My project in Digital Painting for Characters: Color and Light course

For this project I started with the idea to draw an animal, and then browsing for images I found some elements to put in it's habitat. I also wanted to give the fox a little personalization, putting a scarf around her neck and a pair of glasses suggesting she is a botanical enthusiast.

I tried to assemble a sketch directly on Photoshop.

Finding the best matching colors was the hardest part. I wanted to focus more on a color and add the others in little parts. I changed the colors I first chose, trying to create a double complementary ambient (red predominantly, green, yellow and violet).

After I decided from which direction the light is coming, I created a mask in which I defined some areas with direct light (on the face, paw, scarf, some mushrooms and leaves in front). On that base, I started adding value to the colors, trying to let the objects from the left and behind more in the dark. After creating the type of texture for each element I did the last finishes, like blurring a little the elements in the farthest plane. I added some trees in the background for a more forest ambient and some light trying to mimic the light between the trees. Some sparkling lights on some points to try and give a magical substance. I also tried in the end to add an effect overall and I selected the Candlelight using the Color lookup. I saved both the images with and without the effect because I couldn't choose which I like more.