The Fallen...

Hi everyone! Well, I'm back at it with another art breakdown (full image below). I've been working on this one for a bit and I think I finally have it to where I like it. I call the piece, "The Fallen..." A scene created with highlights and shadows to convey a dark mood. As I was thinking of how to go about creating the project, I started to write a few lines down to describe what I would be making. I'm a writer too (of sorts), so I tend to need a story to go with what I create. As I wrote, this came out...

"No need to mourn the fallen, my son,
for all their battles are finally done.
Better to look towards the gods and roar,
demanding peace and an end to this war."

And then the image followed....

Like I do with other images, I start with a character build and render within DAZ Studio.

I then take this simple template into an image editor (Pixelmator) and begin to ad the various colour tones, brushes, and details. I start by creating a black and white version with heavy contrast to develop a penciled or charcoal look. I then duplicate this layer and go full black with a blur effect to place under the character as a shadow that pops the image out from the background. Not too much, just enough to offset. Once done, I create a full background layer and start adding many other layers to it like blood, tattoos, clouds, birds, light beams, weeds, dust, and so on as I resize and adjust each one to the image while also playing with the ground textures.

I keep adding and adjusting the tones of the image and the layers that comprise it until I finally get the result I'm looking for. The total time from start to finish can vary. This piece was about 8 hours. And, here is the finished piece...

Well, there you have it, The Fallen... Hope you like the final image. If so, leave a comment, I'd love to hear what you think. Thanks for looking and have a great day!