Colors With every image I work on I try to ensure that I keep the color palette consistent from beginning to end. There is nothing more frustrating than refactoring an entire image with different color warmth when you’re not happy with how the image looks. As I mentioned before, I always start with colorful doodles to convince and commit myself to the idea that I decide to work on. With Barbarian Chick I wanted to go with warm bloody colors with a complementary blue tint for the background and highlights. I can’t count how many images I’ve scrapped and never got back to, just because the initial idea wasn’t really well thoughtout. Thankfully, Barbarian Chick was one of those strong ideas I found really easy to follow.
Details Once the idea is there, I start to examine the image briefly and try to figure out what kind of materials I will have to use to get all the details I want to achieve in the final image. For this particular image I knew I would need
Fig.03
to work with realistic looking materials, such as fur, skin and armor. From that point of view, I always go through all the pictures I’ve created so far, as well as my custom brushes and textures (Fig.02). If I can’t find a material there that I need, I either try to make it or use a good reference texture or image that will just make my life
Source: http://www.sxc.hu/photo/623967
http://www.nelshael.com
Fig.04
Source: http://www.sxc.hu/photo/406969
Fig.05
Fig.06
easier. I avoid detailing things pixel by pixel at all costs, as it just takes too much time and kills productivity. During the detail stage I also look at the bigger picture of the piece I’m working on. I try to figure out if there are any elements missing, or if adding something to the image will make it better or not. At this stage adding a dead body lying at the bottom of the composition was a nice addition to the beauty–gore mix (Fig.03). On Barbarian Chick herself, I used three reference images: fur (Fig.04), for defining the brush pattern and color ranges for the chick’s skirt and fur elements; leather armor (Fig.05 – 06), from which I cloned the leather pattern for the corset and straps; and pebbles (Fig.07), Source: CGTextures.com Fig.07
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Characters
using a photo texture from cgtextures.com to detail out