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WhiteHowler7 — The Forgotten - step by step

Published: 2009-04-05 01:24:44 +0000 UTC; Views: 50019; Favourites: 651; Downloads: 1958
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Description day by day!

just kidding.

full view of download for a bandwidth killer (but only if you live in the dark ages)

okay so here is the promised step by step image of that collab with explainations. this is by no means a tutorial. if you learn something thats great, but it's not meant for that. this is how we work, you should always find your own way

every step minus the 1st and 3rd steps are what i finished and sent back to corey

so the first step here is actually the second step. we both didn't save the first one! corey started it out as a waterfall mid canvas off to the left.

i took that waterfall, duplicated that layer, flipped it and put it together as you can see here. corey added the boars head and some more small details.

next step was adding in some characters. starting to round off an idea for the scene. the second step here is characters added, minus clothes. bubble form is how i start all of that out, it helps figure out composition quickly without struggling with details. you can see here how the canvas was much smaller at this point, after this step i decide to make it bigger to balance the depth of fields a bit and also the composition.

i thought here first that maybe the girl who finds these ruins has a gun, but that idea didn't stay for long.

3rd step here (corey didn't send it to me with the full picture, mind you, only his work on the piece thus far) is more further fleshing out of the scene. corey added a costume to the winged girl and some guys around her. he also added the totem polls. at this point it started to take on a rather mayan hostile environment, but i decided we wanted it to look more otherworldly rather than identifiable as a speciffic culture, like the explorer found something never before seen. also i thought perhaps the position of the guys affected the composition negatively, but i liked the idea of a muscley and stern fellow. i didn't want this to turn into some pervert's heavy metal wet dream so i discouraged that hostile feel. see next step.

i drew in a guy, complete with horrible anatomy. i loved his expression though. notice both tribal characters had wings and tails. something that eventually got lost, although i'm not entirely sure why. i drew in a dragon, because who doesn't love the idea of a dragon as a pet! i wanted to make sure to keep him wingless though, like that was a feature reserved for his owners. my dragons always turn out girly and fairy/horse/dog like, so i requested that corey give him a better go. at this time i add some blobby colors, because i always feel the best way to create a believable color scheme and world the characters exsist in is to believe it yourself. if you get lost in that world, then you can see your surroundings and create accordingly

i got the next .psd back with a redrawn fiercer dragon and the other girl now has an outfit. corey added also some foreground foliage, which i blurred. i have much love for this effect in paintings as i feel it really adds another level of depth that really stands out from the rest of the picture. so i add some more blobby background colors again (although much too warm saturated and glowy) and flesh out the girls eh, flesh. i also used a quick brightness/contrast adjustment layer to demonstrate hot spots in lighting.

so i send it back. corey sends back these awesome wings (although what you see here is also what i have done to those wings, so his WIP (if he posts one) will show his initial wings). he paints in the explorer's hair and arm complete with bloody bandage, and he paints in the winged girl's sceptre. i start trying to paint the guy, and immediately run into problems painting his arms due to bad drawing. i send it back with them not painted.

every few steps corey would send these back with a little joke painted on a seperate layer, he did a little scuba guy in the water once, and i think a shark once too. i send it back this time with a little slingblade joke, as thats the voice i gave the dragon

i was quite happy with that dragon, i used a good about of texture refferenc and a little bit of the clone stamp to give him that awesome skin.

the next step is a big jump, because i sat for a few hours and painted one half of the background here. i experimented with brush settings on the basic round to get that water texture. i took the basic round, flattened it, scatter, lower scatter count, set color dynamics and other dynamics, and voila. those rocks are the best damn rocks i've ever painted, and i think i really have a method now! yay! plus corey paints this awesome mossy rock for the girl to lean on.

