I am not a fan of 'do gardening to relax' cause of reasons, but I thought rendering every single element would be a nice meditative experience.
The rest of the daggers are there somewhere.
37 hours, Procreate, lots of questioning my sanity over background details
If you see a lineart mistake, no you don’t.
My thanks go to @ octavia_tav on X for Jahehe reference and the @ misshighharper (Jake?) for the inspiring meme about knives and also @ graciescribbles for the gentle push
Since this was done in procreate, here's the process video! Some details under the cut.
Process Notes
Start with a loose sketch - I had my reference photo open on my computer screen for this. Sketch is the top layer and set to multiply
Block in basic shapes on separate layers
Start adding texture using black and white on a clipping mask set to overlay with the opacity adjusted
Build in some colour variation
I decided to break the single green layer into three to help with layering. I just duplicated the green layer twice, used layer mask to erase roughly, then applied the layer masks. Now I have 3 layers for my green areas
Then I put them on alpha lock and used a smudge brush to remove some of the definition I had initially put in, and added looser texture with more colour variation and attention to the three distinct layers of vegetation
I also decided I wanted more definition on the clouds here, so you can see I added back a lot of sky then added more defined clouds
I continue to use the black and white overlay technique to add texture to some areas
To get a good outline of the highest vegetation layer against the sky, I add a layer mask and roughly erase the top part with black, then switch to white and add back details to the edge using a leafy brush (I love this technique)
For areas like the short grass and asphalt path, I add texture to a layer then use the resize > distort tool to give it the right 3D angle, THEN I make it a clipping mask and do my overlay/opacity trick
As I get close to the end of painting, I select all 3 green layers and use the liquify tool to make some adjustments, and then focus on details like the line of grass where the path curves out of sight
Last 2 layers are a pink layer on screen mode, adjusted to the opacity I want, then a layer of black with a soft white spot in the middle, set to overlay with its opacity adjusted as well
