The finished size for of image was 3338 x 4450 pixels. I worked with only two simple brushes. For the first Brush I selected the ‘Airbrush Soft Round’, changed hardness of 0 to 100% and deactivated the Airbrush Button (Fig.01). The second Brush is only one Spatter (Fig.02).I used brush 1 mainly for sketch and general composition, the brush 2 I used more for the finishing and also to create a little of the texture in the image. I almost always use the value of the brush set to 50% opacity, but after an hour or so I usually modify this value. To speed up the workflow I type in the keyboard the value that I want for the opacity, for example: with brush tool selected type 10 in the keyboard that automatically the value of opacity of brush goes to 10%. This also serves for other tools as the Clone Stamp, Eraser, Gradient and others. It can also control the opacity layer in the same way. Here are some essential shortcuts which I use:
LINK:
http://www.3dtotal.com/team/Tutorials_3/makingof_dragon/dragon_01.asp