TUTORIAL // painting foliage & complex detail
Added 2024-11-08 12:24:35 +0000 UTCIt's time for this month's tutorial! It's on painting foliage and complex detail, and runs you through how you can paint dense leaves in a gradual and structured way. This way, your foliage art will look expressive, interesting and complex! You can use the same workflow for other types of dense detail, like feathers, hair or grass.
I mention a variety of brushes in this tutorial. They include:
I also mention a couple of useful resource websites:
Unsplash - for royalty-free reference images
Here a few tutorials that would be helpful to watch alongside this one!
Soft & hard edges with the lasso tool: This tutorial shows you how to select areas and combining that with a grainy, noisy brush. It's a great way to get both texture and edge control, which is super helpful when conveying complex detail!
Stylizing trees & plants: This video shows you how you can apply stylization techniques to organic elements like trees and plants. It talks a lot about diverting from the reference image to create a unique interpretation of what you see.
Here's the outcome of the demo shown in the video:
As always, here is the cheat sheet with essential information from the tutorial, which you can also find attached to this post as a PDF file with clickable links:
I hope you enjoy this video and that it makes painting complex detail a bit easier!
For future tutorials, feel free to share any future tutorial suggestions in the #tutorial-suggestions channel in the discord server (If you don't know how to join, just follow the steps outlined here) or leave them in a comment below โค
Comments
glad you find it helpful!
Loish
2025-04-24 09:19:00 +0000 UTCthank you, I really appreciate the cheat sheet , it's very handy to remember all the little details :)
Greg Jaimes
2025-04-23 19:40:57 +0000 UTCvery helpful thanks <3
Catmouse James
2025-01-16 14:19:41 +0000 UTCThat's exactly what i needeed to understand to feel free to paint, thank you !
Sophie
2024-12-13 11:27:19 +0000 UTCglad you liked it Nana!
Loish
2024-12-09 12:55:49 +0000 UTCThank you Loish, it' been so helpful as usual <3
Nana
2024-12-07 14:40:41 +0000 UTCGreat tutorial as always, Loish! Love the detail of you wearing green for a foliage tutorial :D
Papierfaerie
2024-11-26 21:35:52 +0000 UTCHi, new patron here. I was confused since I expected the branch from the thumbnail to be painted. Enjoyed the demo though and found the explanations helpful. Kind regards from Germany ๐
Susan Burdack
2024-11-22 13:30:42 +0000 UTCMight be the first tutorial I watched on patreon because I couldn't wait for the download at the end of the month. Thanks so much for this tutorial it is great to hear you explain your thought process (I've been trying to deduct it from some of the process videos, might go back to those now that I watched this). And ofc. scroll through my phone to find old reference pics to paint <3
Yael van Engelen
2024-11-18 20:20:16 +0000 UTCthat's a great idea for a future tutorial or mini-instructional video! do you use photoshop as well?
Loish
2024-11-18 13:08:03 +0000 UTCSorry about that! I always use some existing art to introduce my tutorial with. I used a mix of references for that one, although it's quite an old piece so I don't have the process video for it sadly! you can see the full thing here - https://loish.net/project/growth/
Loish
2024-11-18 13:07:38 +0000 UTCthanks so much! I'm very addicted to the lasso tool, haha.
Loish
2024-11-18 13:01:27 +0000 UTC๐๐ป๐ Your use of the lasso/selections + the eraser tool to โcarve outโ areas and shapes in order to gradually build areas of detail/focus is so interesting! Itโs great to see your process! Thank you!
Michael H
2024-11-16 13:03:33 +0000 UTCI like it , thanks a lot for sharing with us! I would also appreciate you showing us all these shortcuts to make your workflow faster , eg, switching from brush to eraser , then lasso tool ... gradient and so on , as I always feel that I cannot keep up with your pace at all :D
Ibrahim k
2024-11-14 21:16:24 +0000 UTCLove to see how the use of the lasso tool changes the expression so much! Cant wait to try this and thanks for the wonderful tutorials!
Jesse Whitson
2024-11-14 19:45:46 +0000 UTCI was kind of expecting the demo of the cover image... it lured me to sign up.. lol Did you use a reference for it? But the demo is still lovely, I had to go for a walk to take some foliage pictures!
Anna
2024-11-14 14:48:53 +0000 UTCI'm so happy to hear that! hopefully it will make your next attempt a lot easier and less overwhelming!
Loish
2024-11-13 10:38:42 +0000 UTCI think this is a long awaited tutorial for me. I often have trouble expressing ideas because I can't represent the big picture I have in my head because I'm overwhelmed by the volume of details to draw. I'm going to try to work on this tutorial to improve my ability to put the ideas in my mind on paper. Thank youuu
Faimano
2024-11-11 21:11:12 +0000 UTCwhat a coincidence! and a very common experience as well. I hope this video helps you with your workflow :)
Loish
2024-11-11 12:44:33 +0000 UTCI'm so happy to hear that Tala! I feel like breaking stuff down into simple steps can help take away the fear!
Loish
2024-11-11 12:44:02 +0000 UTCdon't worry, struggling is always part of the process! just give it your best shot and learn from it :)
Loish
2024-11-11 12:42:48 +0000 UTCthanks so much for the kind words! I love not only sharing how I do things but analyzing the process and design principles, it means a lot to me that you find that interesting to hear about :)
Loish
2024-11-11 12:42:10 +0000 UTCso glad you liked it kat! i also prefer more simplified art but sometimes I really need to push myself to boost the details.
Loish
2024-11-11 12:41:07 +0000 UTCso glad you like it! do you have any specific topics in mind? happy to make more of these types of tutorials!
Loish
2024-11-11 12:40:45 +0000 UTCThis is perfect! For environments I tend to go a little too low on detail and there isn't enough variation. These are such helpful tips!
Kat Craig
2024-11-10 18:37:47 +0000 UTCThis is super helpful, wish we could have more tutorials on how to render detail~
mobblack
2024-11-10 12:52:18 +0000 UTCLoved the tutorial, I really want to take some reference pictures tomorrow when there is some light and try myself!! You paint in a way that seems easy, but I know for sure Im going to make a mess and struggle (hahaha) Thanks for the wonderful content!
Raquel
2024-11-09 17:53:49 +0000 UTCWow. This was so helpful! I am blown away at the depth of understanding you have about your workflow and what makes a successful piece. The way you can break it down like this speaks volumes about your intelligence. Thank you for sharing your smarts with us!
Kimberly Monson
2024-11-09 04:18:17 +0000 UTCGreat tutorial. Makes foliage feel much less scary to paint!
Tala
2024-11-08 21:29:29 +0000 UTCThis is so timely! I was trying to draw a chrysanthemum today and I was overwhelmed by the amount of detail and trying to simplify it! Forever grateful for your tutorials ๐ซถ
Erin Onorato
2024-11-08 20:55:57 +0000 UTC๐ THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! ๐
Annett
2024-11-08 19:28:08 +0000 UTChaha, happy smoking! I hope you enjoy this video ~
Loish
2024-11-08 17:35:28 +0000 UTCI'm really excited about this one!
Liz Jones
2024-11-08 14:24:23 +0000 UTCThis afternoon I'm going to smoke this tutorial ๐คฃ๐คฃ๐คฃ I love painting vegetation, I didn't even know it would make me so happy knowing you did this jaja ๐
Alicia JB
2024-11-08 13:03:38 +0000 UTC
