Walking through the forest (Finished illustration)
by matt
This is the finished illustration. Here are a few notes on how I shade my illustrations.
Shading is the most fun out of all the steps. It adds instant depth and helps cover up (or at least mitigate) flaws in the illustration. I also have a lot of fun playing with light and shadow.
Brush
I use a default dry-brush in Photoshop for all the Ojingogo shading. With the “shape dynamics” turned off! It becomes a smudgier mess with the shape dynamics on. If I want to shape the brush stroke, I’ll just hop over to the Eraser tool and cut away.
I’ve been meaning to make my own Photoshop brush for Ojingogo for years. But now I’m too deep into the book to switch. It would just look inconsistent. Or perhaps not. Maybe I’ll give it a shot.
I can already see a few changes I’ll make. For instance, the border on the right is too straight-edged and boring.
Composition
Without thinking too much about it, I was going for a triangular composition on this image. With the bird at the top vertex of the triangle, the grass around the stone at the left vertex, and the grass around his feet at the right vertex. Not very successful. I should have rendered more in the ink stage if I wanted to bring this out more.
But still a fun illustration, I think.
Comments
The shading does a lot for this, I can see what you’re saying about the straight border but I didn’t notice it at first. I tend to focus on little flaws in my own work that other people don’t care about or notice too, but I guess the perfectionist tendency pushes us to be our best.
I’s always very cool to see the different steps toward a finished illustration. The addition of shadows really brings this piece to life. Nice one.
Thanks, guys!