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Setting Up the Digital Canvas

I extended my original acrylic painting to a 16x9 cinematic ratio. To do this, I separated the painting into layers: foreground, middle ground, water, and sky. Then I masked and extended each part to fit the new canvas.

When choosing brushes, I looked for ones with tooth that mimic the acrylic texture I laid down traditionally. Digital paintings can look too slick, so I use dry brushes or oil brushes to match that traditional feel.

Composition and Perspective

I placed the bird on the rule of thirds. This means dividing the canvas into three parts vertically and horizontally. Where these lines meet is where I positioned the bird. Don't be afraid to draw over your piece on a new layer to check if the composition still works.

All the lines in the scene should point back to your main idea. In this case, everything leads to the bird and its relationship with the old mech in this overgrown forest.

I added grids to determine the perspective. When a scene feels epic, you push the camera distortion. Since this piece is more serene with some adventure, I used a moderate push.

Building the Environment

I changed the forest setting to a cave with an opening that lets in sunshine. This creates a more closed-off space that feels like only animals can reach it. The story evolved as I painted. Perhaps this was a time traveler who landed here long ago. The bird is now the sole witness to whoever was here and is no longer here. There's discovery mixed with melancholy.

Value and temperature are key for depth. Objects closer to the camera are darker and warmer. Objects farther away are lighter and cooler. I used hue and saturation adjustment layers to push and pull these values.

Working with Light

I used brushes that mimic how I scrubbed light with a paper towel in the original acrylic. I duplicated the left side of the mech, darkened it with a hue layer, then erased parts to reveal the lighter original layer underneath. This controls where light enters from the cave.

God rays come in with perspective. Light is never straight on. Something always sits between the light source and what it hits. I used the lasso tool to quickly block in light shapes, then added grain and texture back in afterward.

Light and Shadow Principles

If your light source is warm and yellowish, your shadows will be the opposite color on the color wheel. Cool blue fill lights can come from skylights or reflective surfaces like the gray mech bouncing light onto nearby grass.

Reflections in Water

Keep reflections simple. Don't just duplicate and mirror objects. That looks too perfect and uncanny. Instead, consider the water color itself, which influences the reflection color.

Objects farther from camera show more of their full reflection. Objects close to camera get distorted, and you see more of the bottom of the water body.

Details and Scale

I work with large shapes, medium shapes, and small shapes. Big shapes point to the object of interest. Your smaller shapes and details should surround that area. Don't add small shapes everywhere. Be selective and focus them around your area of interest.

Objects closer to us appear darker. Objects farther away are lighter. I pushed values back and forth, darkening rocks near us and keeping background rocks closer in value to push them into space.

Painting Rocks and Forms

Think of rocks as boxes with different plane changes. Whatever faces the light is lighter and closer to the light's color. As planes turn away, they get about 30% darker in value. Some rocks catch highlights because their material bounces light differently.

Designing the Mech

The mech uses circular shape language. I repeat these shapes throughout the design. Man-made objects should contrast with organic cave and tree shapes. They're more precise with straighter ovals.

I drew inspiration from dieselpunk aesthetics, like 1940s submarines and gadgets. The mech has wires, pipes, rivets, and echoes that oval shape language throughout.

Where pipes meet branches, I focused on how nature overtakes man-made objects. Eventually, you can't tell the difference anymore. This is the core theme: the bird is the sole witness watching this old thing get reclaimed by nature.

Technical Approach

I used the lasso tool for precise man-made shapes, but broke up those perfect edges with texture brushes. To create depth with ovals, duplicate them and shift the distance to show the perspective of their sides.

Lazy Nezumi helped with perspective and ovals in perspective for man-made elements. Once you have a shape, lock the transparency and paint within it. The distort tool is invaluable for fixing perspective or strengthening designs.

Painting in Light or Shadow

Decide if your painting is about areas in the light or the shadow. This painting focuses on things hidden in shadows. The god rays are graphic and simple, but the interesting details live in the shadow areas. I added cool fill lights and details where they need to be seen.

Final Adjustments

Small details ground the piece in scale. We know how thick branches are, which tells us how big the mech is. These details also lead the eye back to the bird.

I collapsed layers and used a smudge brush to marry edges together. When objects bleed into one another without core or cast shadows, those areas can blend. This prevents the cutout feeling of digital layers.

Use adjustment layers like overlay, color dodge, and screen to marry everything together. Add contrast and bloom that naturally happens when we see sunshine.

Make sure your whole canvas is "touched with love." This doesn't mean detailing everything. It means you decided what each area needs and what supports the story and design.