Where whimsy meets fantasy.
My Process.
Rough sketch.
I start with thumbnails so I can see possible compositions for my concept: then, I draw a rough sketch for the idea that makes the most visual sense to me.
My painting workflow is a little different because I don’t want to overwork my canvas, but I still use thumbnails.
Block in rough colors and values.
Then, I block in rough colors, and figure out how I want my piece to be lit. Here, I went for overhead sunlight filtering into the cave.
If I’m keeping visible line work in the final piece, I’ll refine it now. For this piece, I wanted to achieve realism without line work, so I change the linework layer to multiply, and begin a new layer to build on top of it. I try to keep layers well named and concise, so I’m not left searching for one line on a layer that looks nearly the same as five others.
What’s the story?
I actively consider the story behind the piece and what elements make the most sense in that storyline. I also consider how the viewer’s eye moves through the piece, and where I want the eye to end up. I also try to break up any solid planes or blocks into more complex shapes.
For my illustrations, I don’t have one specific reference photo to work from. I think critically about the direction of the light, the reflectiveness of all my surfaces, and the volume of all my shapes. I find that this is enough to create a sense of realism before I begin to add texture.
Add detail.
From here, it’s into more refinement and detail. I try to let my brushes do a lot of the detail work for me instead of hand drawing every speck; the best concept artists, illustrators, and painters are adept at this. This piece mainly uses chisel brushes.
I’ll also add two more layers, one with the blending mode “Add” and one with “Multiply”, to add highlights and shadows respectively.
Critique and adjust.
Although I liked the previous concept, it felt too flat; the waterfall and serpentine figures were fighting for my attention. I chopped off the right half and finished the left by adding a lot of complementary colors and foliage, and decided to come back to the dragon concept another day.
