Digital Painting- So Very Broken
Using the artistic nude stock of Marcus J Ranum usually has wonderful results.
“So Very Broken” is my latest digital painting. Marcus J Ranum’s stock image are amazing, they are of great quality, size and composition. I have been wanting to use this particular one for quite some time. I wanted to create an image using warm colors while still trying to convey a feeling of nearly infinite sorrow, as a way of dramatically contrasting color and emotion.
Inspiration and Technique
I’ve drawn a lot of my inspiration for the digital painting style from different members of the Deviant Art community. When trying to develop the concept for this image I had a variety of ideas I wanted to try out for this image. The answer came from something I was writing in a short story which is where the title and theme of this image comes from. I used the word broken repetitively in the background, you can see it without looking to hard. I liked using type in an image this way I feel it added another dimension to the piece.
Typography is very difficult to use well in this kind of image, but in terms of what it lent to eye direction, visual balance, and even the texture of the piece it is hard to imagine the image without it. I debated the use of the chain in this piece but decided on it for similar reasons to the type, without it somehow the balance of the image felt off, and it reinforced the themes of the overall composition well enough.
Building up the textures for this image was something I handled manually using a wacom tablet and various types of brushes. I don’t remember how many hours it took to do the brushwork, but it consisted of over 20 layers. There was also additional work involved in retouching the model. As for the overall positioning I felt the original pose of the model dictated that well enough.
I’m very satisfied with the results I’ve gotten from stepping into this type of digital artwork and think I will work up a quite few more pieces like this in the near future, I’m currently working on a very interesting piece with another piece of Marcus J Ranum’s stock. Truth be told I think his stock is one of the most suited to this type of artwork.
If anyone out there has some interesting unrestricted stock resources they can make me aware of that would be great, as I’m always on the look out for new resources. Also any free grunge brushes would be helpful. I’m also looking for any additional advice or inspiration regarding digital painting as I continue to develop this particular skill and style.
You can also view “So Very Broken” on my Deviant Art account. Please free free to leave me comments here as well as Deviant Art letting me know what you think of my work on this image. Ive also posted this image on Photoshop Creative.
So beautiful, and so very… beautiful.
Will love to see more work like this.
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