What is noise illustration?
Noise illustration also has an easy to understand name called particle illustration, which belongs to a kind of texture illustration.
It consists of particles of different sizes and densities. When the density is low, it is a point. When the density is high, it may also become a line and surface.
Its characteristic is that it can express the overall sense of hierarchy with particles in the flat picture, so as to improve the texture of the picture. It is a very popular illustration form at present.
Use and classification of noise illustration
In the use of noise illustration, the best software to use is the familiar PS. if you want to be professional, use Photoshop (hhhh). AI can also do noise illustration, but the color matching is troublesome. Personally, I suggest using PS.
The use of noise illustration is divided into three categories: intelligent noise, manual noise and custom noise.
1. Intelligent noise
Filter - noise - add noise
This is one of the most commonly used noise adding methods. The operation methods are as follows:
Operation path: "filter - speckles - add speckles", select and the speckles parameter interface will pop up.
The effect is different when different parameters are selected.
The effects are also different under different distribution states.
Note: when we select the variegation parameters, the higher the percentage, the stronger the highlight of the variegation. On the contrary, it is weaker. The parameters with low percentage are suitable for the flexible variegation illustration style, and the parameters with high percentage are more suitable for the rigid illustration style. Similarly, it is also a truth to select the distribution state. The average distribution is suitable for flexible illustration, and the Gaussian distribution is more suitable for rigid illustration.
This kind of noise addition is more suitable for the overall picture. The following are some illustrative works I have done before, which use this method. It is worth mentioning that when adding noise on the same picture, it is necessary to adjust different parameters for superposition, so that the effect will be more coordinated, as follows:
Mixed mode dissolution
Using mixed mode dissolution, we can achieve the effect of noise.
The mixed mode dissolution is also divided into three categories: Mask dissolution filling, direct dissolution filling and user-defined dissolution filling.
Direct fill:
Direct fill type: relief, stroke, inner shadow, projection, inner glow, outer glow, gloss, color overlay, gradient overlay. Although it looks so much, it is actually the same way of operation.
Operation path: "Blending Options - select fill type - select mixed mode dissolution", select and adjust parameters.
Different noise modes can be adjusted according to different styles. Here are three common methods:
Mask dissolve fill:
Operation path: "build mask - select gradient tool - select blend mode to dissolve", select and adjust parameters.
The parameter adjustment is based on the mask, so you only need to make a black-and-white gradient. Adjusting different parameters will produce different effects:
Here are three cases (which must be used on the mask layer):
We can clearly see from the above that the noise of style 1 is stronger, with no particles and no transparency; The gradient of style 2 is softer and has obvious excessive transparency; Style 3 adds a layer of 50% transparency noise in addition to the inherent gradient transparency noise.
Special note: the mask gradient noise is different from other noise. Other noise superimposes new colors upward, while the mask gradient noise removes colors from existing colors.
Hatch:
Operation path: "Blending Options - select pattern fill", select and adjust parameters.
If you do not select dissolve for the pattern, you must make your own noise pattern to obtain noise in the pattern filling. After filling your own pattern, it will become the following effect:
We can see the above effects. The noise is regular. There is no irregular noise like the above. Such noise is not suitable for use alone. It is abrupt and needs to be used together with other noise. How to use it will be mentioned later in the article.
Camera raw filter
The camera raw filter is somewhat similar to adding noise, which is equivalent to adding an upgraded version of noise.
Operation path: "filter -Camera RAW filter effect", select and adjust parameters.
We can get different effects according to the debugging parameters, as follows:
I seldom use camera raw filter personally, and sometimes I use it in dealing with rough materials.
2. Manual noise
Manual noise is simply that we draw noise manually through the existing brush.
There are quite a lot of brushes that can make noise. I can recommend some common and practical brushes to you
PS comes with brush (mixed mode)
Among PS's own brushes, "soft edge circle" brush is my most commonly used. We can adjust the mode of "soft edge circle" brush from normal to dissolution, so that we can draw the effect of noise. The picture drawn by this noise is softer and suitable for more delicate noise illustration style.
Many of the illustrations of designer Muhammed Sajid can be expressed with soft edged and round brushes, as follows:
After I draw the white wall with the soft edge round stroke, zoom in and see that their particle state is the same, indicating that both are drawn by the soft edge round stroke, but the techniques are different (the illustration skills will be mentioned later in the article).
