Meadow Tutorial
By Corby LaCroix
Before starting:
-I used a canvas size of 320 x 200 px.
-Every item (trunk, leaves, rocks, grass, hills, sky, etc... use a seperate layer)
GRASS
Starting with a black or dark green area, use the Brush tool (1-2 px) to spread on some grassy patterns.
Use a variety of green shades, and try not to leave too much black.
NOTE: You can grab these exact colors with the Brush Tool by holding ALT and clicking on a color.
Next, using the Smudge tool, mix in the colors horizontally. I used a brush size of about 15px and a strength of 15-20%.
Mix very well.
There are many ways to draw grass, but in this method, I grabbed the Smudge tool again and set it to 1 px and 75% strength.
Next, while holding the mouse button, drag the brush upward and release. Try to start at areas that will go from light to dark, or dark to light.
Example: For the bottom/left blades, I grabbed some light green and dragged it over the dark green area.
Try not to over-do this. In many early games, the grass blades are not even visible.
TREES
Outline your tree using the brush at 1 px.
Fill it in. (Started my rocks too)
Grab some dark brown and paint the area of the tree recieving light.
Highlight using a lighter brown.
You can either use a dark brown for the shaded side, or some blue, depending on your style.
Smudge the colors together.
NOTE: Smudge lightly in this case. I used a brush of 8px and 10% strength. If your brush is too big or too strong, you'll lose a lot of detail.
Here, I used the dodge tool on "Highlights" to bring out the colors a bit.
Using the Burn tool on Midtones or Highlights, with a 1px brush at 99%, I added some texture to the bark.
I felt I needed some more highlights, so I added some with the Brush tool.
Smudge those colors in again. (Gently)
Do the same for the shaded side if needed.
There are many ways to do tree foliage as well.
In the method, I grabbed a more fuzzy brush. (Be sure to switch it back later)
Draw some leaf shapes using the Brush tool. Black or dark green works.
Highlight the leaves a bit with a lighter green.
And a lighter green...
And a lighter green...
Here, I felt the foliage could be thicker. Using one of the leaf brushes (way down the brush list), I shrunk the brush and added a dark undercoat on a seperate layer below the trunk.
I chose the oval leaf brush in this case.