Danero

Hot baths - Process

Added 2019-07-23 08:32:18 +0000 UTC

So! This one was quite fun. Let's break it down a bit :)

I. - This one was started on paper, actually. I got the idea randomly on a trip to Hungary while helping my parents. Why not just have Dan presenting with a towel or something? I scanned it at home and quickly sketched in the shapes over the bad lines.

II. - I refined the sketch, finalized the way things look. I used refs for the back muscles, but also left some things to my imagination.

III. - It was time to sketch in the background. I used a perspective grid, it really simplifies the process - and yields much better results! Can really recommend it. I filled in the colors, already setting it up for a night scene.

IV. - At this stage, I finished the painting. I went with some stronger lights with the lamps above the hot tub, giving Dan a nice rim light to highlight his face and silhouette. Other than that, the night sky reflects a lot of blue light, so we can clearly see his backside even if it's night. The towel was tricky - I think I could've done a better job on it and definitely will have to look into improving my fabrics.

V. - The final product! I added some missing lights and effects. I darkened the foreground to pull the viewer in more and focus on Dan, other than that, more lights and shadows where they belong. Overall, just finalizing touches.

As a whole, I think this picture was a great success. I learned a lot about texturing while painting it, but still need to work on a few things. The posing is rather well done, I think, I could exaggerate it a bit more next time to give it a stronger feel, but I'd like to keep it subtle, too. My current focus is improving backgrounds and overall lighting. We'll see how it goes :)