i started tightening the scene at this piont, adding in some darker shadows to the dragon and the girl, and using some reference i repainted the guy. corey had sent this back with his arms painted with the same anatomy problems, so i decided to find ref for it. bad ref, guys make sure you give alot of conscious thought while you use ref so it doesn't lead you into making dumb mistakes. as blond points out here, his shoulders are much too high, and his left elbow is HUGE. but at this point i'm satisfied, third time his arms are painted, and i send it back. i mention to corey that he should give that waterfall a go, being he's done a really cool one in the past.

so i get back streamy soft waterfall painted, and girls outfit painted. i then add a bit of a shallow pool and some specular highlights to make things seem a bit mroe wet. blond actually takes this moment to make a joke now "so whats the story on this, police woman finds some ruins?" so i decided, what would it look like if she had a more jungle explorer khaki colored shirt? after doing that i noticed the guys loincloth thing really needs to be a different color, so i change it to a slate grey and bam, the whole thing harmonizes and fits. blue and purple are colors reserved for the tribal couple and that makes sense in itself.
i then paint in the other side of the background, and work a bit on corey's idea of volumetric lighting. he also had the idea of putting a rainbow into the mist of the waterfall, although i had to take what he did and make it more subtle. i also decide due to blond's nagging (kidding,male muscle anatomy seems to be his specialty) i decided to repaint the guy's arms for a 4th and final time. i set blond out to find me a good ref, so he did. corey finishes the boars head in the waterfall too.


so i add some more details to the girl's clothes and at this point i'm thinking it's done. i email corey and ask him if he's done too, and he says he is. so i then do a bit of post work that i do on my paintings.

i use filters to sharpen up things just a tad and bring out the details more, and also use some color adjustment layers to harmonize things a bit more and make it seem more real. this bottom screencap here is a bit cropped, if you want you can see the full image here [link]

hope you enjoy
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Comments: 113

WhiteHowler7 In reply to ??? [2009-04-06 10:56:46 +0000 UTC]

if you're going to critique, learn to do it properly.

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CassandraJames [2009-04-06 00:38:47 +0000 UTC]

Seeing the details grow as this image comes to life from panel to panel is amazing!

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Snowslasher In reply to ??? [2009-04-05 20:10:27 +0000 UTC]

Wow, seeing that process was really neat, thanks for posting it.

Steps 3=> 4, where the circles get turned into the tree, is particularly fascinating(to me, at least).

With the people, they go from grey to semi-colored to fapworthy in color and its amazing, but almost beyond comprehension. The tree and background, though, are really neat as they become defined and shifts shades. The whole process is almost like the turning of the seasons, starting barren, then sprouting leaves, turning green, and becoming luscious.

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Magicduck [2009-04-05 19:27:43 +0000 UTC]

Were you listening to Jimmy Buffets' "Cheeseburger in Paradise" when you were adding dialogue to the dragon? Because that is very much what came to mind. I really enjoyed seeing the process that you went though with this, and I appreciated the verbal breakdown of the collaborative process. Very illuminating!

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ashigaru [2009-04-05 16:17:47 +0000 UTC]

Thank you, Nei. That was a feast for the eyes and the mind and the imagination!

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Daisku [2009-04-05 15:35:55 +0000 UTC]

Really awesome!!

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BaadKarmah [2009-04-05 15:25:27 +0000 UTC]

Simply amazing to see the process. Magical, in fact.

Nicely done!

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Pericles [2009-04-05 14:58:19 +0000 UTC]

Very-very interesting!

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xoxotamxoxo [2009-04-05 14:45:31 +0000 UTC]

I love the way you colour the light on the water and the background trees with the little purple flowers...just stunning!!!

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Aerozopher [2009-04-05 13:48:29 +0000 UTC]

doesnt explain anything

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WhiteHowler7 In reply to Aerozopher [2009-04-05 16:54:28 +0000 UTC]

just because you didn't get it dopesn't mean it didn't explain anything. it explains alot, it explains who did what and why, it's not a tutorial.

