A quickie explaining my method of making steam and vapor effects for speed paints and illustrations. It should take you roughly about a minute to paint a good looking plume of steam, fog, or smoke this way. The purpose of this tutorial is not to achieve photo realism, but instead to get an acceptable result when you're planning to finish an artwork in just an hour or two. Also great for thumbnailing and composition planning speed paints.
Edit - One other tip for consideration: I don't consider this important enough to put into the tutorial, [because you should be able to tell through observation,] but just in case... Remember that steam never goes in a straight line. There's always some winding twist or turn in a plume of steam from the airflow or wind passing through it. Steam is just water vapor, so it's lightweight and lofty. Smoke, on the other hand, is much denser in mass, and will usually billow and spread as it gets higher. Smoke gets blown pretty uniformly at an angle from wind. See this as an example: [link] .
Want to donate? Read below! [Donators get a special downloadable gift!] ________________________________________ _______
I do wholeheartedly offer my tutorials, shared knowledge, and potential counseling for free. However, if you feel like you would love to send a donation to me, you can send one to my paypal by clicking the donate button below! By sending even just a buck or two, I'll gladly reply to you via email with a link to download a gift pack of exclusive high resolution wallpaper-sized images of most of my key works! It's the least I can do in return for your kindness!
I also guarantee that your contributions will continue to make me more dedicated to serving you, the community, and fellow artists with help they need.
NOTE: If you donate, I am automatically notified with an email address to reply to you at. If you don't get an email reply from me within 24 to 48 hours about the gift pack, let me know! There's a small chance I may have missed the notification in my inbox. If you are a DA member who donated, send me a note instead of an email about any problem, as I check my DA inbox more often!