I wanted to create an image with multiple figures, some cool FX, and a clear focal point. Usually I'm pretty sloppy and try to use shortcuts which end up being long-cuts. This was my most methodical painting yet, and I definitely feel the difference that a little (ok, a lot) of discipline makes...
Everything was done in Photoshop CS6 in a pretty darned straightforward manner.
Here's the process:
1. Thumbnail - As you can see this was a very elaborate start... erm. Ok, It's a mess. basically I was just trying to throw down the idea at this point...
2.Sketch - Also very rough. Clarified some of the shapes and added some tone so I
could get a feel for the basic light setup.
3. Lines - Since I wanted this image to have a decent amount of detail, I took the time to make a fairly clean line drawing. Used reference for inspiration on the clothing and armor...
4. Color Comp - Slapped down some rough colors using a mix of Overlay and Color layer styles first. Definitely feeling the benefits of having read through Gurney's excellent tome: Color and Light. A must-have book...
5. Background - I separated the foreground and background into different layers so I could paint the sky and mountains freely... Used a two different cloud brushes and resisted the urge to leave some of the under-painting visible. Covering up the sketch can be scary, man...
6. Mountain - Again, separated the mountain onto its own layer and painted that in using a regular soft chalk brush. I tend to color pick from my color comp as I go (alt+click while in brush mode). This was my first time really painting with the chalk brush. I was never a fan and preferred the detail that the plain old round brush gave... that was to change halfway through the image, however...
7.Renderrrrring - Again I showed admirable fortitude (no please, hold the applause!), and separated each of the characters onto their own layer. Then it was just a matter of painting away methodically. I decided to tackle the majority of the zombies first, for fear that they might bore me to death if I left them for last. I kept myself entertained by occasionally rendering part of the wizard. It might be good to note that at this point I still felt the whole thing looked like rubbish...
8. More Rendering... - Embarked upon the epic journey of rendering all the costume details on the wizard. I hated everything at this point, but possibly because I finished this step at the wee hours of the morning. On the bright side I had a new-found appreciation of the Chalk Brush. Because it's soft and a bit messy, it lends itself better to rougher painting, something I was never really comfortable with. Hallelujah. I was a convert!
9.EPIC BLAZING SKY!! - This is the point where the image really came to life (or as my pessimistic mind puts it: started to look like it might not be so bad after all...). I did the rays on two different layers and faded them out with the airbrush where needed. Added the spiral-y business after I felt that it lacked something and used the smudge tool to break up some of the brushstrokes. An Overlay layer with some bright yellow airbrushed in helped make certain areas pop, while another on with some dark reddish brown gave some of the distant clouds a more bruised look. Pretty sure there are some sparkles in there too... I can't resist sparkles...
10. Touchups - At this point I figured I was on the homestretch. Which meant I figured... what, another half hour, right? Wrong. The finishing touches are always the longest, because there is always one more thing... and one more...
Here I fixed some of the lighting on the characters and rocks using an Overlay layer and some bright yellow. Rendered out our wizard's luscious locks as well and roughly fifty other tiny things I hadn't noticed or had been too lazy to fix the first time through.
11. Pushing it Further - luckily at this point I got some well-placed advice about the blazing light looking flat and strange being only behind the wizard. I added some beams whizzing down into the foreground. All using the chalk brush and the cloud brush from back in the beginning. Oh and my magical sparkly brush too. Bright yellow on an Overlay layer and the airbrush came into play again to punch things up (you see a theme here?). Also added some darker speckles in the sky to help the spiral pop.
I let it simmer for a few hours undisturbed and came back to it contented. Always a good idea to let things sit a bit. I did a quick Unsharp Mask, then called it a day...
So there are certainly things I learned with this one that will carry through to the next image I do. Definitely some processes that sped up my work considerably. Some parts of this I'm immensely proud of (those three zombies near the top, the FX, the backlighting on the wizard's hand, the staff and 'holy hand-grenade'). Some parts I'm not crazy about and will surely hate within the next 24 hours (seriously... that haircut...what was I thinking?)
All in all, a positive piece and much learned, and I was happy to share. Hope some of it was useful!
