatoo , blue skin , reptilian skin , colored hair , etc... etc.... more material , more lighting situation. **A bit more about the 3 pass, 'color' / 'multiply' / 'overlay' :** There is an endless way to digitally colorize a black and white artwork. Here is just a 'cooking' proposition on how those three pass of layer blending mode 'color' / 'multiply' / 'overlay' can work together. They work better if you kept your black and white value bright as we did on the previous tutorial. If you practice them, they become predictable. I hope this visit inside the interface of the powerful options of Krita made you discover new aspect of this software. Options you probably ignored before. Repeat it again till you'll feel more confident with the steps to replicate without this page and express your color tastes with this tool and method. Next part ( to be published ) we will learn the way to push the rendering to a higher definition and correct bugs. Our picture has many issue now , and don't offer many details. By the way, those issues and bugs can have a charm. A 'speed-painting' charm. [![](data/images/blog/2013/09/gettingstarted2/tutorial-getting-started-krita_part2_09.tb.jpg)](data/images/blog/2013/09/gettingstarted2/tutorial-getting-started-krita_part2_09.jpg) _A question ?_ _ Want to share the link of your results ? _ _ discuss ? use the comments, I'll be around :-) _ [Part 3 here](http://www.davidrevoy.com/article187/tutorial-getting-started-with-krita-3-3-details-and-final-touch "Part 3 here" )

Getting started with Krita (1/3)

WRITTEN_BY David REVOY - - 142 comments
[![](data/images/blog/2013/08/getting-started-tuto1/tutorial-getting-started-krita_part1_00_net.tb.jpg)](data/images/blog/2013/08/getting-started-tuto1/tutorial-getting-started-krita_part1_00_net.jpg) _The result of this blog post tutorial exercise_ "**Getting started with Krita**" is a tutorial series of **three blog post**. The tutorials were designed for [Krita 2.7](http://krita.org/ "Krita 2.7" ) in 2013 + [my brushkit V3](http://www.davidrevoy.com/article180/krita-brushkit-v3 "my brushkit V3" ) . This brush were added in Krita's default brushes after Krita 2.8. Using a newer version of Krita ( eg. 2.9.7 ) you should have everything you need. **I updated a bit the tutorial in september 2015**. The screenshot are old and won't match your interface, but it's the best I can do at the moment to refresh this three post. I hope you'll learn something with this series. My goal here is to share the passion I have for digital painting and help new talents to get faster rid of the technical aspect to do the essential : telling stories, sharing beautiful pictures, expressing an artistic soul, etc... My first tutorial will be a simple but rewarding one. 'Simple' because I'll write it as a step by step with all details to paint a symmetrical portrait, but without explaining the complex stuff underneath about theory ; and 'rewarding' because we will get a result quickly. It can be an ideal time investment if you have a first free afternoon to paint and want to learn basics of Krita while having fun. **Contents :** * [Part 1. : black and white : setup and modeling](http://www.davidrevoy.com/article185/getting-started-with-krita-1-3-bw-portrait "Part 1. : black and white : setup and modeling" ) ( you are here ) * [Part 2. : colorize : layer stack of blending mode](http://www.davidrevoy.com/article186/getting-started-with-krita-2-3-colorize "Part 2. : colorize : layer stack of blending mode" ) * [Part 3. : finalising : render, post effect](http://www.davidrevoy.com/article187/tutorial-getting-started-with-krita-3-3-details-and-final-touch "Part 3. :  finalising : render, post effect" ) ** Let's paint ! ** **Note :** - Save your document often during the process. I advice the 'Krita document' ( kra ) files. - Click on the pictures of this blog post to enlarge them. ** 1\. **On Krita first startup go to File menu on top, then 'New'. A dialog will pop-up, select in it the tab on left "Custom Document"(1) and create a new canvas with Width and Height to 4000 (2) and set resolution to 300ppi (3) , as on the screenshot. Skip other field as Name or Image description , and press 'Create' (4). [![](data/images/blog/2013/08/getting-started-tuto1/tutorial-getting-started-krita_part1_01_net.tb.jpg)](data/images/blog/2013/08/getting-started-tuto1/tutorial-getting-started-krita_part1_01_net.jpg) ** 2.