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Aerozopher In reply to WhiteHowler7 [2009-04-05 17:35:36 +0000 UTC]

ok if it's absolutely not a tutorial or should be one, then it's ok, cause there are no painting-wips / shadingsteps

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WhiteHowler7 In reply to Aerozopher [2009-04-06 04:02:12 +0000 UTC]

haha sorry, a picture always has to be made with a tutorial in mind of that is the outcome. i prefer video tutorials though to ones that look like this.

in fact i'm fairly certain one of the first things i said was "this is not a tutorial"

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Aerozopher In reply to WhiteHowler7 [2009-04-06 10:25:35 +0000 UTC]

well ok..

i am only interested how you've worked every person and creature

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Otyugh In reply to Aerozopher [2009-04-05 13:56:47 +0000 UTC]

Flagged as Spam

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Aerozopher In reply to Otyugh [2009-04-05 14:49:55 +0000 UTC]

-.-

man there are no colouring progress pics ok?

reading doesnt help in this case

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jomarvirg [2009-04-05 13:20:59 +0000 UTC]

Thanks for the tutorial, very nice.

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Ossian77 [2009-04-05 09:36:37 +0000 UTC]

Wonderful! I am shocked by the evolution of a sketch into a living drawing. Between steps 7 and 8 there is (to my untrained eye) a bit of a gap. Like, step 7 is still taking shape and step 8 is full of fabulous shades and lights. Doesn't matter, I' ll never be able to do even step 1, and the end result is awesome anyway.

M.

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Pathard In reply to Ossian77 [2009-04-05 13:19:54 +0000 UTC]

If you looks very closely at step 7, the uncolored areas are outlined very lightly. They're just waiting to be filled in.

And yeah, awesome job!

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Ossian77 In reply to Pathard [2009-04-05 13:33:15 +0000 UTC]

WOW! Sharp eyes.... That had totally escaped me...

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Pathard In reply to Ossian77 [2009-04-05 13:39:02 +0000 UTC]

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SchattenLotus [2009-04-05 08:57:38 +0000 UTC]

Very cool, excellent Effort and Work :3

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Naga26 [2009-04-05 08:24:29 +0000 UTC]

now that's step by step explain the whole magic behind your pics.
No problem now, to start drawing like Baka...

^^

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AenTheArtist [2009-04-05 07:50:14 +0000 UTC]

I always love seeing these. It makes one appreciate the final product even more. Just by studying it you get a slight peek into the artists' minds.

I specially like the final steps, the lighting and etc.

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AenTheArtist In reply to ??? [2009-04-05 07:50:01 +0000 UTC]

I always love seeing these. It makes one appreciate the final product even more. Just by studying it you get a slight peek into the artists' minds.

I specially like the final steps, the lighting and etc.

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gWebber [2009-04-05 06:05:10 +0000 UTC]

Critique .. ok, first off I'm nOT saying I could do better ..in fact I often run into the same problem areas.

Second, given the shear volume of work on this the number of areas I think have issues are pretty small.

1. The girls face coloring doesnt quite seem to match her bodies coloring, seems a bit darker.

2. Her out streached hand again seems a diffrent coloring than her forarm and a little more refind detail might have been nice. As it stands for some reason my eye goes right to that hand and it just feels off.

3. Dragons chest area doesn't seem dark enough.

4. Draping of man's loin cloth flows the wrong way, it also feels lit it follows the womans shoulder line. There needs to be more depth of seperation between him and her ... deeper color on his loin cloth maybe.

Beyond that I think it's just a stunning peice of work and the problems are pretty minor.

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MelyssaThePunkRocker [2009-04-05 05:38:12 +0000 UTC]

The French fried pertaters part was epic.
Great work on this.

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AJthe90skid [2009-04-05 05:23:14 +0000 UTC]

Thanks for posting this, even though I don't really know why you did it. But thanks anyway - I'm sorry I don't have any critique, I just love it too much.

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somevelda In reply to ??? [2009-04-05 05:19:58 +0000 UTC]

I suddenly want French Fried Pertaters now.

