Thursday 30 December 2010

Photoshop Festivities - Angels in Attics


I am fairly new to photoshop, and for a country bumpkin like me, its all rather baffling - give me a pencil, paintbrush and paper any day! Not all these buttons and clicking, and layers and opacity...god i sound like an old woman!
But as i posted a while back, i have tried out my hand with it before, with my superhero (who I have since realized does bare an uncannily resemblance to Abe from Hellboy, unintentionally i promise!) I was pleased with my painting then, and it does take time and LOTS of layers...its mostly the backgrounds i still struggle with, so i combined my layout practise with photoshop this time to try and come anywhere near to the wonderful works of John Foster :) I strongly recommend his work to anyone who is searching for photoshop inspiration, they are wonderfully realistic, yet have that whimsical charm that only cartoons can explore and capture. Here's his website, take a peek. The amount of pictures he has done on there that capture an essence of characters i want to create, makes me long to one day have him illustrate one of my novels. that would be something!
Anyway, heres my attempt. This is Rupert, The Enchantress' familiar from my trilogy, Morgan. Under the Enchantress' help, in Book 2 he takes this semi-human guise, accidently persuading a tribe of people that he is an Angel. So is this picture titled, 'The Angel's Folly' - here, the hero, Morgan, looks into the rafters of a church to survey his friend: the doves that flutter around him represent what the people believe he is, yet also his true identity. The light of a candle on him, yet also the moonlight, allows his face to be seen in the dark in two ways - he resembles an angle, yet evidently, is not an angel at all.
I still dislike the light however: I think its all a bit too dark. Maybe ill post another version when its a bit brighter :) Constructive tips and hints will be gratefully received!!
Happy new year everyone!

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