Learn Depth of Details to Create Mystical Environment!

Freelance Illustrator and Concept Artist, Ranjeet Singh, tries to depict magnification and perspective through his fantasy digital painting of a huge bull and a tiny wizard amidst a majestic and mystical environment. He emphasises on paying specific attention to the details of lighting, depth, tone and the likes, so as to achieve the conceived visuals.

Paying enough attention to detail is what it mostly takes to transmit the desired effect onto a canvas. Ranjeet Singh expresses and displays how the characters and surrounding elements in a visual come together and interact with each other, providing meaningful context to an illustration when aspects such as contrast, detail, light and tone of colour are effectively managed to create balanced imagery.

Step 1

To begin with, the white canvas was dyed blue to give it a feel of gradient. Using a brush, a sketch of the subject was then made to have a blueprint of the imagery. For sketching and painting, Adobe Photoshop was used with Wacom Intuos and different custom-made brushes.

Step 2

The next step was to paint the clouds and fog in the background, elements that were key and essential to determining the context of the overall imagery. At the same time, it was also necessary to lay a basic tone in the characters, thereby merging and maintaining a balance between the different layers.

Step 3

The next step in line, vitally, was to give a dark tone and a somewhat blue light to showcase and highlight the details in muscle. Details like these in the character, and some patches in foreground too, contributed to creating the desired effect and visual experience through the setting and the subject. It goes on to add the much-desired depth and substance to the picture.

Step 4

As the light source was chosen to be shown from the top, lighter toned colours were used on the character. This was followed by blending those layers to create a uniformly balanced effect and set the overall graphic tone and feel of the visual.

Step 5

While detailing further, the niceties of the characters were highlighted additionally by providing more of light and dark coloured patches. They were particularly highlighted by giving yellow and white light patches, before accumulating more patches onto the foreground with custom made brushes.

Step 6

Closer to the final stage, further touch-work was done upon the details, trying to enhance and better view and effect. For example, the foreground was painted to be denser or deeper, and a light blue fog effect was added to create an appealing contrast.

Step 7

The final step was to add some more sharpness to the final digital painting. This gave the much-needed touch of finesse to the image, providing it with depth of detail and a realistic feel.