Table Of ContentDraw and Paint
Better with Krita
Discover pro-level techniques and practices to create
spectacular digital illustrations with Krita
Wesley Gardner
BIRMINGHAM—MUMBAI
Draw and Paint Better with Krita
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First published: May 2022
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To my wife, Brittany, for believing in my dreams, and in me. This absolutely
could not have happened without your love, guidance, and support. To say
"I owe you one" is an understatement. I love you to the moon and back.
To my daughter, Gracelynd, and my son, Oliver: You are both my world.
Stay kind, stay humble, work hard, and your dreams can come true,
just like mine have. I hope this gets me some "cool dad" points with your
friends someday.
To you, for taking a chance and embracing your creative side. The world is
a better place because you are in it.
Go make cool art.
– Wesley Gardner
Contributors
About the author
Wesley Gardner is a freelance illustrator and artist. Some notable clients include Cubicle
7, Adidas, Monte Cook Games, Guildhouse Games LLC, Warner Bros. Entertainment
Inc., Black + Cameron, and BAM! Box. Wesley's work has been featured in various
intellectual properties such as Warhammer 40k, Mad Max, League of Legends, Old Gods
of Appalachia, Varia, plus more that are currently in development.
Wesley is open to freelance/contractor opportunities in the board game, card game,
motion picture, and video game fields, and is well-versed in a variety of production styles,
including photobashing, 3D rendering, keyframe art creation, or traditional painting.
Wesley is proficient in the Adobe Creative Cloud ecosystem, alongside a large number
of PC-based digital painting and photo manipulation software, as well as various 3D and
game development engines, such as Blender, Unity, and Unreal.
When Wesley is not taking on professional client work, he can be found creating tutorials
and teaching resources covering art techniques, with topics ranging from color theory
and composition, creating custom brush packs, and getting traditional looks for
digital paintings.
Due to all of this experience, Welsey has been given the title "Featured Artist" for Escape
Motions and their Rebelle 5 product in 2022, as well as an "FXPose" feature in Issue #190
of ImagineFX Magazine.
I want to thank the team at Packt for their endless patience with a first-time
author, and the developers of Krita for developing an outstanding
creative platform.
A huge thank you to the Krita artist community for being incredibly kind,
supportive, and creative. To my coworkers (past and present), mentors, and
mentees alike, you have collectively taught me more than I can ever repay.
I'm a better man and artist because you entered my life.
Lastly, a huge thank you to my Mom and Dad. Who knew that I'd go from
tracing Spider-Man comics on the living-room floor in 1991 to being
a published art instructor in 2022? Those art kits at Christmas sure paid off.
I love you both, thank you for everything. I hope I've made you proud.
About the reviewers
Joann Le Blanc initially completed three-years' scientific courses at university (in biology
and genetics). After that, in 2001, at the age of 23, he was selected at the GOBELINS
animation school in Paris and became a traditional 2D animator in 2003.
He studied 3D Animation, LayOut and Compositing _on B-Studio, B-Color, proprietary
software at BUF-Company (worked on the set of Oliver Stone's Alexander in 2004) and
AttitudeStudio (worked as a main storyboard artist for the 3D TV show Skyland done in
motion capture),and also worked in television for several years (ON Animation Paris).
In 2017, he worked in London at Warner Bros. studios for The Third Floor, animating
for Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald.
He lives in Montreal and has been a Canadian citizen since 2019. He mostly works in
the VFX and video game industries (including for Warner Bros., working on trailers and
real-time productions) using Krita as his main software for storyboarding.
Riox Yara has been a Krita artist since 2019, mainly focusing on character illustrations.
Since 2021, she has been striving to work as a freelance digital artist professionally. She is
curious about the world and what it can offer her, and has worked directly on the Spanish
translation of The Fallout Bible, which is a work made by fans for fans of Fallout.
She is currently in her second year of college studying graphic design and is vigorously
working on her professional career as a digital artist. Her love for bread is somewhat
peculiar for a 19-year-old.
Yo! Reader. Don't be fooled by the title of this book. This book teaches
you more than just how to use Krita; it teaches you a philosophy of life.
Trust me.
I would like to thank Chayam Majumdar for telling me about this book and
for introducing me to Rashika, who was an excellent co-worker, and Wes,
who is an exceptional author and artist. There is no doubt that my sisters
and mother hold an important place for me. Above all, I want to thank
my most precious friends: Andrew, Dexter, Fernando, and Manuel. They
continue to support me no matter what crazy things I do or get up to. :)
Table of Contents
Preface
Part 1: Intro to Krita and Digital Art
Terminology Review
1
Getting Started with Krita
Technical requirements 4 System requirements 11
Recommending hardware – A step-by-step example (for Windows) 11
tablets and upgrades 4
Breaking down the Krita UI 16
The graphic drawing tablet 4
The file menu and toolbar 18
The graphic drawing
The workspace 19
monitor/pen display 6
The pop-up palette 20
Upgrading your computer 7
Customizing your workspace 22
What is Krita, and Configuring the toolbars 24
what makes it different? 8 Configuring Krita (advanced) 27
Installing Krita 10
Summary 33
2
Reviewing Canvas Properties and Color
Technical requirements 36 Landscape versus portrait
versus freeform 39
Breaking down resolution,
aspect ratios, canvases,
Evaluating color modes 41
and DPI/PPI 36
RGB, RYB, CMYK, and bit depth 42
Print versus digital
Going from RGBA to CMYK – digital
resolution (PPI) settings 38
to print 46
viii Table of Contents
Recommending canvas Clarifying the color wheel 52
sizes and settings 47 Dissecting a color 53
Color relationships 57
Understanding basic
Warm versus cool colors 58
color theory 48
Limited palettes 61
Breaking down a color 48
Learning color fast 63
The three questions 51
Summary 64
3
Utilizing Layers and Layer Groups
Technical requirements 66 Controlling your landscape
Understanding layers – the composition with layers 69
secret weapon of digital art 66 Starting our painting 75
Layers 66 Grouping our layers 80
Blending modes 67 Refining our painting 85
Layer groups 68
Summary 91
4
Utilizing Brushes and Tools
Technical requirements 94 Customizing your brushes 110
Exploring brushes 94 Brush Editor 112
Discovering brush presets 96 Saving your custom brush preset 116
Modifying Brush Presets Creating your own brush 121
display options 99
Exporting our resources 127
Categorizing with tags 100
Importing a resource bundle 133
Creating a custom tag 103
Filling our custom tag 104 Summary 135
Table of Contents ix
Part 2: Methods of Visual Communication
within Krita
5
Implementing Layer Blending Modes
Technical requirements 140 Using stock assets and
references – legality 150
Understanding layer modes 140
Discovering resources online 151
Browsing our layer blending
Finding the right reference 152
mode choices 142
Choosing our reference 153
Setting up a value checker 146
Bashing our reference 156
Evaluating reference material 149
Splashing in color 162
Destigmatizing reference in art 149
Summary 164
6
Composing Using Krita's Toolbox
Technical requirements 166 Adding edges with
Masking our layers 166 selection tools 174
Transparency Mask 167 Defining the tools 175
Filter Mask 167 Creating edges 176
Colorize Mask 167
Navigating perspective 181
Transform Mask 168
Refining our brushwork 186
Blending our photo information 168
Summary 193
7
Changing the Feel with Painting, Values, and Sliders
Technical requirements 196 Painting using our new adjustments 204
Adjusting your color balance 196
Controlling mood 210
Preparing our painting for
Choosing color gamuts 210
color balance 198
Utilizing a mother color 213
