[ART] How I make textures, tips and advice.
Hello and welcome.
Quite often people ask me ''how do you create head textures?'', thinking they are going to receive a one word answer that will instantly make them god-like. So if that ever happens again they will have a fatty link slapped across the face.
I'll divide this into a couple of parts, so if you don't have time to read all of this, you can stop in-between parts.
Note: This is a Photoshop exclusive tutorial, since that is what I use. It will not cover, or even think about covering any other program. So, before continuing make sure you have a legit or dirty copy of Photoshop. This is not a get instantly better at painting tutorial - those do not exist- this is simply a guide on the technical side of making textures. Couple of tips included tho.
Part One:
Template:
Here is my handy-dandy template, that should help you out. The 'No Zone' is a place where Toribash shaders do stupid stuff and mess up the texture. So if you're planning on making detailed addons on the top of the head, then just don't. It's going to end up looking bad in game. I usually fill the top with a flat colour, or if you're doing hair, it's not going to be that noticable. You can still paint on the 'No Zone', but be wary - the closer you are to the top, the more messed up it will look.
The green-ish area, with the eyes and stuff is where you are going to put your beautiful face design on.
Light blue is the sides of your head, hence, the ears.
Back is represented as dark-ish blue.
Important:
Treat the front, side and back of the head as seperate plains.
-This is how you shouldn't do:
-Instead, do this:
When you draw the face, you draw it as if you were looking straight at it. So when you draw the side and back, draw them as if you were looking straight at them also. Hope that makes sence.
Part Two:
How to make your high quality head texture seamless:
This is an unnecessarily complicated .GIF for you, that will reveal the techniques of the gods:
Or you may use @nblx's script that does everything for you:
credit to nblx
All credit to him, send him TC, ect.
Now that you have your well-rendered, quality head texture seamless, all thats left is to export it.
Note: this only works for Photoshop Extended users. Regular versions of Photoshop do not include the 3D menu.
Rotate the sphere around and grab a couple of shots, once done - CTRL-Z to get back to your flat image. If you don't have the extended version of Photoshop, use Gimp.
Part Three:
Tips on sketches:
-Reference images, Reference images, Reference images. I don't care how good you are, references always help.
- *cough* draw half of the face then mirror it *cough*
- Draw your sketch on paper if that helps/you don't have a tablet, make sure it's a square and follow the template. Once done, scan/photograph it and continue from there.
Tips on shading:
-The light will be coming from the top in-game, so keep that in mind.
-Gradient:
-The dodge/burn tool is your friend in making shapes more defined.
-Reference images, Reference images, Reference images.
-There are limits of how much you can foreshorten an object(nose, horn), so don't get frustrated. It's a sphere you're working with, remember that.
-Breakfast is really important for your body.
-Mad painting skills won't suddenly appear after you've read this. Making a head texture is just a demonstration of your ability to paint and knowledge. Ask any renowned texture maker to show you some non-texture works - you'll be surprised how much more he can do.
If you want to get better - practice:
-do still life paintings to learn values and color;
-draw from reference images to start building your visual library, so you actually know HOW to draw something.
If you spend 20 hours a week practicing, you should be god before 2016.
That's how I make head textures, if anything unclear, feel free to ask. Hope it helped and have a nice day.
*post may or may not be updated every once in a while, with new information subscribe for more call of duty tutorials