You are not Alone - Process
I'm finally organizing a post to show you guys a little of my process. I thought it would be a good start to do it with an personal piece that could got me open to more experimentations :)
This is a personal piece I created for Cynthia Sheppard's "Illustrating the Emotional Narrative" Class. I had an idea of Medusa and the illustration would be about a friendship that overcomes the character's curse.
Based on the method Cynthia presented to us, I structured a briefing for my image focusing on Medusa's character as it follows:
Being relaxed with her friend's visit.
To feel happy and cared for by her friend regardless of whether she is a monster.
Relax, rest, to let her guard down.
Medusa feels calm with the presence of her friend.
Melancholic and grayish colors in the surroundings to represent Medusa's lair. But with room for hope that she will not live a life forever alone.
Based on this infos, I made some thumbnail tests where Medusa's friend would be visiting her in her lair.
From here I asked some colleague's opinions and we came up to the conclusion that thumbnail E would be the best. Then I started testing light and values.
Next, I colored the thumbnail and made some adjustments. I usually sctructure my thumbnails up to this point so that I can be sure of how I am going to paint the scene definitively later on.
Now for some ref time! I took some photos to simulate the light so I could answer any doubts about anatomy, light and shadows. I won't post the images since they are a little too personal :) In addition, this step helps me with a clearer ideia about interactions between the two characters. With organized refs, I was able to start definitively structurig the piece. Next, time for sketch the characters.
After the characters start, I focused a bit on the background to help me moving along with the image.
Back to the characters. I always begin with a lighter base for them to keep the shadows from getting too dark.
After starting to paint Medusa, I thought it would be better to change the angle of her face a little to make the details of the side wings and the orange eyes clearer from afar.
And to finish it off, the final rendering and polishing phases :)
I hope this post can help someone out there :) and I hope you enjoyed it!
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