Winter term classes begin on January 6th. Late registration is still available for some classes.

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Intro to Digital Painting

Learn the basics of digital painting with Photoshop!

Student Artwork by Sophie Iwamoto



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Student Artwork by Nicolas Brisbois

Intro to Digital Painting

Intro to Digital Painting is offered in a format featuring both pre-recorded lessons and demos from your instructor as well as LIVE feedback sessions each week!

To this day, Photoshop remains one of the most versatile and widely-used art programs by concept artists and illustrators, making it a must-know digital software for aspiring professional artists.

 

In this introductory course, you will learn to use Photoshop's most essential tools, an efficient step-by-step painting process to improve workflow, to optimize your digital workspace, and how to work comfortably and confidently with a digital tablet.

In addition to covering key digital painting skills, lessons will cover the fundamentals of colour theory, and tips and tricks that you can use to paint speedily like creating custom brushes, using adjusment layers and photo textures.

By the end of this course, you will be well on your way to creating fantastic digital artwork that you can be proud of and most importantly, you will have a solid base to build on so you can transition into our more advanced digital courses

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  • Course Type Online Concept Art Classes
  • Duration 10 weeks
  • Skill Level
    Level 1
    Level 1

    Strong fundamentals in traditional drawing, painting and sculpting are the foundations to create amazing artwork.

    This level is about solidifying the fundamentals, getting a refresher on the most important art principles, and learning tricks to create realistic drawing and paintings.

  • Language English

You can now combine 3, 4 or 5 classes to avail a 5, 10 or 15% discount on your purchase!

$369 USD
Register Now

Schedule

Note: This class will be offered online only

Each pre-recorded lesson will be available one week before the live feedback session. You’ll be able to watch these at your own leisure and practice the skills and theory you learn from each video! Then, once a week, you will join your instructor and up to 9 other students for live personalized feedback on your artwork.

Term: Winter 2025

Recorded Class Release Date - Starts: Tuesday, December 31st and will be released once a week every Tuesday

Live Feedback Session - Section A) Starts: Tuesday, January 7th and is once a week from 5 PM to 6 PM, Eastern Savings Time (EST or UTC-5h) - English - Nino Vecia

Duration: 10 weeks

Please note that our classes times are listed as EST (GMT-5) but that starting on Sunday, March 9th, 2025, all class times will go into EDT (GMT-4)

If you are not able to make it to the live class (due to time zone differences) not to worry; the live feedback sessions will also be recorded, so you’ll be able to see what critiques you were given at a later time!

It should be noted that students should set aside a minimum of 3 hours per week to complete assignments for this class. Students may even require a bit more time (4-5 hours per week) depending on how quickly they can work through assignments.

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Prerequisites

Skill requirements 

To enroll in this course you should have: 

  • Intermediate drawing skills (use of proper perspective, proportions and shading).
  • Completed our Foundations of Drawing class or have equivalent practice/experience.

This class is meant for individuals who are NOT yet comfortable with the basic tools of Photoshop.

 

Language and age requirements

You should have at least intermediate level English to take this class. Please be advised that there could be artistic nudity in our classes. Students should be 14 years old to enroll.

 

Required Materials

Material List: 

  • A desktop computer or laptop with Photoshop installed*
  • A  graphic tablet with pressure sensitivity (from brands such as Wacom, Huion, or Xencelabs), OR a tablet-laptop hybrid (also with Photoshop installed) with pressure sensitivity (such as the Wacom Cintiq Companion or Microsoft Surface Pro).

 

Optional

  • A sketchbook

 

Important note: 

 

Please note that the vast majority of our digital classes are taught using Adobe Photoshop and that this is also the recommended program for students to use. You may consult our FAQ for more information on other software which may be potentially used for class, however, please note that no technical assistance will be provided by instructors on the use of alternative painting software as they may not be familiar with the program.

 

Please ensure that all of your hardware and software are functioning properly before the start of the term; there will not be any time to resolve technical issues in class.

*Please consult our Tech Requirements below for more precise computer specifications.

