Ark - In Solitude
An illustration which saw a developmental process from thumbnailing to the final render. Making use of digital painting techniques, this project aimed to apply what I've learnt to tell Ark's story - an original character of my own.
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Download the artbook for this illustration below, or scroll further to learn more about this project.
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Programs used:
- Clip Studio Paint EX (rendering)
- Photoshop (final touchup)
Thumbnailing and Ideation
When creating the thumbnails, I thought about not just the composition of the image using the rule of thirds and golden ratio, but also potentially what story or aspect of Ark's personality I can convey. The character design also allowed me to experiment with more creative poses and compositions thanks to the existence of their wings.
After consulting feedback from friends, family, as well as the lecturers, I opted to develop the thumbnails further by combining [3], my personal favourite, and [6], which was the most favored option.
When thinking about how to go about combining the thumbnails, I considered the aspects that made them work, as well as what made them appealing at first glance.
Further Development
In the end, I thought that option [B] might be nice to go with, and adjusted it further to work on.
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However, it experienced something of a troubled development, as I faced a mental block where I couldn't quite get it to look how I envisioned.
Rendering Process
Facing this issue, I ultimately decided to bite the bullet and try again from a different perspectvive - creating yet another thumbnail and sketching over it this time. This ended up becoming the right decision despite my fears then, and I was far more comfortable with this new composition and pose compared to the previous one. Thus, this became the final base for the illustration.
I followed my usual workflow of tackling this illustration section by section, working with areas I was more familiar with first and leaving the harder ones for later. This is something of a base render, as it only uses their base colors without taking into account the environment and ambience I had planned.
The entire illustration can be thought of as divided into three main areas: the character themselves, the pillar/ledge they are sitting on, and the background in the distance behind them.
Thinking of the painting this way allowed me to break it down into sections that are easier to tackle individually.
This was the part where I finally adjusted Ark’s colors to fit the background. As I’ve always found it difficult to visualize how colors might look in certain environments/settings from the get-go, this is the method I often use: by painting the base colors first, before adjusting them to fit into the background. I also adjusted the size to make the composition clearer, which was only possible as I had painted them on a separate layer.
Final Touches
To give the final illustration the final polish that completes the painting, I did one final round of adjustments and layers effects in order to create the vibe that I’d intended from the start.
With all that done, we arrive at the final completed illustration.
Final Illustration Process
With references for different areas - such as application of materials and design of the background, the creation of this illustration was a full process even from the very beginning of the thumbnailing stage.
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While I faced challenges along the way, including the need to make a difficult decision and return to the drawing board, this completed illustration is an application of what digital painting and composition techniques I've learnt.
