(C) Wintry Fever - A Forest of Methods

Cel-Shading seems to be anything that uses blending modes to modify a flat base colour. Because that is exactly what I did to this piece, and it really doesn't look like what I would expect a celshaded piece to look like. I just pulled out the Wikipedia article, and my suspicion is confirmed:

cell shading, or toon shading is a type of non-photorealistic rendering designed to make 3-D computer graphics appear to be flat by using less shading color instead of a shade gradient or tints and shades.

Why I cannot keep my hands off the smudge tool and blending brushes, I have no idea. It was my original plan with this type of rendering to keep any amount of softness to a minimum, to be precise and quick. Yet soon thereafter I found myself using only one Multiply layer for both characters, extending the range of values depicted by picking my way down the value ladder, and ultimately "rendering" it a lot more than just dropping in those simplified shadows. Equally, I consciously dropped most of the highlights - to what effect? Due to my use of a very blurry Overlay layer clipped to the figures, I brought a little warmth to the dragon's upper half, with some cool tones for the shadow. But outside of that, I really kept the picture quite dark.

On page 31 of my copy of Gurney's Colour and Light, I'm reminded that Overcast Lighting is constituted by light that comes in from all around, the sky the brightest tone, with the rest of the image very clear, appearing almost unshaded, flat and detailed. It's the page I thought of the most in making this image, yet even until the very end I felt that the mood I wanted wasn't that. If you make this a typical wintry scene, in the bright of the day, you have white, black, and whatever is going on in the middle, objective, clear and neutral. In the end I chose another coloured multiply layer, erasing out some "highlights." That's anything but overcast now. Who knows what it is, hahahaha. I just feel like the tint adds to the privacy and intimacy of the scene. A cop-out or a great idea? Lmao.

Going forward . . . I had picked the colours for the characters from the references provided, still thinking I might be going for overcast. But I gradually woke up. First thing I did was drop and modify the flats. I love my tone curve adjustments so much I now have them bound to Opt-T. Then I realized the potential of some messy inks for the background, which I went around and cleared up more, then messed up more. Realizing the water was a lot more fun looking painted than cel-shaded now, I was halfway on my way to the final mess.

What I was thinking of with the inks was another very important part of this. I admire artists who use rather minimal or very raw lines, and still come out on top. I go ahead, try and hatch as well as texture with my favorite drawing brush, and just don't feel it coming together. I corrected a lot, on the wings and the mane, on the horns and the trees, on the wooden structures, and still wasn't happy. Thinking of some sort of woodcut, I think the forest worked out the best. And why did I paint the vapours rather than outline them and plan ahead? It could have been a little like a Japanese woodcut. I think a more thorough drawing and inking concept would have helped me, and I didn't just learn that. I learned a lot about how I'd both draw and paint a forest, because I think I was kind of trying to both draw and paint without even understanding it. So thanks for allowing me to even come to that thought, Patreon. Lol.

Finally, credit to the commissioner. Veromir came to me without a very specific idea. One thing I love about working with him is that he lets me have a very large part in finding the image and correct atmosphere and mood - it's something I love in working for friends. And my investment into it is even more possible because I am friends with both people in this image. Even though I'm a bit bothered by many things I could have done better, they let me know immediately that they enjoyed it. With the amount of uncertainty and self-criticism I invest into myself, I think that's worth a lot. Because after something like this, my first urge is always to apologize. So, urm, Sorry Vero and Deo! Teeheeehee.

And sorry to the reader for this rant!  :D Please don't take me seriously :D