Guide to create your own tf2 concept art for workshop.

Hello everyone, i seen a lot of new users with great ideas for tf2 but sadly they dont have the skill yet to
bring them out of their head, from small artist that are starting and people drawing with a pencil, so because of that
i would like to help them to get better with this guide of how to do a

GOOD LOOKING TF2 CONCEPT IN JUST 5 STEPS

what you will need:

- photoshop (any ver will work).

- basic knowledge of how to use the Laso tool in photoshop.

- a brush that can simulate a real Airbrush (brush pack that i use http://danluvisiart.deviantart.com/art/My-Brush-Pack-118954791)
this tutorial can be done with a mouse if you dont have a tablet device.

ok here are the 5 steps that we are going to follow, i will be explaining all of them bellow:




STEP #1:

ok the firts step is actually the HARDEST step, we have to use our imagination!!
think about what you want to do, a hat? a weapon? anything can be done with this technique,
once you have a good idea in your mind we will start by using the LASO TOOL to draw the SHAPE
of our hat.


WE WILL ONLY USE THE POLYGONAL LASSO TOOL, this tool is perfect for tf2 concepts,
since tf2 art is about hard shapes and not much about curves in their design and art style.

once we have the shape done fill it with black, now we should have just a black shape.

STEP #2:

now here comes the technique that i use in all my concepts, we will click on this option for our layer


what this does is blocking all the transparent pixels so we wont be able to drawn on them, in short terms... we can just paint inside our shape.

now with the laso tool we will select a part of our shape that we want to paint, imagine this is like doing a low poly model in 3D



once we select the part that we want to paint, we will use the AIRBRUSH (brush opacity have to be on 80% and flow on 20% for better results)
to paint the hat.

we are going to fill the shape with our hat color (we are using the tf2 pallete for better results) now, with a darker color we will make the shadow,
we put our brush near the corner of our shape and from then we will paint, NOT from the center, we are shading to create VOLUME to make our shape less flat



STEP #3:

we will do the same with the entire hat:


as you can see, all the hat is based on hard shapes.


STEP #4:

we will add some really basic ambient light, tf2 use a white light on their models but, we are not going to just pick white
and paint all over it, we are going to pick a color CLOSE to white, NEVER paint with white or with black,

we are going to do the same, we wil draw a shape with the laso tool where we want the light to hit our object, and with the
airbrush we will paint GENTLY, you may need to reduce the opacity of your brush here, we dont want a flare light, just a really soft light



STEP #5 OPTIONAL:

rim lights!!
well, this is optional, if you want, with the same technique, just create a NEW LAYER, and we will create some THIN shapes
at the sides of our hat, and paint them with a really light color.


done

well, i hope you guys find useful this small tutorial, the key is not just following these steps, is to practice and practice, it wont look
amazing the firts time so i will recommend to start with basic stuffs, like the gibus hat or maybe the scout's bat, something with really easy shapes.