ILLUSTRATION CREATIVE PROCESS – Clark Illustrations – Art Portfolio

ILLUSTRATION CREATIVE PROCESS

Hire or commission me to make your illustrations today! I created this illustration with Adobe Photoshop, pencil, and paper.

Equinopolis Painting Process

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The freelance client requested a fantasy dreamscape painting. I created this sketch after inspiration from a LEGO horse my son made. After I bring it into Photoshop, I make a color background and paint into layers with custom brushes using my color palette. Later I’ll add some more layers. For this art, I painted directly into very few layers to mimic traditional painting, but for other art, I may use many clipping mask layers.

(Click picture to see full-size)
The colors fade from warm to cool in this sunset Steampunk color scheme. I painted in pure colors, but depending on the art, I’ll also use blending modes (such as overlay, multiply, color, etc). Then I add more detail once the color scheme and lighting are in place. I routinely mirror the image and view it at smaller sizes for accurate proportions. Next, Adjustment layers are added for better contrast, color, atmosphere, etc.

Last, I add the final details to the art’s focal point, which for this art is the head. For the final phase, I add ambient occlusions, specular highlights, rim lighting, and atmosphere (such as fog and atmospheric perspective). I try alternate color schemes and cropping as well. The client’s revisions were to mirror the art, remove the Giraffe, and add foreground elements. I also shifted the colors a bit and cropped the art in. Now it’s finished!

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