a tutorial I made a while ago hope it helps

the picture itself is simple but the technique can be applied to any pic, I used photoshop CS3 and these brushes http://adonihs.deviantart.com/art/My-Brush-Pack-118954791

1. first off 99% of this pic is done with the detailing painting brush, this step is jut to get a very rough idea of what what's in the picture it doesn't have to look like anything special, it's more to put the shapes in your head down on the paper

2. a small bit of detailing here, again just to get an idea of where you want things to go, be very relaxed with these parts any mistakes can be sorted out later

3. I darken the area I'm going to draw on because drawing on a darker color is a lot more easy on the eye than drawing on white, I also mapped out a bit of the light source (which is in the upper left) and darkened the appropriate areas

4.using a much lighter gray (not white) I added some detail with the brush size reduced, this sharpens the line and hardens the color, it's still early days to don't be overly concerned with the detail

5.increasing the size of the brush, making it softer and more opaque I use the light source to add some lighter areas to the pic giving it a better impression of depth

6.deciding I wanted an ultramarine I blotted the appropriate colors in on a new layer

7.for this step I simply changed the layer type from normal to vivid light, though you might find you like a different look better so go through them to see if any other take your fancy

8.I create a new layer then with the color picker (hold down Alt) took the lightest colors on the picture and added some detail using a small size for the detail and a slightly larger size to lighten certain areas for bounce light (light reflected/bounced off different surfaces) on the right side

9.using the color picker for the darkest parts of the picture (f.y.i the color picker will help to keep your palette consistent) I shaded the areas opposite to the the parts I just lightened I used a fairly large sized brush so the detail would still show through, you can also use a smaller brush to clean up some lines and shapes and add a little detail

10.going back to the small bright brush I filled in some more detail then went back to the dark brush and done the same, the more you do this the higher the level of detail you will get and the more shading values you will have, with the scratches I just went around the edges of the armor with a small brush and placed random lines, the less exact you are with this the more plausible the scratches will look after all they are just accidents of shrapnel and bullets, I also added a deep crimson for the base of the eyes

11. anyone who paints the models will know whats happened here, using the light source I brightened up the eyes, one thing to remember when you use the gradient box to pick your color is to go from upper left to lower bottom (hee hee I said bottom) as the lighter a color is the less colorful it is and the darker it is it's more colorful, this tip'll help you out if you need to do a scene with distance background=light less color, foreground=dark more color

12.this is the only time in this picture I change the type of brush and I change it to the lighting brush, on a new layer I go around the eyes and add what should look like a glow

13. I then change this layer to color dodge and get a pretty cool lighting effect

14. on a new layer I add some final details, red on some of the armor to reflect the eyes, white on the eyes for a bit more sheen and that vent thingy on the top of his head, I have no idea what that thing is and you're done


a couple of things to remember, experiment loads it's the best way to learn, don't be anal with the picture because it's just a picture and if you can paint a model you will have no trouble doing anything like this