** Maximize Krita Windows. Zoom your empty canvas to the 50% view (1) ( using '+' on keyboard or the mouse wheel ) . Take the crop tool (2) , and crop the visible canvas on your screen letting a border all around. [![](data/images/blog/2013/08/getting-started-tuto1/tutorial-getting-started-krita_part1_02_net.tb.jpg)](data/images/blog/2013/08/getting-started-tuto1/tutorial-getting-started-krita_part1_02_net.jpg) ** 3.** Click the little color square on the toolbar (1) ( the one under for the background color) step the value down to 216 (2) ( Hex: #D8D8D8 ) , then accept with the OK button (3) . Now press 'Backspace' over your canvas (4) , to fill this one with the grey background color. [![](data/images/blog/2013/08/getting-started-tuto1/tutorial-getting-started-krita_part1_03_net.tb.jpg)](data/images/blog/2013/08/getting-started-tuto1/tutorial-getting-started-krita_part1_03_net.jpg) ** 4.** Lock your layer (1) and rename it ( double click on it ) to 'Bg' (2). Create a new empty "Paint layer" above (3) . Let the default name 'Layer 2' ![](data/images/blog/2013/08/getting-started-tuto1/tutorial-getting-started-krita_part1_04_net.jpg) ** 5.** Select the Freehand tool (1) and the default brush preset 'Bristtle_hairy' (2). On the 'advanced color selector' docker, select a dark mid-grey value (3) , and adjust the size with pressing shift+dragging the brush on the canvas to got a mid brush (4) ( check around 40px , on top 'size' slider ) [![](data/images/blog/2013/08/getting-started-tuto1/tutorial-getting-started-krita_part1_05_net.tb.jpg)](data/images/blog/2013/08/getting-started-tuto1/tutorial-getting-started-krita_part1_05_net.jpg) ** 6.** Activate the shortcut on the top tool bar to the horizontal mirror mode. ![](data/images/blog/2013/08/getting-started-tuto1/tutorial-getting-started-krita_part1_06_net.jpg) ** 7.** Start to draw on canvas large axes, with direct and simple line strokes. Shape the head, simple lines for the eyes , mouth, and nose, same for ears. 'E' key on the keyboard will switch your brush to erase instead of paint. Pressing it again will restore the behavior to paint. You can correct your stroke to get proportion you like. To delete all , in case you are not happy , press 'Delete' on the keyboard. [![](data/images/blog/2013/08/getting-started-tuto1/tutorial-getting-started-krita_part1_07_net.tb.jpg)](data/images/blog/2013/08/getting-started-tuto1/tutorial-getting-started-krita_part1_07_net.jpg) ** 8.** Block the shadows zone of your face , if you are not familiar with drawing or painting, this skill is relative to your capacity to abstract the 3D model of a face in your head , and know the volumes of it and guess the shadows cast by an abstract light source. If you begin, just try to paint the area under the eyebrows, and under the nose, volume for the hair, and for the neck. Again, use the eraser to enhance your modeling. Keep it simple : zone of light and zone of shadows. [![](data/images/blog/2013/08/getting-started-tuto1/tutorial-getting-started-krita_part1_08_net.tb.jpg)](data/images/blog/2013/08/getting-started-tuto1/tutorial-getting-started-krita_part1_08_net.jpg) ** 9.** Create a new paint layer, and bring it between your blocked shadows, and the background. Select the default 'Fill_block' brush and fill the part inside the silhouette with a brighter grey ( brighter than your sketch , but darker than your background ). [![](data/images/blog/2013/08/getting-started-tuto1/tutorial-getting-started-krita_part1_09_net.tb.jpg)](data/images/blog/2013/08/getting-started-tuto1/tutorial-getting-started-krita_part1_09_net.jpg) ** 10.** Select your layer with shadows, and 'merge it' with layer bellow with Ctrl+E , turn the opacity of the layer to 50%. Create a new 'paint layer' [![](data/images/blog/2013/08/getting-started-tuto1/tutorial-getting-started-krita_part1_10_net.tb.jpg)](data/images/blog/2013/08/getting-started-tuto1/tutorial-getting-started-krita_part1_10_net.jpg) ** 11.