Of course, in addition to the soft edge round brush, there are other brushes that can be dissolved to achieve the noise style. You can also experiment more.
PS self-contained brush (self-contained)
In addition to the brushes that need to adjust the mixing mode to achieve the noise state, PS also has its own "dissolved" brush, which is the spray gun granular brush. There are four kinds of brushes: low-density granular on the soft edge of the spray gun, low-density granular on the hard edge of the spray gun, high-density granular on the soft edge of the spray gun, and high-density granular on the hard edge of the spray gun.
The style of airbrush brush is coarser than that of soft edge circle. Of course, the painting style is also different, as follows:
Broken point brush
Broken point brushes often play an embellishment role in the picture. Here are three kinds of broken point brushes I commonly use, namely low, medium and high-density broken point brushes.
Here are the display effects of three different density brushes:
All the broken point brushes shown here are non transparent, and there are also many transparent broken point brushes, which can be used according to the specific illustration style. Next, let's take a look at the effects applied to illustration:
We can see that in the first landscape painting above, it uses broken points to decorate the overall illustration effect, while in the second painting, its broken points are used to highlight the effect of water splashing. Although the two illustrations are made by the same designer, they play different roles in the picture. Reasonable use of broken paintbrush will make the finishing touch for your illustration.
Texture brush (auxiliary noise)
The texture brush I mentioned here mainly means that it can complement the noise in the noise illustration. Adding appropriate texture effect to the noise illustration will make the whole picture level effect better.
In the texture brushes that assist noise, I divide them into two categories: regular texture brushes and irregular texture brushes.
The effects are as follows:
The above are my commonly used auxiliary texture brushes. There are cases at the back of the article to explain in detail how to use them.
The auxiliary texture brush can greatly improve the level of our noise illustration, but it is worth noting that we must combine the noise brush, otherwise it will be very abrupt and out of tune.
3. Custom noise
We often find that the noise of some great gods is very special, but we can't find download resources. In fact, many of their noise brushes are customized and made by ourselves and will not be made public. Including the broken point brush mentioned above, I also made it myself. When my brush can't meet the illustration content, I can customize the brush to solve this problem.
We can see that the following illustrations are drawn with our own brush:
The noise brush of the second illustration is provided by the designer for a fee. The brush price is $15, and the brush is an AI version. In order to make you more friendly to experience similar brushes, I made a PS version, which is divided into five dense sizes and is available for you to download for free. (special note: only the style is the same, and the details are differentiated, which will be explained in detail below)
The following figure shows five similar brushes I made:
Here, I'll take style 1 as an example to explain how to customize the noise brush. Many details hope to be helpful to you:
Operation path: create canvas - draw shape - define brush preset adjustment parameters - save brush
Step 1: create canvas
Canvas size: the pixels here are 80 × 80。 The canvas size depends on the brush to be developed. Using a square canvas is more conducive to novice practice. Generally, the size of the noise canvas is between 40-100 pixels. If you want to make ultra-low-density noise, it is recommended to draw on the canvas of 300 pixels. For example, the broken point brush I made is made under 300 pixels.
Color selection: making brushes is similar to painting on masks. They only support black and white gray, black is opaque, white is pure transparent, and gray is translucent. Therefore, if you want to make some transparent transitions, you can add a little gray graphics.
Step 2: draw pattern
Regular pattern: if you want to make some regular texture effects, you can draw regular shapes, such as point, oblique cut point and linear texture noise mentioned above.
Irregular patterns: our style 1 uses irregular patterns. Its shape and size are irregular. You can draw them at will, large and small, sparse and dense, but you can't fill them too full. In that case, the effect will stick into a lump.
For better over noise, I also added a gray shape.
Step 3: Customize brush presets
We can open the brush settings from the window and see the preview effect below the brush settings. Although there are many brush settings, I only use the shape dynamics and dispersion in the brush settings when I make style 1.
Shape dynamics: in shape dynamics, I do not operate anything except size jitter. The size jitter is 27%. After adding jitter, the whole noise will be more natural. If I want to make some large noise brushes, it is recommended to increase the jitter or even pull it to 100%.
