Editorial
In this November issue of 2DArtist Magazine we go atmosphere crazy with a fantastic steampunk tutorial by Ioan Dumitrescu, who shows us how to use Google SketchUp to create a 3D base to get some interesting structures established for a 2D illustration (paintover) in Photoshop, and we have Darren Yeow showing us how to make custom brushes for clouds – perfect for adding some extra oomph to our environments and giving rockets a good kick off the Earth! These two tutorials illustrate just how a bit of extra attention to creating atmosphere in your paintings can go a long way to improving the overall quality of your artwork. So follow Ioan and Darren on p.52 and p.40, and see what their techniques can do for you!

We have a character-filled tutorial on p.62 for you this month, as our Dynamic Characters series draws to a close. David Smit speaks openly and honestly about his theory of good camera placement, framing, and fore-shortening in digital painting. Confidently accepting this tutorial for 2DArtist, David soon realized what a huge subject he’d let himself in for, and the result of this is a fun article filled with genuine discussion about what works, what doesn’t, and where you should pay close attention and further develop your understanding of the subject. This is a really enjoyable article for those who are brushing up their skills and want to further their knowledge on the topic of camera placement and framing, to give their character illustrations that extra bite! And stay tuned to 2DArtist as we’ll be interviewing David Smit in the next issue.

Nykolai Aleksander brings us the penultimate chapter in our Beginner’s Guide to Digital Painting tutorial series this month (p.78), looking at using photos to give texture to your paintings, and discussing various selection techniques which are handy when it comes to incorporating photos in your work – be it photo manipulation or matte painting. With the tutorial now in its final stages, Nykolai will be back next month to wrap up the series and will bring us her final version of the painting, complete with finishing touches and tweaks, as well as some lessons on how to save our work for various uses.

In the spirit of Halloween last month we featured a zombie-inspired illustration by James Wolfe Strehle … This month, he’s back and he’s brought the zombies with him! We asked James to write a making of article for this issue, discussing the creation of his nightmarish image, painted in Photoshop. Feeling rather hungry at the time he was putting the article together for us, he has taken a unique approach to his making of – one which I’ve never come across before – and takes us through the painting process using the analogy of … a sandwich! I’ll leave you on your seat edge there and let you read the article for yourself to find out what I mean – it’s a really quirky article that I’m sure you’ll love, so hop on over to p90 to find out more.

Our Sketchbook article takes a step away from the usual pencil grays of our past issues this month, as Lois van Baarle shows us how she uses blocks of color to sketch her ideas down and warm up for her paintings. This is a beautiful and colorful article with some behind-the-scenes notes touching on a variety of sketching styles and techniques, so please stop by p.16 to enjoy Lois’s sketchbook, and be sure to check out her “sketchblog” (http://sketchblog.loish.net) for more from this talented artist!

To wrap up this issue, we interview Feng Zhu on p.6 – who needs no introduction! As director of his own company and school, we were simply privileged that he could spare us some precious moments to talk to 2DArtist about his latest endeavors. We have a stunning selection of his work published in his interview article to accompany the fantastic answers to our probing questions. And talking of great artwork, stop by the Gallery on p.30 to see new work by Arnaud Valette, Jason Seiler, and George Patsouras before you get back to your digital canvases and paint those evenings away. Enjoy this issue, and we’ll see you back here for another next month! Ed.