Here are some WIPS of my Beowulf illustration:a. I used a digital camera to take some original photo references (using myself as model) to work from.
b. I started out thinking the background would be in shades of brown, and used a Frank Frazetta painting for my palette inspiration.
c. I began painting in Photoshop. Basically just choosing midtone, highlight, and shadow values, loosely laying in color, and then working them together with the smudge tool to define shapes. (the zoomed-in view shows better detail).
d. Added legs. Also started using blur filter for more subtle/realistic shading.
e. Sketched out an idea for what character would be wearing.
f. Decided I wanted a darker feel for the overall illustration, so I dropped in a sold black background…
g. …and changed the color hue of the figure (easily done within Photoshop’s color controls). Also started added clothing.
h. Started adding details – hair, lights, darks, etc.
i. This is an example of some of the isolated Photoshop layers that really helped graduate color and light for a more realistic look and feel.
j. Added beard, and fixed hand position to fit position of Grendel’s arm.
Overall - in hindsight - the technique I used was a pretty painful route to go. This was really the first time I ever attempted to “paint” in Photoshop, and I soon found myself in way over my head in unfamiliar territory. Honestly, there were many times, in the beginning of the illustration, when I thought I had made a huge mistake; the illustration was just not looking too good. (It also didn’t help making the piece 300dpi, as the file size got very large, and often painfully slow to work on.) But I'm glad I pushed through and made it to the ther side! Heh heh! - db
4 comments:
Aw man, I really liked the shading on D, it had a lot of the contrast that you should push. I think this one might have suffered from you not knowing exactly when to finish.
These are great introspective posts. I like how much of the processes you kept, it is very neat, and the record-keeping seems to be just as grueling as the final product.
Great stuff!
You liked D best, eh? Oh well. So many directions, decisions, variables to consider in the creative process... this was a great learning experience for me. Thanks!
yeah, I think the image started to suffer when you went with bluring the musculature... It was on the right track, and then I think it turned into a confidence issue (much like in a race if you are ahead by a wide marging and think "I can't possibly be that much better than everyone else here").
Also, in C, you really started to render that (stage)right arm very well. The strokes that came out were very painterly, and had a nice touch to them. While the color could have been more varied in C and D, they seemed to be more believable choices (especially for the time period) than that of the latter renditions.
Great start!
The blurring effects defintely took it in a whole other direction, for sure. The cool part is that I gained a ton o confidence taking on an illustration project such as this, since this style really was not my forte (up until this point in time). Thanks for the feedback. Always appreciated!
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