** Select the Bristles_hairy brush again. Select a mid grey color in the Advanced color selector and start to draw more shadows by glazing successive strokes. Try to be subtle, play with the pressure of your stylus and erase when necessary. [![](data/images/blog/2013/08/getting-started-tuto1/tutorial-getting-started-krita_part1_11_net.tb.jpg)](data/images/blog/2013/08/getting-started-tuto1/tutorial-getting-started-krita_part1_11_net.jpg) ** 12.** Create a new paint layer. Increase your grey color a bit , to reach the same grey value than your background ( or hold 'Control' to pick the color on the canvas ) and keep working on your modeling as you would do on a three dimensional plaster object. [![](data/images/blog/2013/08/getting-started-tuto1/tutorial-getting-started-krita_part1_12_net.tb.jpg)](data/images/blog/2013/08/getting-started-tuto1/tutorial-getting-started-krita_part1_12_net.jpg) ** 13.** Merge layer with the layer bellow, use Layer > Merge with Bellow layer ( or Ctrl+E ). Create a new paint layer. Draw the facial features ( eyes / mouth / nose ) on the top of our volumes. Use only tones already present on the canvas with your brush opacity diminished to 0.70 , picking value holding Control + click on the canvas. Create hard edges where you can , clean silhouette contour, increase the spike aspect of some shapes. This part is ideal to fix things. Take your time and keep the bigger brush size you can, reduce only if it's necessary . [![](data/images/blog/2013/08/getting-started-tuto1/tutorial-getting-started-krita_part1_13_net.tb.jpg)](data/images/blog/2013/08/getting-started-tuto1/tutorial-getting-started-krita_part1_13_net.jpg) ** 14.** Create a new paint layer. With white and same brush but now 0.50 opacity paint now only the glossy parts of the face, and the hair : or the more smooth or greasy part ( or the area receiving naturally more light in this lighting setup ). Be also subtle here too. [![](data/images/blog/2013/08/getting-started-tuto1/tutorial-getting-started-krita_part1_14_net.tb.jpg)](data/images/blog/2013/08/getting-started-tuto1/tutorial-getting-started-krita_part1_14_net.jpg) ** 15.** Create a new paint layer. Add some definition and details with a hard thin brush as the default brush preset 'Layout_Oval' and start to bring harder details to your drawing. Especially for glossy point or materials. You can add glossy reflective points of light with very bright values, almost or white. Shadows can be also creased a bit ; but I advice you to keep in a restricted range of values and avoid usage of darker tones. Also add some low opacity white around the silhouette to boost the contrast a bit. [![](data/images/blog/2013/08/getting-started-tuto1/tutorial-getting-started-krita_part1_15_net.tb.jpg)](data/images/blog/2013/08/getting-started-tuto1/tutorial-getting-started-krita_part1_15_net.jpg) At the end , the young fictive person I drew from imagination look a bit mystic in her attitude and simplistic in the design. I'll not add more accessories or design to gears on her to keep the tutorial method clean , but feel free to keep painting and follow your imagination... I advice you to keep doodling with a standard viewport , 50% and without zooming ; and train your painting skill within a "compressed value space" ( from white to grey ). It's easier than to manage a limited range of grey than dealing with full blacks to white to get started. ![](data/images/blog/2013/08/getting-started-tuto1/tutorial-getting-started-krita_part1_16.gif) This first part of this tutorial end here. Next part we will colorize it ! [Go to the next part now](http://www.davidrevoy.com/article186/getting-started-with-krita-2-3-colorize "Go to the next part now" ) Repeat it again till you'll feel more confident with the steps to replicate without this page. Create monsters, girls, men or robot head this way with focusing on giving the illusion of volumes and the modeling/shading. The fun is really here : creation. Feel free to have a watch to [my other mirrored portrait black and white speedpaintings](http://www.davidrevoy.com/article165/5-mirrored-speedpainting-portraits "my other mirrored portrait black and white speedpaintings" ) . _A question ?_ _Want to share the link of your results ? _ _Discuss ? use the comments, I'll be around and participate too :-) _