Brush setting: in the brush setting, the two axis button is turned on because my small noise distribution is too scattered. If you check the two axes, the noise in the middle will be more dense. You can try it; I adjusted the dispersion parameter to 163, and I chose the original 1. Because I have drawn many shapes in the canvas, there is no need to add the quantity.
I only use the above parameters when making most noise brushes. Of course, if you want to make some special texture brushes, you can also adjust the parameters of texture, transmission and dual brushes. If you just want to make basic noise brushes, the above options are enough.
Step 3: save the brush
After adjusting the parameters, you must remember to click Save brush in the upper right corner of the brush setting. Our style 1 is really completed only after the brush is saved.
Special reminder: after saving the brush, I hope you will have an awareness, that is, export it. We can select the brush or brush group you want to export in the brush pop-up window and import it into ABR files can be imported directly when used on other computers in the future. Because I made several brushes before and didn't export them, and PS didn't know what bug happened. My brush was reset directly. At this time, everyone must understand my mood!!!!
Actual operation
After setting the other four noise brushes in the same way, we can try its effect. Among the following three characters, I will choose my favorite bald head to draw.
Through the comparison of the two illustrations, we can clearly see the difference between the two noisy brushes:
- Transparency: the noise of the original illustration does not have any transparency, while my noise brush contains transparency.
- Shape: the original illustration is a pure circular shape, while my illustration contains ellipses and unconventional graphics.
- Rules: the graphics of the original illustration are more regular, paying more attention to the large and dense in the middle, and the small and sparse on both sides. However, there is no fixed size on both sides of my noise, so there are large and small.
Through the above noise differentiation, the style of the left and right illustrations has changed slightly. The left illustration is super strong, which is very suitable for strong strong wind. The style is very obvious, but the disadvantage is that it is difficult to use with other noise. The noise on the right is strong and flexible. Although the style is not so strong, I can make more hierarchical illustrations with other noise. (there will be cases later)
Complete illustration case analysis
In order to make everyone better understand the practical application of noise illustration, I have made two extreme small cases, one is an illustration drawn with a pure "soft edge circle" brush, and the other is an illustration drawn with a large number of noise brushes.
1. "Soft edge circle" dissolving brush illustration
Whether a single brush or a combination of noise brushes can draw noise illustrations. Here is a small case drawn by PS's own brush.
Special note: because the whole picture is too wide, the wechat display effect is not so strong. In order to make everyone see more clearly, some contents are intercepted and enlarged.
How to compose a picture
I personally very, very recommend looking for reference in the composition. A good composition can add 3 points to your illustration first. As for many people who say that masters come by hand, I don't agree with this. The master's illustration must have no problem with its own composition, but for one thing, it needs more time to optimize. If you are a supernatural player, it's another matter. This is an illustration by Muhammed Sajid, an illustrator I like very much. Its illustration composition is also from the reference of the picture:
Similarly, when I do illustration, I also use photos to compose pictures, which will save me a lot of time:
When choosing pictures, you should pay attention to composition and light. If a picture has a good light reference, you can get twice the result with half the effort. The light performance of the picture I chose is not strong. I wanted to make my own light here. As a result, it took me a lot of time. If the light is good, the expressiveness of the completed illustration will be richer. The following two figures are excellent as a reference:
Combined path tool
When drawing noise illustration, we can combine path tools to draw more hierarchical details.
In the above four small blocks, we can find that the path tool is everywhere, because it is always indispensable in many noisy illustrations. Here's a little suggestion. When making small noise, directly create a new layer to make noise. Don't make noise after making shapes. This will save a lot of time.
Rational use of positive lamination and color filtering
For people who have just come into contact with noise illustration, if they are afraid of dirty color tone, they can use the simplest color application method. After absorbing the color of the object, change the layer mixing mode to filter color, and the shadow to positive overlay.
This tip is very practical, especially when doing some simple noise illustration, you can get the color in one step.
Reasonable overlay layer
If you want to make an object very detailed, you need to overlay it many times. You can add some transparency at the same time, but it should be noted that if there are too many colors, you should ensure that the whole picture is clean and can't make the picture dirty.
Multipurpose mask
Both layer mask and clipping mask play a key role in noise illustration.