Awesome job. n_n

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calgarc [2009-04-05 04:35:21 +0000 UTC]

awesome step by step. i love the lighting in this piece

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JamieFayX [2009-04-05 03:53:54 +0000 UTC]

wow

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Alex-the-Cat [2009-04-05 03:42:54 +0000 UTC]

Um, pardon my brashness, but why does the lady have super transparent loins while the man does not? It breaks the theme of them sharing their 'sect' or whatever.

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WhiteHowler7 In reply to Alex-the-Cat [2009-04-05 04:01:26 +0000 UTC]

because his is a different color and material, i thought that was obvious

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G0dzirra In reply to ??? [2009-04-05 03:41:46 +0000 UTC]

Thats fantastic....
Always good to see how a piece like this comes together....
wow!

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Shimmering-Sword [2009-04-05 03:40:42 +0000 UTC]

Is it just me, or does the new critique system seem to go in the wrong direction. Like showing it to all your watchers, thats whack. Crits should be personal and some times need to be on the down-low.
I decided to fore go turning it on for my devs, and by the looks of the submission system, it makes me not want to write them either.

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WhiteHowler7 In reply to Shimmering-Sword [2009-04-05 04:00:34 +0000 UTC]

well it's not a big deal really, you can view the faq about it.

if you dont find it fair, you could always click unfair and it wont be shown. or even if you do find it fair, if you dont want it too public you could uncheck unfair. not sure, but i'm putting myself into the spotlight with my personal works, because discouraging comments or crits on my published stuff has made people think i'm full of myself because they dont understand why.

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chesney [2009-04-05 03:13:31 +0000 UTC]

The background is just amazing. Showing a step-by-step really helps the viewer appreciate just how much goes into a piece, and helps highlight things you might miss just looking at the finished piece alone.

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RodVill In reply to ??? [2009-04-05 03:13:12 +0000 UTC]

I have not critiques in this one, just my congratulations for your amazing wirk!!!

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CoreyByas In reply to ??? [2009-04-05 03:04:58 +0000 UTC]

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AndySerrano In reply to ??? [2009-04-05 03:03:50 +0000 UTC]

Impressive. I really appreciate seeing all the steps.

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sketchartist76 In reply to ??? [2009-04-05 02:41:59 +0000 UTC]

O_O That's how you do that? Damn...that's where I went wrong..I'm still using crayons

And who knew fantasy land had Mikey D's.

Psst.....you did do a kickass job girl

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embieria [2009-04-05 02:20:44 +0000 UTC]

As cool as the three people are - I think the dragon and the f-ing background in this are amazing! I mean.. look at the foliage, the moss! AMAZING

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LordMunchkin [2009-04-05 02:18:07 +0000 UTC]

So beautiful.... who says a grown man can' cry?

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Amilee [2009-04-05 02:12:08 +0000 UTC]

That's how you do extreme highlights! Might not be a tutorial but I can still learn tons from this! ooo water effects too. I LOVE YOU!

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WhiteHowler7 In reply to Amilee [2009-04-05 02:32:28 +0000 UTC]

thats cool

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ChAoTh [2009-04-05 01:57:20 +0000 UTC]

Quite intresting!^^
Thanx for showing!

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BreakingOnion [2009-04-05 01:51:34 +0000 UTC]

OMFG my brain hurts with so much detail. I'm so glad you get paid to do that. Collaboration...I'm assuming the giant jump in the background--from sketchy to WTF just happened--was not you. LOVELY characters. Love the glowy. XD

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WhiteHowler7 In reply to BreakingOnion [2009-04-05 02:32:05 +0000 UTC]

actually i did the vast majority of the background work.

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BreakingOnion In reply to WhiteHowler7 [2009-04-05 03:28:25 +0000 UTC]

Well damn you made headway then from one frame to the next. XD

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WhiteHowler7 In reply to BreakingOnion [2009-04-05 04:02:04 +0000 UTC]

yeah like i mentioned in the description, i spent a few hours on one corner of the canvas on that one step so it really jumps in matters of progress.

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