The Train of Infinite Dreams

aka...I'M NOT DEAD!!!

(but i'm close) 

happy monday (which is actually tuesday here)!! i really didn't think i'd make it in time to upload something but through sheer willpower i made it possible LOL

i mentioned last post that i was in the process of moving apartments, which was and still is the plan! but unfortunately plans have a very nasty habit of changing last minute, and i won't be able to move in until friday....even though pretty much everything i own is already packed....o(--( luckily i was stubborn and decided to keep all my computer stuff on hand so i could take extra special care of it during the move!! so i got that going for me!! in the meantime my setup looks as follows lol

NOT IDEAL....BUT IT'S SOMETHING...

anyway back to the GOOD STUFF: i showed off the first version of this pic awhile back but honestly?? i wasn't feeling it anymore. so with the newfound power i obtained from watching the kny movie (TWICE!!) i ended up scrapping it and redoing it from the beginning!! and i'm really glad i did because i really like how it came out! i think the composition is more cohesive and the color palette (which i was struggling a lot with in the last version) is more pleasing to the eye.

i'm gonna try breaking down my process a bit here so prepare for some next level rambling (and a longer than usual post haha):

i already had the composition in my brain so sketching was a breeze. it's not shown here, but originally i wanted to have trees and such around the train (with enmu behind them) to make it look closer to the source material and to give enmu more of a 'giant-y' feel. i scrapped that idea bc it ended up muddling the composition!! i switched it with some flowy smoke and had enmu kind of floating in the bg to give it more of a whimsical feel instead. i kind of wanted the capture the feeling like the train/train smoke is a dollhouse and we(the viewer)/enmu are 'looking in'...if that makes sense....?

(i heavily refd from what movie/manga scans i could find, in case you were thinking my train was impressive LOL)

for the train interior, i actually made a (very crude) 3d model in sketchup to work off of! 

it ended up being too short, but it was immensely helpful nonetheless, i HATE drawing interiors LOL

after everything was sketched out, i started playing with values. 

i don't usually go directly for values (i'm more of a 'headfirst into colors and then tweak it as i go' kind of person), but i knew this composition was gonna be a lot, and i really wanted to make sure it was as readable as possible. i think this was my second time working from grayscale (the first time was done for a pic you might see next week if i have time!!), and i gotta say: i see the appeal now!!! it was lots of fun and made coloring easy.

well....easiER. picking colors is still one of the more time consuming parts of making art (for me at least).  i had a general idea of what i wanted the colors to be, but the color comping stage was a lot of me applying different gradient maps to different sections and praying it was gonna look nice. i wanted the exterior to be dark with cool tones. dark because it's night (doiii) but cool colors to contrast with what's going on in the interior of the train. i purposefully made enmu almost fade into the bg to give off the impression that while not directly IN the train, he's still pulling the strings. and that he knows EXACTLY whats goin on in the inside (cause he is and he does).

having the interior be orange-y worked out for previously mentioned contrast reasons but also because i just like orange. it's a good color!! 

i like to view the colors for this pic as a single gradient. even the cool tones are a bit warmer, which unify the palette. it just flows nicely i think!!

after being satisfied with my palette, finishing the pic was pretty self explanatory. i try not to regard my color comps as super strict guidelines i HAVE to follow, but instead as nice suggestions or ideas. lots of times i feel like things could be more saturated, or i think a different color altogether might look nicer, or even throw on a nice gradient map at the end that could change the palette entirely!! so the final always varies, just a bit.

i think that's about it!! no magic, just a bunch of planning bc i get overwhelmed easily haha

i hope this was interesting!! the .PSD with all the layers, the hi-res, and timelapse are all below!

see you next week when i'm (hopefully) moved in haha,,,,,,ha ................. o(--(