Mock Up Creation - Inchelina; Thu 12th May

I have begun work on the mock up of my first image, Inchelina.

After applying my design drawing as the bottom layer, I was able to start piecing together my image using a combination of photographs and rough digital painting. The first area I wanted to work on was the flower in the foreground. I want to create the impression that the audience has a viewpoint from inside the flower; however, the images I have of water lilies were taken from above, as I couldn't get into the water to get closer to the flowers. Therefore, it might be difficult to find an image with the right angle to create this impression. I will experiment with this a little later on. I then selected some lily pads and flowers and drew in reeds, the walnut shell bed and a water effect background.

Using my design as a base, I drew in the layer of mud/earth, toadstools and some grass. The grass was made by creating a small section with different blades in a variety of shades and duplicating it at different scales and flipping it occasionally. I have suggested the depth I want to create in the grass by reducing the saturation of the grass sections in the background. I am quite pleased with my image at this stage; I realise it could take quite a lot of time and concentration to build up the level of realism I am hoping to create.

At this stage, I added some shadows to the objects on the stream. These look at little strange for now, but in the final image I will create some reflections and more realistic shadows. I will also create a better sense of movement in the water.

Now that the image is mostly complete, I felt I should return to the first piece I added; the flower. I realise that the photo I initially used doesn't have the right angle, and so I began looking through the rest of my photo stock and found a few other options; above. I think some of these images are much more appropriate for the effect I want to create. The best of these are the middle two, although the centre-right one has a large petal which might be better shortened.

Now that this image is complete, I feel confident in my photo editing skills to successfully complete the task I have set myself. I look forward to creating my other images in this way. Although these images are quite rough, they help me to realise which areas will need more work or more research in order to be completed to the standard I require.