Jagged Islands

Our heroes find themselves at the precipice of a jagged rocky scene. Our adventures through floating islands takes us through so many different types of climates. I've been playing with the idea that because of the mass of any floating island space the flora and fauna will create their own little micro climates and have lots of variance. I think this is my own subconscious way to study lots of different organic materials and foliage and it's working!

Part of the challenge in learning how to express different materials is the study phase and to be honest, I hate studying! I've seen lots of tutorials where the artist will paint a sphere and apply the new material to the sphere in order to study what makes up that look. I'm not knocking that approach, it makes sense and I think you can learn a lot by doing it that way. For me though I think I'm addicted to the freedom of thought I get when I'm deep into the painting. The world disappears around me and it's just me and the paint and the problem in front of me. Hours slip by and I am just fully immersed. So if I have to study, I guess I'd rather do it with a story instead of a sphere.

I had a blast in the first painting breaking the rocks up and tilting them to extreme angles!