Easy way to draw a chainmail in Sai or Photoshop

And another quick tutorial. And I promise, this way of drawing a chainmail is REALLY fast and easy, even if it doesn't look so. 



1. First we need a sexy dwarf model.

2. Then the sexy dwarf model needs a chainmail - we draw an outline of it.

3. Next we draw a long, gray, curved line and fill the chainmail with the copies of it. The line doesn't need to be very symmetric and the copies don't need to be equaly close to themselves. The lines can be medium gray form the beginning or you can change the color when you want to.

This is how I drew the first curved line. Copy the first line and put every copy near the previous one. You may need ctrl+j here ;) (or ctrl+c, ctrl+v, ctrl+v, ctrl+v....)
And half an hour several minutes later...

Don't erase the parts you don't need yet. You'll do it soon, I promise :) I know you want to see your sexy dwarf model better, but be patient :D

4. Make all the lines you've made to be on one layer (I'll call it the LAYER 1 from now on). Try the magic ctrl+e combination.

5. Duplicate the LAYER 1.

6. Change the duplicate's mode into something that will make the LAYER 1 brighter, like "screen" in Photoshop or addition/luminosity in Sai.

7. Bind the screen/addition/luminosity layer to the LAYER 1 (clipping layer/group in Sai, don't remember how it's called in Photoshop).

8. Move the screen/addition/luminosity layer slightly to top of the picture or in the direction of the light. If it doesn't look good, try other directions.

9. Now copy the LAYER 1 and set the copy to multiply. Move it slightly in the opposite direction you moved the brightening layer.

10. If chainmail of your sexy dwarf model is too thin, like on my drawing, you need to do this: copy the LAYER 1 and  move the copy (I'll call it LAYER 2) to the bottom of the chainmail layers. Then move LAYER 2 slightly until you see a net-like thing.

11. Copy the LAYER 1 again and bind it to LAYER 2. Set the copy to multiply and move it slighty to create a shadow of LAYER 1 on LAYER 2.

12. Now if you need a little more realism is a good moment to create the back side of the chainmail :D But fear not, you don't have to repeat every step. Here you can merge all the chainmail layers into one layer or add all of them into one folder. If you have a slower computer, I suggest merging. After merging (or moving the chainmail to the folder) copy the new layer (or folder) and hide it temporarly. Then from the visable layer (or folder XD) remove the parts of the chainmail you don't need.

13. When you can see your sexy dwarf model again, move the hidden chainmail layer under the character layer and set it to visible. Now rotate it until the moment you're satisfied with the net of the back side of the chainmail.

 You may want it to be darker than a front chainmail, so make a new layer over the backside chainmail, bind the new layer to it, fill it with some gray colour and set to multiply.
And you can remove the parts you don't need :)

14. The last step is shading folds of the chainmail like you would with a normal clothes (you're doing it by binding new layers to the chainmail layer and set them to something lightening and darkening and paint on them) and creating the shadow of the chainmail on the character (mouse over the thumb of the layer with the chainmail, ctrl+left click, this way you select the chainmail area, create a new layer over the character layer, probably on multiply mode, fill the selection with a color you want, and move to make a shadow). And that's all :)

And now let Uncle Thorin hug you ;D

Of course, this tutorial shows only a way, and only one way how to draw a chainmail. Obviously the lines I drew are to thick and the chainmail doesn't look right but this is basically how you can do this. Or how I do this. Try to experiment with the shape of lines, their thickness and space between them. Why? Just let me show you what happens when the lines look different:

Quite nice, don't you think? I think it looks good in a close up parts :)

So, I hope the tutorial helped you at least a little. If not, well, it was a good reason to draw Thorin :3