“What happens if I paint the sky yellow? Or green?”
Background and Concept Artist Douglas Murakami shares the wacky processes behind his wonderful art
The podcast is back and we are kicking off with a bang! Following from the last episode, we have yet another vivid artist, Douglas Murakami who specializes in concept and background art, all the way from the South Americas. Douglas encourages us, through his own process, to experiment wildly and try new things: what would an orange sky look like? What if we mash two old sketches together? He shares his own, practical tips on how to get started below. And why he prefers photoshop over Procreate.
This episode is extra special because it is accompanied by a very detailed walkthrough where Douglas shares a lot of really cool insights into his process so head on over to the YouTube link.
Or, listen to the podcast too as he shares in more detail. He also shares a lot about working as a background designer in a workplace.
Please introduce yourself!
Hello! My name is Douglas Murakami and I’m a freelance illustrator from Brazil. I like to paint a lot of fantasy environments and some creatures.
I love how bold and vibrant colours, the cool compositions. How did you develop your style to get where it is now?
I think that I developed this style mostly because of Instagram. I saw somewhere when I began to use Instagram, that the photos needed to be bright, with vivid colors, sharp, etc, so I started to implement these in my paintings — kinda crazy right?
You generally follow a landscape, 3 images per post layout on your Instagram — is there a reason for this? What determines which images are put together in one post?
It’s funny you ask this because I was asking myself the same thing last week, and to realize that my first post on Instagram had this same format of 3 landscapes, just blew my mind. The reason is simple: [in order] to show more “options’ ‘ for the people at once, I could post one painting everyday…..but I don’t want to spam my work to my followers, so I just do one post with three paintings each 2–3 days and it works well for me. I always try to make three different paintings unrelated, using different techniques,colours, textures, and composition. It’s a good way for me to try different things and think out of the box.
Where do you get ideas for concepts for your art? Can you take us through the process of creating a final illustration, from concept to finished piece? How long does it generally take you?
I like to use Pinterest or Youtube for ideas, I check these sites every day, every time. Sometimes I see a cool place on Pinterest and check youtube to see further or vice versa. There are two other sites that I use to study real places, called MapCrunch and RandomStreetView. It’s like Google Maps, but it shows you a random location every time, or you can pick a specific location if you want.
My process depends, for personal work, I have plenty of ways to begin my sketches…..
1 — I just start to sketch random things, sometimes I have something in mind, (most of the time I don’t haha), and I discover with trial and error. After the point that I know exactly what I’m doing, I start to check some references and after this, I finish my painting.
2 — I start with an old painting, and I try different colors, perspectives, flip upside down, use the layers options, use masks, mix with my older sketches…..I go crazy haha. This one I use a lot, because you can get different shapes and colors that you didn’t think about. This method is very abstract sometimes, but I love it.
3 — The easiest way to begin is using references: I pick two photos and I start doing a study of one and go putting elements of the other photo reference together. You don’t need to think too much and all the information is in there. You take almost no time to think about what to paint or not. (This method I often do it as the first painting of the day).
4 — OR I mix all these processes together……
Many times, I do 30min studies, speed painting every day. These are good for you to have focus and make quick decisions. But for posts for Instagram, I take 2–3 hours for each part (out of the three landscapes), sometimes more, sometimes less. For clients, 1 week is enough. As I’m not an art finalist, my final paintings are not so different from my sketches — just a bit more polished, but nothing crazy.
(A quick tip: this isn’t related to the process but it will improve the quality of your paintings. That is, to learn the software that you are using — but like, advanced things ok?! When I use Photoshop for example…there’s a ton of things in this program that can speed up the process and improve the quality of my paintings by a lot. Photoshop is the best photo editing software for a reason, so take the advantage of it!)
Tips
- Copy a photo exactly, even picking colours
- Then, make another version of the painting —but just match colours with your eyes
- Make a third version that is completely your own.
- Do this with every painting, you will improve a lot on how to pick colours, how to make a reference, shadows, colours, lighting,
Your colour palettes are so saturated and vibrant! What defines your colour palettes and how do you choose them, especially if you are referencing from real life?
Well, the color palettes depend on the subject or the mood that I want to show. I like to use a lot of colors, I mix them every time. If the references have a blue sky, what happens if I paint it yellow? Or green? What if I put them together with a few tons of blue and pink? I test a lot!
Or when I realise that I’m doing the same palette over and over I just change it for the sake of it. Like if the forest is green green green, I will change it to blue or purple. Try to put more colours, it can bring some life to your paintings.
Who do you go to for artistic inspiration? And more importantly, how do you use that inspiration in your work?
When I started to learn digital painting, Bobby Chiu was a big inspiration, not because of his art, but his philosophies and thoughts. The other one is Feng Zhu — I learned a lot about how to make environments from his youtube videos back in the day. Anthony Jones is another one that I like. I learned a lot from his videos from gumroad, and it’s not just the practice stuff but his thoughts, techniques, and skills with programs. And the last but not least, Adam Duff, again another artist that talks about all the good and bad things about being an artist.
I have more interest in the thoughts and guidance from the professionals [artists]that have been in this field for a long time. These things can open up your mind to what’s working in this field.
How do you learn and improve your craft?
I watch tons of youtube tutorials, read articles and buy some gumroad lessons. The last one is for more specific topics from specific artists..
Remember a time you were stuck in a deep creative rut — how did you break free?
If I’m stuck, I play games, watch movies, read books (this one I highly recommend, for inspiration, right now I’m reading The Way of Kings from Brandon Sanderson ). I’ll drive my car ( I love to drive ) or I’ll take a nap (This one I’m doing every time, even more in this awful time of Covid!).
What does your art mean to you and how does it affect your life?
This is hard huh? Haha…art for me it’s a way to share my dreams for the world. I like to make these little worlds, so I can dream to be in there, just for a few hours.
