Digital Painting Specialization

Michigan State University via Coursera

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Details

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Provider

Coursera
Pricing

Paid Course
Languages

English
Certificate

Certificate Available
Effort

21 hours 23 minutes
Sessions

Self-Paced
Level

Beginner
Subtitles

English

Found in

Overview

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The Digital Painting Specialization is a course especially tailored to improve your drawing and painting skills. Using digital media, students will be challenged to apply key artistic concepts and techniques, addressed over 5 modules, on their own digital creations, finding unique means of expression. The topics discussed will provide students with a complete overview of the Digital Painting process. Students who successfully complete the Specialization can potentially work on areas such as: digital painting, illustration, concept art, comic books, visual development, among a few others. Please Note: All demonstrations and course materials use Adobe Photoshop. While Adobe Photoshop is strongly recommended for this course, you may use alternative painting or photo-editing software if you are already familiar with it and are able to replicate the techniques presented.

Syllabus

Module One: Setup and Tools

This module provides an introduction to using Photoshop as a digital painting tool. You'll learn how to set up and customize the Photoshop workspace, master essential painting tools like brushes, the mixer brush, and the smudge tool, and harness selection and masking techniques for efficient, non-destructive editing. The module emphasizes fundamental painting techniques such as working on an off-white canvas, building expressive brushwork, and employing brushwork topology to create convincing forms and volume. Through practical demonstrations and creative exercises, you’ll gain the foundational skills and workflow strategies to begin making digital paintings in an expressive and purposeful way, setting the stage for more advanced modules.

Module Two: Drawing and Composition

This module guides you through key foundational processes in representational painting, focusing on establishing accurate drawings (roadmaps), composing dynamic images, and selecting approaches to style. You will learn to identify and use compositional principles, differentiate between "loose" and "sloppy" sketches, and apply classic strategies such as the rule of thirds and unequal spacing to create visual interest. Through examples and demonstrations, you will compare major painting styles (linear and pictorial), and gain practical insight into working with different subjects: still life, portrait, and landscape. The module culminates in understanding how to bring a painting to a finished state with appropriate detail and coherence.

Module Three: Values and Shapes

This module explores the essential role of values in art, guiding you to understand how lightness and darkness define shape, structure, and mood in a painting. Through video lectures and hands-on demonstrations, you'll discover how values underpin composition, influence edges, and can be manipulated through compression and keying to support your artistic intentions. You will apply practical techniques for analyzing, selecting, and organizing values to create visually compelling images and evocative atmospheres, building a foundation that enhances both your grayscale and color work.

Module Four: Color

This module explores the fundamental relationship between color and value and examines how these elements work together to create convincing, expressive paintings. Through practical demonstrations and in-depth analysis, you'll learn how to accurately evaluate, select, and adjust colors to fit your compositional needs. You will master the properties of color, including hue, saturation, brightness (value), and temperature. You will also discover the importance of grays and chromatic grays in naturalistic painting. The module covers various color wheels and schemes, the psychology of color for mood, and hands-on techniques for painting with vibrant, balanced colors. By the end, you will be equipped with professional strategies to manipulate color and value for dynamic, engaging artwork.

Module Five: Thinking Like A Painter

This module explores advanced techniques and workflows in digital painting, focusing on both the unique possibilities and the inherent limitations of the medium. Through comparative analysis with traditional painting, you will learn to maximize digital tools such as layers, textures, and specialty brushes. The module also addresses ways to overcome challenges related to expressiveness in digital artwork. Practical demonstrations of both "alla prima" (direct painting) and layered approaches will deepen your understanding of painting strategies. The module concludes with a comprehensive digital painting demonstration that combines all concepts covered. By the end, you will be prepared to make informed choices in digital painting methods and optimize your creative process.