How to Paint Gemstones [Part 3]

• Part 2 •

Brilliant Cut Gems

The classic diamond gem cut is called 'brilliant', and it's brilliant at giving artists headaches. Designed to produce the most bright and complex refractions, it is the boss fight of shading.

Luckily, there is a trick to drawing brilliant gems: triangles. Can you draw a triangle? You can do this!

1. Most gems are symmetrical, so digital artists can save some stress by drawing one side and flipping it later.

2. Brilliant gems are cut into octagon shapes. Make an octagon and squish it into perspective with the transform tool, and put it anywhere there is an angle. Now you know the 3D shape of your diamond.

3. Like earlier, I draw the facets with a brilliant cut guide as a template. Match it roughly to the points on your octagon for correct perspective.

4. It's triangle time! Inside each facet, draw lots of little triangles.

5. Diamonds are so brilliant because their facets range from very bright to very dark. A common mistake is to make brilliant gems too light: a wide value range is key. Let's start with the darkest triangles, which are usually the smallest.

6. Add more triangles in different mid tone shades. Keep them inside the overall shape of each facet and avoid cross over (see coloured diagram). Diamonds split light into different wavelengths like a prism, so feel free to add many different hues to your triangles.

7. Add the brightest triangles. Like before, the strongest should be facing the light source. Unlike before, little bright triangles will also be scattered throughout the gem.

8. Add variation to your facets with some random lines and colours at low opacity.

9. Copy and mirror your diamond to make a full brilliant gem. Almost done now....

10. Did I say diamonds were symmetrical? Oops! Like the pear, make copies of your gem, reduce their size and make a random collage of mini triangles that covers the whole shape. The most details are at the edge and bottom of the brilliant gem, so make your texture densest here. Blur, reduce opacity and set the layer mode to 'Overlay' just as before.

11. With a big soft brush, add glow to the centre and bottom of the gem, and deepen colours to the edges. I recommend using layer modes that increase contrast and saturation, like the aforementioned 'Overlay'. 'Colour Dodge' is also good for bright spots.

You did it! I hope this tutorial helped demystify gemstones. Now you can give your characters some dazzling jewellery.

Questions? Comment below!

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Fun fact: Neither Lapis nor Merli have lapis lazuli or merlinite in their designs.