Forest Process

Go back and then forward to see my process! I loved how the plants and forest turned out, this was a very informative illustration for me!

I used gradient maps as I went along! I switched between csp and procreate too. Like I didn’t know I could switch so much?? I used Procreate for textures and csp to paint and do the gradient maps.

At the start of each illustration, 80% of the time I never know how it’s going to look like at the end. And this was just another one where I just experimented as I went along. Sometimes when I do paintings, I just go and go till I reach a point where I go OH THIS IS IT! And until I reach that point, I just… keep working on it. If I feel like I’ll never reach that point, that’s when I’ll scrap it or just go back a couple steps and see what I can do.

I always recommend to take things one step at a time. From the sketch to final I’m always thinking about where I can go next. Okay after each stage what can I do to make this either less ugly or really beautiful. Do I add another gradient map and see what colors I can get or do I keep rendering. How much trees should I add? My brain is usually always working at each beginning of a step. And then I just go on autopilot and see what my hands make next. This way I keep things fun for myself!

After i hit a stage, I tried more gradient maps and they weren’t working out, that’s when I knew it was time to let the gradient maps go and just go with the flow. Then after I added some trees, the more I added the off it felt, I had to go back to the very sweet spot I achieved earlier. Always be asking yourself, does this work? And make sure your layers are good and tidy so if you change your mind you can always go back.

The slanty trees were so not working for me so you see at the end I change it. Don’t be afraid to change your original concept a little if it’s just not working out. You can just make another piece of art and try again. I’ll try another art with the slanty trees next time. And there’ll always be a next time no worries there! I also left out the character too, it just didn’t feel right!

I wanted to give a little insight to this piece so I hope this helped someone! I love ranting about my process so I hope to do more!