sheya

Behind the scenes + process: A Thousand Winds

Added 2023-01-01 17:53:45 +0000 UTC

This post documents the process of a small study done at the end of the year.

Source of inspiration

Last summer, I took a trip to western Sichuan and took a lot of photos. I was impressed by the fluttering sutra streamers and the majestic mountains. This piece is a re-creation based on the photo on the right.

Color and atmosphere reference

I searched for color and atmosphere references based on the reference images. I wanted the shadows to be bluish overall, so I searched for impressionistic works with cooler tones.

Another painting I made earlier, "Mountains of Faith", was also placed below the reference images to serve as a primary color reference.

Sketching and coloring

Simple coloring based on the photo I shot.

I wanted a larger area of blue sky above the image to further accentuate the effect of the wind blowing. So I added fluttering sutra streamers and rearranged the proportions of the distant mountains to the sky.

This coloring did not use many special layers, so I used the automatic selection tool to fill in the colors directly.

(For a detailed text explanation of the application of the automatic selection, please click Behind the scenes + process: Different Seasons.

Establishing base colors and gradually adding in details

Following the referenced image for my base colors, I reached the first stage of color blocking.

Then, I removed the sketchy scribbled lines and started to add shades of red.

Color adjustment

According to the original photo, the clothing of the characters and the sutra streamers are mainly divided into two colors: yellow and blue. But the blues in the sky and the darker parts of the picture are closer in color, which makes the main object difficult to stand out. I started to replace parts of the blue with red, so as to form a stronger color contrast with the blue sky and green mountains. The new color reference is shown below.

Since the layers were merged in the previous stage (5-1), the color changes were added directly to the top of the new layer.

Final refinement and perfection

Finally, I have re-optimized some of the relationships in the image. I have given all the dark parts of the image an overall blue tone to integrate them in the overall layout better. The distant mountains and clouds were slightly darkened so that people could focus on the subject and not let the sky and clouds take over.

Import the existing image into the iPad’s filter software, Glaze, to get an image with textured oil brush strokes. Then, import the image back into Procreate and use the eraser to clean the center area up, leaving only the peripheral part of the image with oil brush strokes. (Layers 5-8)

(For a detailed text explanation of the application of the oil painting filter Glaze, please click the process tutorial of Early Spring & Summer)