blog / Case Study: The Lion
Started working on the background, I thought It would be nice to go for a trapezoid shape so I can direct the composition towards centre, added some lights and shit.
Painted some wings for a second Artis Navi wallpaper (should be out in few days) and I wanted to use it as abstract lion’s crown – so I did :)
Added my doodle plus some basic triangular shapes and first orange/red colours. Added some doodles for the side shapes.
Working on the composition of the “wings” and the lion’s head plus some nice blues for the shadows. Used the wings 2nd time for the side of the head to add some detail and fill out the gaps, also started to fill the edge shapes with some solid colours to build a base for shading the sides.
Time to sexy up the composition with some fine colours and add extra bit of contract and details also try to tighten the shapes. The crown was fine but I didn’t dig the colours – too much detail in red and I got lost. So I did take a step back and decided to build some extra shapes for the top of the head plus add some blues to get some focal point on the forehead for the ArtisNavi logo. Few other minor tweaks as well.
Great Scott! A big revelation I don’t like the composition! I mean is all right and looks fine small, but once you got it on you desktop the lions head is overwhelming and on big screen (mine primary one is 30” 2560×1600) this shit can kick you in a head! so… it’s time to add more context to the image and make it work (or: make it better) for wallpaper purpose.
I scale down the image and started painting in new shapes – I need to fix this, this image took already more time than I was hoping and I want sexy wallpaper not a zoo poster.
I like this! Things are starting to pull together and I like the contrast I got thanks to the reds and blacks. Added more hand painted shapes and some extra bit of sexy pinks. The idea is back on the table: lion lurking the in the grass with some fiery yellows and the pinks with blacks started to form ” the mountain” front. Added some extra shading on top with greens and blues plus some stars. For the background bit I’ve used some organic shapes made in Maxon Cinema 4D with Cel Renderer.
Composition filled out but not overwhelming and now it sits on my desktop – and the proportions are all fine – added some extra fine details and fill our the gapes. Added some tweaks for the colours – don’t want this to be a mind fuck after few minutes of looking at it. Hope you guys enjoy this quick overview – this ain’t a tutorial, but it’s a bit more than just a case study.
Please don’t be shy and drop a comment question if you like and I’ll try to reply – also – don’t forget to pick your wallpaper here. Stay tuned for more cool shit.
Peace and see you soon.
