A making-of & interview with Kitsune: painting fantastic worlds with Adobe Photoshop CC

Kitsune's illustrations portray fantastic but sophisticated environments; they invite the viewer to get lost in mysterious and fascinating worlds, also thanks to her unique use of colors.
Kitsune is currently working with many magazines and novels, but also dedicates herself to personal illustrations and short movies.
Today we asked her about her favorite painting software, Adobe Photoshop CC, about her origins and about her present and future goals.

In the first sketch the character, the background and the castle were all pretty big and occupied a considerable part of the canvas. The arrangement was quite simple and it didn't look very dynamic yet.
I tried to tilt the illustration and shift the eye-level, so now you can perceive the space better.

I create a new layer on top of the sketch one and roughly add colors. I set the layer mode to "multiply".
After I'm done with the basic colors, I create another layer and set it to "overlay", then I paint over the bits that are supposed to reflect light (the castle, stars, the space around the lamp in the bottom-right part of the screen and so on).

At this point, the general atmosphere is decided.

After I decide the overall atmosphere, I add colors. In my case, I like to paint by heart and decide on details as I proceed, so I don't use a lineart. If I make mistakes or change my mind about something, I just paint over it.

I already imagined how bright I want my illustration to be during the sketch phase, so I merge all the layers and add some more details.

When I feel I've added enough details, I merge all layers once again and re-adjust brightness and contrast.

I want to emphasize even more that the eye-level in this illustration is really low, so I move the castle up and fix the castle, the sky and the background.

I wanted the castle to look like a glass sculpture or a soap bubble, so I add a gradation and make some adjustments to its shape.

I change the sky colors lightly so they fit the castle. I draw some clouds starting from the brightest section, at the bottom, and make them bigger in the top part so it gives a sense of depth. I change the gradation to orange -> pink -> purple -> blue.

Lastly, I add some details to the part next to the horizon. After painting a distant view resembling mountains, I proceed to fill in the two sides making the mountains bigger and adding some tree silhouettes.

The background is almost done, so it's time to concentrate on the character. After I add details to the lamp, our light source, I switch to the character.

I add details to the remaining parts, and now we can say we're 80% done. The last step is to add even more details and some effects in order to make the illustration more consistent.

I felt there was something missing in order to make this illustration interesting, so I added a camera and a tripod. I also added some more stars on a new layer.

My strategy to make the stars and the castle look so bright is the following: on the stars layer, select "Filter" -> "Blur" -> "Gaussian Blur", then set the layer mode to "Linear Dodge". I did the same for the castle.

Lastly, I add a kraft paper texture and set the blending mode to "Soft light", before merging all the layers again.

I decide the overall color scheme by adjusting the tint and I sharpen the image edges.

I open "Image" -> "Adjustments" -> "Curves" and adjust the RGB curves. I increase the reds (R) for the light reflecting parts and in the same way I increase the blues (B) for the night sky. In order for the character skin to be of the right color, I decrease the greens (G) just a little bit.

The following is a function you can only find in Adobe Photoshop CC. I select "Blur Gallery" -> "Field Blur" and adjust the image so that the character and the castle appear perfectly sharp while part of the background looks out of focus. Lastly, I select "Filter" -> "Sharpen" -> "Smart Sharpen" and sharpen the edges of my illustration.

Adobe Photoshop CC is really convenient! There are many functions you can use when you're finished painting, in order to increase the quality of your work dramatically.

Thank you for your hard work!

On Adobe's website, you'll find an even more detailed tutorial.

On the next page you can read Kitsune's interview! We're gonna ask her what brought her to draw such fairytale-like sceneries, and about the secrets behind her talent!