2D Artist

2DARTIST MAGAZINE | ISSUE 129``````11307Environment detailing: At thispoint I added in some details into theenvironment to help tie the character to thebackground. Everything in the environment couldbe painted quite softly and roughly becausethe environment was not at the heart of thispicture; it merely provided me with an ambientsetting in which to display the character.``````You might want to consider using texturalbrushes for this sort of detail, as they are oftenmuch better for blending and creating roughbackgrounds than the standard round or squarebrushes. I painted a shadow on the ground toreinforce where my primary light was comingfrom, and I also painted in some soft purple lightonto the stones as a secondary light source.08Adding rim lights: In the previousstep I added a secondary light sourceto the ground. In this step I used a rim lighton the character. This really helped to makeit feel as though the character was part of theatmospheric world I had just painted, becausethe brightly colored light was appearingon both the character and the floor.``````There are many different reasons to use rimlights. Typically you might use them to adda dramatic feeling to paintings, as well as tohelp the subject matter in darker scenes standout where they might otherwise fade into thebackground. However, it is important not tooveruse rim lighting as it might make the lightingin your painting seem artificial. Steer clear ofusing pure whites and try to keep your rimlights dim. The brightest parts of your picture05Painting in details: This is probablythe part I spent the longest amount oftime on. I also found that it was the easiest partof the entire process. At this point all the difficultstuff was already out of the way. I had done allof the design work, which is essentially the mostimportant part of any painting, and I had paintedin the basic colors and lighting. That meant itwas time to just sit back, relax, put on some goodmusic and render out all the details. Painting afew things that were outside of the clipping masksoftened the silhouette a little bit at this point.Remember to use references when painting.Most people don’t know off the top oftheir heads what feathers look like or howlight moves through crystals, so use theinternet; it is your most valuable asset.06Basic background: On a new layer, Ithen painted in some very rough colorsso that I could start to think about how thischaracter was going to sit in the background.I wanted him to really stand out from thebackground while still feeling like he was a partof whatever the environment would be. I useda similar color palette to the colors used onthe character, but all the colors were muted sothat they didn’t interfere with the character.``````Even though this project was focusing onthe design and creation of a character, it wasimportant to display the character in somesort of background instead of just on a plainwhite canvas. Even simple backgrounds makepieces look much more finished and polished,which is great for professional projects.``````Time was spent painting details and enjoying the process!``````A basic background focusing on color made the piece more polished