 

 

Tech Requirements for Attending Syn Studio Online Classes

Minimum Requirements

  • A strong uninterrupted broadband wired or wireless (3G or 4G/LTE) connection with a minimum 600kbps bandwidth (up/down).
  • A Laptop/Desktop computer equipped with a single core processor (at least 1 GHZ processing speed) or a smartphone/tablet with equivalent processing capabilities
  • Good speakers/earphones to listen to the classes 
  • Browser - IE7+, Safari 5+, Firefox, Chrome 
  • Operating System - Windows XP, Mac OS 10.6, Linux distro based on 3.0 kernel, Android 5.0, iOS 10

 

Syn Studio Recommendations

  • A strong uninterrupted broadband wired or wireless (3G or 4G/LTE) connection with a minimum 1.5Mbps bandwidth (up/down). You can also connect to the internet directly using your ethernet cable to improve your experience.
  • Laptop/Desktop computer equipped with a dual core processor with at least 2 GHZ processing speed and a 4 GB RAM
  • High Quality speakers/earphones to listen to the classes
  • Browser & Operating System - We recommend using the latest version of the browser and operating system for an optimal online classroom experience.
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Course Outline

*Please note that the following outline is subject to change slightly at the teacher's discretion.

FORMAT FEATURES:

  • Pre-recorded sessions and demos will be released at the beginning of every week
  • Students review the coursework, learn and complete assignments during the week at their own leisure
  • Then, once a week, you will join your instructor and up to 9 other students for live personalized feedback on your artwork.

 

Week 1

Basic Tools - Learn about all the basic tools in photoshop, and how we can started in
digital painting.

Week 2 

Linework and Masks - Experimenting with sketching and clean linework. You'll also
learn about different types of masks to help aid you during the painting process.

 

Week 3 

Greyscale - You'll learn effective ways to practice your blending, and learn the
importance of value by doing a greyscale painting.

 

Week 4 

Colourizing - You'll learn basic color theory and how to apply color using different
blending modes to your greyscale painting.

 

Week 5 

Custom Brushes - Learn all about custom brushes, how to make them and how to
apply them.

 

Week 6 

Adjusment Layers - Understand how to quickly adjust and alter a painting using
Adjustments layers.

 

Week 7 

Photo Textures - Create your own unique image and learn how to use photo textures
to push the realism in your painting.

 

Week 8 

Photobashing - Using more advanced tools you'll learn to photobash by blending and
merging photos.

 

Week 9 

Final Painting - Using all the previous techniques you've learned so far, you'll be
getting started on your final painting.

 

Week 10 

Finishing Touches- You'll be shown techniques on how to put the finishing touches
on your final piece.

 

Check out the entire outline

Instructor Info

Nino Vecia

Nino Vecia is a freelance illustrator with 6 years of experience working in the commercial and entertainment industries


Testimonials

"This class is stellar! As someone who had almost zero digital painting experience, this class was the perfect pace and packed with a ton of information to both get your quality closer to traditional materials and speed everything up. Nino is a terrific teacher that is supportive in what you are trying to create and does a great job at packaging the knowledge in consumable chunks."

Quinn Alquetz ( Spring 2022 )

"The class was wonderful. This was my first experience with a digital illustration class and I am more than satisfied with the results. I learned a lot and had tons of fun in every lesson."

Alejandra Santos ( Spring 2023 )

"I really enjoyed this class! The format of having the video lesson in advance and then a feedback session worked really well for me. Nino is a great teacher and I feel like I learned a lot from this course!"

Anonymous ( Summer 2022 )

"I think it's perfect. Appreciated the system with a recorded demonstration session with very clear instructions and information, followed by a live session where Nino would answer students' questions clearly. And appreciated how he is always willing to help and share his genuine experiences, he understands what students could possibly be struggling with and he is willing to share his knowledge whole heartedly. He provides guidance to students in a very efficient way without making them feel harshly criticized or discouraged."

Fay Chiang ( Fall 2022 )

Registration

You can now combine 3, 4 or 5 classes to avail a 5, 10 or 15% discount on your purchase!
Please choose your 1-hour LIVE feedback session from the dropdown list below.

Note: During this session, you and up to 9 other students will receive individual feedback from the instructor

This class is being offered at
USD $369.00
(save $xxx!!)
*All Prices Shown are in USD Dollars
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Please bring a photo ID for the first day of class.

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Questions and Assistance

Feel free to send us an email at [email protected] or give us a call at 514-998-7625

Please consult our FAQ; most of the commonly asked questions are answered in detail there. If you cannot find the answer to your question, please feel free to fill out the form below, or, send an email to [email protected]

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"I have been impressed with the urgency of doing. Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Being willing is not enough; we must do."

- Leonardo Da Vinci