Since I started browsing tutorials and videos on the web, I discovered a great amount of video tutorials about Digital Painting. I find that video tutorials, if well done, can be more useful than normal written tutorials, because they show the real work in process of the author.

I think that in a good video tutorial the work in process shouldn’t be too fast, otherwise you cannot see many interesting and useful techinques. Also, I think that author comments about the steps would be really great!

I’ve decided that I’m going to start a new series of articles dedicated to Portrait Video Tutorials, where I will collect all the more interesting video tutorials about portraits that I find in the web. I’ve already posted an articles, the Hanagumori Digital Painting Tutorial, which contains video, but I prefer to took this out of this series, because it is a complete, video and written tutorial.

Hanagumori is a digital painting portrait created by Diane Özdamar. The word “Hanagumori” means “late spring with blossom haze”. This artwork represents a young Geisha, with a blue and a green eye. The author of the image makes a great study on the details, such as the make-up, the pearls, the skin pores and so-on.

This artworks has been created recording the whole painting process, from the very start to the final product. The video tutorial has been divided in eight parts.

With the video tutorial, Diane Özdamar wrote also a three-parts tutorial, where she explains how she worked on the details like eyes, pearls and skin.

In this article you will find the eight videos of the tutorial, the links to the written tutorial and a small animation of the work in progress.

Of course, all this work is copyrighted by Diane Özdamar.

A year ago, I discovered a magazine called ImagineFX, published in the UK by Future Publishing. This editor publish Italian version of some of his magazines even in Italy, like Computer Arts or 3D World. Unluckily there isn’t an Italian Version of ImagineFX. So, past Christmas my boyfriend payed me a 13 issues subscription as a gift. Now I arrived to the 12th issue and I want to renew the subscription, I found this magazine really useful, full of great informations and tutorials for people like me, that have passion for fantasy and sci-fi art.

Now, I’ve renewed my subscription! And as a gift, I will receive a Gnomon Workshop DVD! Issue 39 was released in middle December, but I received it a bit late due to postal service problems. The subscription word-less cover is amazing, I really love the concept of the samurai.

This is another Tutorials Series published as ImagineFX Workshops in the magazine, but you can download a free pdf copy of them ath the magazine website.

In this series, the painter Katarina Sokolova teaches how to paint the different parts of a human face, in four step-by-step guides:

- Paint Fantasy Eyes – [link]

- Paint a Realistic Nose – [link]

- Paint Realistic Ears – [link]

- Paint Realistic Looking Lips – [link]

The result of the four tutorial is the image here, on the left! Personally, I found these tutorials really useful when I started to learn digital painting and human anatomy. I truly think these can be a valid tool for learning digital painting tricks and a bit of anatomy for everyone!

About the Author: Katarina Sokolova is an Ukrainian artist; she studied painting and graphics from when she was a child, and she’s famous for the wonderful women she represents.

She is also a great photographer and a graphic illustrator.

Katarina Sokolova: Website | DeviantArt | CGSociety

ImagineFX Magazine: [link]

2D Artist Magazine is a Low-Cost pdf downloadable Magazine about Concept Art, Digital & Matte Painting. It is full of interview, articles, galleries, tutorials and techinques from the most amazing and famous artists here around.

Issue 36, December 2008, is out now! In this issue you will find:

- Interview with: Andrée Wallin;

- Interview with: Sven Sauer;

- Interview with: Philip Straub;

- Gallery: 10 of the Best 2d Artworks;

- Challenge: Stylised Characters – This Month’s Finalists/Last Month’s making ofs;

- Tutorial: Speed Painting with Justin Albers and Emrah Elmasli;

- Tutorial: Space Painting Transport Part 6: Spaceships;

- Tutorial: The Human Face Painting Series – Part 3 – by Nykolai Aleksander;

- Making Of: Nastya;

Link: 2d Artist Magazine