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ALTER THE DEPTH OF FIELD
Our brain processes imagery based on colour, shapes and
depth. So push the depth of your image as far as possible in order to
make it pop. Duplicate your character group and merge its content –
keep the original group disabled as a backup. Using the Blur tool, begin
softening the contours. Use a small brush with low strength. Next
increase the strength and blur the areas further away, while keeping the
rest sharp. This will direct the viewer’s eye to the focal points, simulating
the cinematic depth of field of a 50mm lens.11
MAGIC PARTICLES
This is a fantasy game, so your character will, of course, have supernatural
abilities. Use a particle system as secondary focal point to counter-balance elements and
guide the viewer’s eye across the piece. Use warm colours to contrast the cool tints of the
environment. Start with an orange tint and begin outlining your magical flares. Switch to
lighter tints in correspondence with heat sources. Keep shapes dynamic and interesting.
Integrate a soft layer of smoke and an Overlay orange glow layer to add realism and make
the colours really pop.13
PUSHING IT FURTHER
Use three separate planes of interest to
further increase the depth of the environment. Keep
the foreground elements sharp and bright, the
midground elements softly blurred and mildly lit, and
elements in the far distance heavily blurred and dark.
The reduced readability of far away elements, such as
the faraway mountain tops or rock formations, will
serve as hinted reading values – the viewer’s brain will
complete the missing portions by filling in the blanks.
This allows us to get away with minimal colour
variation while obtaining a very rich and full effect.14
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A dark sky will set the mood and drive the
eye into the distance. You will want to create clouds
that form interesting shapes, low enough on the
horizon to create enough contrast to allow for easily
readable mountain tops. Use a large soft brush to
paint black on top of areas to simulate rarefaction of
the atmosphere and the light bouncing off. Ensure
the clouds and foreground fog don’t clash.12
BALANCING
Create a new group containing adjustment layers for Gamma Curves, Brightness/Contrast, and
Colour Balance, and place them at the top of your composite. These will serve as master colour correction
settings. Adjust the Gamma Curves until the image looks properly lit. Gamma Curves are also helpful to
remove possible artifacts resulting from Screen layers and compositing. Use Brightness/Contrast to bring out
highlights, and use the Colour Balance settings to increase Cyan and Blue on both highlights and mid tones,
as this will help blend elements seamlessly and unify tints.001 COLOUR Dark areas can show artefacts. To eliminate BANDING
noticeable colour-banding, apply a 0.8 Uniform Noise to the Screen layer(^002) Pay attention to rolling surfaces or sharp BOUNCING LIGHTS
edges, and add extra highlights or rim lights to increase realism
(^003) Layer extra textures on the horns to TEXTURING THE HORNS
convey a sense of an ancient and mythological animal
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003
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3D AND PHOTOSHOP