BIG WIP

[braden H]

@inkandspatter

I drew the grids at full size, then shrank them down into a nice thumbnail size and copied them. This makes it so that once I blow up the thumbs and comp sketches they have the same ratios. I then saved the file as a template so I could just open it up whenever I want. This is all in Corel Painter, though.

I know you can put in guides and use rulers in photoshop. I suppose for Procreate you could create the file with the lines in photoshop then open it up in procreate.

[ArtofAleksey]

I would change the angle a little bit so that the shadow of the bird isn’t as flattened because we can’t see the face of the little human, and if reason is because the focus is the big birb, I wanna see more of the big birb.

[braden H]

@aleksey Thanks for the feedback

Angling the shadow a bit more would definitely be a solution. Maybe instead of a large swathe of trees it could be the angled side of a mountain. to better show the birdy.

[Nyrryl Cadiz]

At first, I thought that large shadow in the middle was a ridge of some sort. Now, I can definitely see that it’s the giant bird’s shadow. I’d love to see how you’ll flesh this out. Great job!

[ArtofAleksey]

@braden-hallett i like the trees. The shadow is more obvious. Perhaps switch the direction it’s facing? But try out what you think is bedt see what happens!

[braden H]

Value grouping and rough shading.

I think it reads clearer now, particularly with the floating feathers

[Erin.Cortese]

@braden-hallett Are you going to show any details of the bird peeking through, or shadow only?

[braden H]

@inkandspatter I'm gonna keep it as a shadow only, I think.

[Nyrryl Cadiz]

@braden-hallett this is way clearer. Great job!

[ArtofAleksey]

It’s clearer. What are those other shadows? The round ones.

[Nyrryl Cadiz]

I’m looking at it again and I thought to myself, “boy, if those feathers hit the ground, there’s going to be a huge crash!” That’s a great storytelling touch. No pun intended.

[Kat]

Nice! With the defined shape of the shadow, it's clear that they are all looking up at a huge bird. Is that a lake on the left, or more shadow? I probably can't tell just because it's a WIP and no color, so please excuse my idiocy

[Heather Boyd]

@braden-hallett

The feathers help as well as the beak in the shadow. Also the addition to the shadows on the mountains emphasises the mass size it really is. One point I have is that the shadows to your loose feathers seem out of proportion with how large they are in comparison with the bird itself. Wings are made up of many feathers. Do shadows get bigger or smaller to the ground? Also the feather in the middle seems much closer the than other and yet the shadows are in the same plane. I see it more forward as if the explorers could possibly catch it, but then you may have to play around with its size (closer to the explorer will be larger). Anyways it's working out well! Colours will bring in further direction of mood and atmosphere. Nice clouds!!!

[braden H]

@aleksey I'm hoping that soon they will read as cloud shadows Their outline will be a bit blurrier and I may change the shape of the clouds we can see to match the shadows (right now it's tough to connect the two)

[braden H]

@kat it's more shadow from the clouds above

[braden H]

@heather-boyd Thanks for the feedback

I think that shadows from the sun stay more or less the same size (since the sun is, well, super far away) but become a little bit more defined as they get closer to the ground. I'm planning on using a bit of atmospheric perspective to make sure the loose feathers read as far away. You're right, though, they are out of proportion for the size of the bird. I shall fiddle about with the sizing

[ArtofAleksey]

What if you put a big feather on the ground somewhere that can show us its size in relation to something. Also the birb shadow feels like it’s being cramped by the big shadow of the cloud on the left. Maybe making it a snall cloud shadow will help with both size and still have a cloud? What do you think?

[Kristin Wauson]

So cool! I love seeing your thumbnails and process. So glad it’s a tradition!

[braden H]

From rough values comes a kind of heat map/light map. I dunno if this step is necessary, but I find it sort of helps.

And then from there rough local colour and a bit of fiddling.

And from here on out the linework gets flattened I get to paint my heart out

[braden H]

@aleksey Thank you! Great suggestions I think I like the feathers in the air, though. We'll see! I may later on paint them out and put them on the ground somewhere.