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midnightsilver · 2 months ago

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How I Create my Art Compositions 🎨😄. Process under cut👇

Today I decided I wanted to draw an Octopus!Cas and I thought I’d make a post talking through how I put together a composition and get to a good draft stage ready for detailed painting.

All artists have their own way of doing things, so this isn’t the only way to do it! It’s just my way 😄 and maybe there will be something helpful here. (We are all learning from each other all the time. 👍😄)

So step 1. I needed some octopus references so I googled ‘octopus photos’. These were some of my favourite ones.

I’ve marked in green the dynamic flows of the pictures. I choose these because all of them have the tentacles framing the figure in a pleasing way and they draw the eye of the viewer into the centre of the picture.

In the end I choose the last image to use as my art reference (I was very tempted by the first one, it’s very dynamic, has loads of movement and drama and is a nice close up offering opportunity for great detail work, but the flow of the tentacles was a bit messy and the final picture gave me better vibes.)

This reference 👆 has great lines of flow (again drawn in green) and it would frame a central Cas figure nicely. I also like the way we are viewing it from below - a raised figure gives a sense of power and command. Plus when it’s lit from above there are lots of great opportunities to play with light and shadows contrasting between the above and below.

Step 2, I needed a reference for the Cas body. I could have searched male nude reference photos but I’m quite partial to classical Greek statues which gives a similar anatomical reference. So I googled ‘classical angle statues’. And these were some of my favourite results:

Again I’ve marked in green the dynamic flow. I was mostly concentrating on the images from the waist up (because octo Cas won’t have legs) but I still wanted lines of flow that would converge down to the waist (before spreading out into the tentacles.) I decided to go with the last image as a reference.

This statue is in contapposto pose (raised shoulder contrasts the dipped hip) it’s a classic hero pose in Ancient Greek art (think Michelangelo’s statue of David) it shows relaxed confidence but at the same time a readiness to move into action. And combined with a spear that invoked the idea of a trident, and a drape of flowing robes - this one was giving me all the vibes I needed.

step 3 I needed a Cas reference. When you want to superimpose the head of a specific character onto a pre-existing reference shape it’s very important that you match the existing planar angles. Copying a character’s head reference without matching the plains of alignment to your body reference will give a very disjointed unnatural feeling. So here I needed Cas references that matched my angel statue reference. So that’s a 3/4 profile, only one ear visible but 2 full eyes. Viewed from slightly below so that we see a little of the bottom of the chin and slightly up the nostrils. Below were the options I found.

And despite what I said about carefully matching the existing reference I choose again to go with the last image here.

The head is still in 3/4 profile in the same plain but I was really struck by the vibes from a bowed head and lowered gaze. Normally a hero looks off to the horizon (implies having great plans, great purposes etc) but a lowered gaze gives uncertainty and isolation which I think adds nice complexity to a Cas composition. It could also indicate an enemy threat from blow off screen which again adds depth to what might be going on in the art piece. But to use the lowered head I would need to adjust the position of the head in relation to the chest and shoulder (drop the chin low not keep it floating high on the neck) and to do that I would need to test and adjust my sketch as I went in order to make sure I didn’t get the weird dislocated head effect 😁

step 4 was making a Frankenstein-reference 🧟‍♂️. I grab all the references images I have chosen and I lay them on top of each other to get a feel of what they will look like together.

And if you squint and use your imagination you should now be able to see the end result. It seems like it will work to me, so using my frankenreference as a guide I start sketching.

This sketch a good start but the composition is too flat for me. I’ve drawn the main flow lines on in green. It’s okay but I find it boring. I want to frame the image more and add more lines of movement that draw in the eyes of the viewer and lead them on a journey 👀

I start by extending a tentacle, but it’s not enough. I need more! 😁 I bring more tentacles out and raise the spear and change it to an 45° anngle and finally I get a composition that speaks to me. (Compositions are a personal choice when it comes to art but thinking about where a viewers eyes might start and what part of the image they will next be drawn to, can help you as an artist decide what parts of the art to emphasis and what messages a viewer might get from your choices.)

step 5 is to reduce the opacity of my initial sketch and to start drawing a neat version on a clean top layer.

As I draw I refer back to my individual references for any details I want to capture. And every so often I turn off my messy sketch layer and zoom out so I can get a clear view of how the neat draft is shaping up.

(I know I said this was the ‘neat’ version but if I try and do clean line work I will be here till Christmas! I’m going to be painting over my sketch when I do my top coat paint later, so this is as neat as my ‘neat’ version needs to be.) (if you are an illustrator not a painter, you spend longer doing the neat line work, but probably less time than me doing the colouring and texture work.👍😊)

At this point I decided I wanted just a little bit more (lol for me, more is more! 😂). I made octo cas a squid hybrid because I wanted to add some shape to the end of his tentacles. And then I added a cloak floating in the water behind him. (Echoes the hero’s cape and angel wings) - I really liked the lines of flow this final composition gave:

but even for me the robes might be too much. To counteract this I will make them a sheer gossamer material. It should add an ethereal vibe without overwhelming the image. So next I added my base block colours but set the floating robes on their own layer and set them to low opacity.

And there we have it, a good draft stage. This took me about an hour of faffing about with google searches and about 40mins of drawing (mostly because I was testing and adjusting the composition as I went along. If I’m drafting a composition that very closely matches a reference picture then it’s much quicker to draw.)

From this stage I know I’m happy with the composition and individual picture elements, so all I have to do is settle down and paint the details on top of the base. (Clipping layers are awesome when you have a good base. They stop you colouring outside the lines so you can just relax and concentrate on colours and textures 😁.)

But that is for another day! I’ll let you know how I get on 👍 Anyway I hope you have enjoyed seeing how I put together my art ideas. And maybe it gave you some inspiration for setting up your own compositions. Or maybe you have a totally different way of composing your art! But however you are doing it, I wish you very happy Arting my friends! Y’all Stay Awesome 👋😄

-Midnight

#supernatural #Spn fanart #midnightsilver #Wip #castiel #octo!cas #Artists processes

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theaftersundown · 4 months ago

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*writes two paragraphs after months of literally nothing and it took three hours*