Inchelina Continued

I am continuing with my work on my second illustration, Inchelina

Reeds

To make the water reeds, I am using the technique I used previously to create the seaweed in the Little Mermaid. This involves using the brush tool and some textures to create depth and shape.

Flower

I have been planning to create a fully digitally painted flower for the foreground. This begins with creating paths to the shape of each petal, selecting that shape and swatching a variety of colours from the original. These colours then merge together in the new version to create shadows and highlights in a cleaner version of the image. However, I have realised that to get this to the high standard that it needs to be, it will take a lot of time, and time is becoming an issue in this project. So I have chosen a different route to improving the original image.

An important part of the flower that needs cleaning up is the petal tip that can be seen in the lower right corner. It is important that I remove this because it ruins the illusion I am trying to make that the viewer is standing in the centre of the flower. Therefore, I have used the Clone tool to paint over this defect. I have then increased the brightness and sharpness to create a glowing effect due to the brightness of the white.

Ripples

I have realised that the water reeds could sit better within the scene with the addition of ripples to the bottom of the stalks. I have done this with Filters>Distort>Twirl to create a vortex. I then altered the perspective and experimented with effects and the eraser until they looked appropriate. I like the final outcome of this experimentation; however, they are quite small and will likely get lost in the piece as a whole.

Complete with Ripples

Return to Main Flower

I have realised that the petals of the flower are quite blank and I feel that if a flower was this size it would have more detail. So, I am using Filter>Render>DifferenceClouds to create the effect of veins running through the petal, as they would a real flower or leaf. I was hoping to apply a slightly pink hue, but all attempts at this were unsuccessful.

Other Flowers

In my composition, I have added flowers in various places across the river. This will show the idea of a field of water lilies, as well as help to demonstrate the effects of perspective. I have used the Pen tool to select flowers that are appropriate. Unfortunately, these images had several insects and imperfections on the stems and petals. These made the flowers look slightly ugly. Although this could be used to symbolise some of the nastier character in the narrative, I want to remove these as they initially spoil to image. Therefore, I applied the Clone tool to clear up the imperfections.

Lily Pads

I have decided against using my painted version of a lily pad, as it didn't fit in with the rest of the composition. Unfortunately, so far all of the lily pads in my mock-up are the same one repeated several times. This is quite obvious and so I want to find another pad that is different to the original one; this way the composition has a better balance and a range of shapes and colours. The new one will work well as the main pad, but it looked quite bright compared to the other. So I have taken some colour samples and created a low-opacity layer to help the new pad blend in. I have now repeated this and used it other parts of the composition as well as the original one.
I am pleased with how this image is developing. The illusion of perspective is improving, as is the sense of realism.

Bed

As I have been unable to gain access to a whole walnut shell, I have used a photo from my earlier research that demonstrates the exact idea I was hoping to create. Obviously I can't just use this image, so I have applied my digital painting skills to recreating my own version. Using the Pen tool, I created a linear version of the photo and altered the shape to suite perspective and surrounding objects. I have been able to create the effect of wood using some simple filters. I began with the intent of creating the grooves seen on the outside of walnut shells; however, this proved difficult and unrealistic.

So I changed tack and began using shades of grey to create a fully shadows version. I then layer this below the wood layer and altered various sections to suite lighting and add more appropriate textures.

Complete Walnut Bed

I was beginning to worry when I would get the bed competed, as I didn't have much to start with or a good plan to create it. Due to this, I am very pleased with the outcome and happy to have that section of my image complete, as it is a very important part of the composition. Now that this is complete, I can soon start working on making each element interact with each other.

Rose Petal

In the story Inchelina uses a rose petal as her bed sheet, so I am creating a pink petal to cover the inside of the bed. I used a rough gradient tool to create streaks of highlights underneath the pink and added shadows around the edge to create a sense of depth.

Pillow

As this is a bed, I have added a pillow underneath the petal-sheet. I think this confirms the idea that it is a bed.

As each of the elements is in place, I now need to work on shadows and highlights to help place the objects within the scene and around each other.