Clipping mask is the soul of noise illustration. If there are 1000 layers, 700 layers may use clipping mask. When using clipping mask, you should pay attention to it. If there are many layers, it is recommended to group names, otherwise it is a little difficult to find when modifying.
For example, the following figure: when I make the foreground, I will divide the foreground into several parts, such as the grass part on the right. I list a group separately. In the clipping mask in the group, there may be a frequently changing noise layer. At this time, I will add a color to it, which is very convenient to find.
Layer mask is also often used in noise illustration. It is most suitable for mouse painting users. Mouse painting is different from hand painting. Hand shaking often occurs when painting noise.
For example, in the small tree on the right, when you are drawing some continuous multiple noise, if there are small defects, you can directly use the layer mask to solve them.
Combined tinting (color scale, hue / saturation, curve...)
Color matching can be used either in the process of painting or after painting.
In painting, we often encounter the same object but need to deal with it differently. At this time, we can use color matching to complete it.
For example, in the small trees on the right, if you want the color difference before and after them, you can use color matching to solve it. There is no need to color again, which is a waste of time.
After the painting is completed, we may also make the final color matching according to the effect, or even change the large color tone. As I did in this small case, two different tonal schemes were put forward after the completion of the project.
Make self-made noise according to the illustration content
In the process of drawing illustration, we often want to get an effect, but there is no ready-made noise. At this time, we have to be self-sufficient.
For example, when I was painting this small case, I found that there are many irregular leaves on the vine. Painting one by one is not only a waste of time, but also to change some shapes. The operation is too cumbersome. At this time, the custom brush can solve this problem for us.
According to the steps mentioned earlier in the article, you can easily make a leaf brush.
When I use my self-made leaf brush, many unwanted leaves will spread around. At this time, I can make a mask for the brush layer and delete all the unwanted contents.
2. Combined brush illustration
Combined brush means to use your own brush and apply it to the same noise illustration after screening. It should be noted that not all noise brushes are applicable to the same style. Here is a small example of rough rust style illustration:
In the case, we can see that all the brushes I use are rough brushes, including not only noisy brushes, but also regular texture brushes, and even variegated colors. However, there is no disharmony in the whole picture. Here is a very important point to choose the right brush. Next, let's see how many brushes I use.
From the above exploded view, we can see that I used a total of 6 kinds of noise brushes, namely: Circular noise, flat and blunt texture, oblique point, fan-shaped flat, conventional noise and variegated color.
When dealing with the color of small pieces, I didn't use the soft edge round brush, because it was too soft to fit my overall style, so I used the dot brush (the brush with bald head) and the conventional noise brush (the noise brush debugged by myself) to replace it.
In order to make the car body have a sense of speed, I choose to drag with a fan-shaped flat brush, which not only displays straight lines, but also has a texture effect. In order to make the car more expressive, I also added a regular oblique tangent point texture effect in the car. At the same time, in order to express the three-dimensional feeling of the cliff, I use flat and blunt texture and path to draw.
In fact, before drawing, set the overall illustration style, and then select the brush according to the style you want to draw. Different car noises can be made in the same way, as follows:
In style 2 of the car, I removed the fan-shaped flat and flat blunt texture brushes. In order to make the whole car body feel more rusty, I strengthened the use of circular noise, and added self-made noise on the background color of the car body: rusty concave convex brushes (noise names are randomly selected after many years of design experience...).
Special tips: when you want to draw some regular texture brushes (such as the oblique tangent point brush on the figure), you can draw directly with the brush. Another way is to use pattern superposition (of course, you have to prepare this pattern in advance).
Summary and material sharing
1. Noise illustration summary
Experience of noise tools: there are many tools that can realize noise illustration, and the most commonly used tools are variegation, mask and brush.
Brush experience: there are many noisy brushes. Novices can start with PS's own brush. If they want to highlight their own noisy illustration style, self-made brush is a good choice.
Learning experience: when you first come into contact with noisy illustration, you'd better start from copying, learn other people's skills, and then slowly improve the style you want to do. (high quality noise illustration works are provided in the material, which can be copied)
2. Material sharing
The materials in this issue include three blocks: 50 copies of noisy illustrations, source files, bald heads and trucks, and black lion brush Library (24 noisy brushes), which can be downloaded at the top and bottom.
Display of copying materials:
Article source file sharing:
Brush sharing (24):
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