Here is a compilation page which shows my work in varying stages of development. I have thoroughly enjoyed this task, as i have always been fascinated by British medieval history, and castles are at the heart of this. In terms of my process, I began began by working from photographs of the castle as it exists today and then moved forward by recreating the original elements of the castle in a second line drawing. When the castle fell during the siege of Harlech, the invaders destroyed the majority of the castles defensive capabilities, such as the battlements. These had to be replaced to make the castle look as if it were still in use. The third stage involved applying tone to the image, as seen in the third picture. I work from a mid-tone grey and then added lighter and darker areas on new layers in photoshop until i was satisfied that the lighting was realistic. In accordance with my research, i blotted in the major shapes and then used these as a template on which i could add tone and lighting. My visual research into the lighting on these towers proved to be very helpful in identifying the major shapes of the tower tops, since i haad no reference photo to use to create the battlements. Learning the fundamentals of lighting is an essential skill for any concept artist. Effective use of lighting can add mood and depth to an image at an early stage, which improves attempts at adding atmosphere at \ later date.
The fourth image shows my first attempt at colouring the image using a combination of digital painting techniques and overlay layers that allow me to colour the image without effecting the lighting i have already created using grey tonal values. Sparth is one notable concept artist who is best known for his digital environment paintings and he has often used a similar technique. Sparth uses a combination of overlay layers and additional lighting layers in a similar way that i have above, but with one exception. Sparth tends to incorporate texture at an earlier stage in the design process with the use of the custom shapes tool and large textured brushes. I have downloaded a set of tutorial videos, photoshop brushes, and custom shapes that Sparth has made available for purchase for a reasonable price online. I first discovered these using social media. Using social media can be a great way to find out more about an artists techniques and personal work, as they will be much more likely to post images that are currently still under development than they will be to post these images on their portfolio websites.
As i have yet to add texture in the final image shown here, the image looks somewhat incomplete, and the walls of the castle most notably are far too smooth to be considered realistic. Though i may decide to take a more liberally stylized approach in the third of these environment studies, I would like to make these environment studies as realistic as I am able in the time provided. The foreground also fells quite empty, and i may also investigate the inclusion of the topmost section of the outer wall to make the image more of my own composition. While working from a photograph has still allowed me considerable freedom due to the nature of this project, it would be a worthwhile improvement to attempt to adapt this and make the composition more my own. The bottom of the image also feels quite empty due to the part of the cliff that was photographed. The outer curtain wall could easily be used to fill this space. This wall however is considerably more damaged than the castle keep shown in the photographs above, and so restoring it may take considerable leaps of imagination, though there are plenty of reconstructed models of the castle available online to use as references if needs be.
Another path i wish to explore is the possibility of showing the castle at different times of day or year. The castle was under siege for many years, and Creative Assembly are known for designing maps that can appear at many different times of day or night. The most obvious and radical of the changes would be to portray the castle in winter which would have been the hardest time of year for the defenders, but as i have never attempted to paint a snowy landscape it may take some practicing before i am satisfied with the outcome. I should search online for images of snowy landscapes and select several to use in the creation of my initial colour palette if i want the colours to be more authentic. It may also help to improve the existing colour image if i rework the colour pallette using photos of the castle at sunset, where the walls take on some of the orange colour. I was attempting to emulate this effect in the first colour image, but as i did not use a reference image the colour palette appears less realistic than i had hoped.
The part of this image i am currently least satisfied with is the cliff face, which is currently much rougher in appearance than i would like it to be/. I can try improving this by painting further over it with brushes, as i was primarily aiming to focus on the overall lighting rather than accurately portraying the shape and form of the trees.
