“Donkey skin ” by Chris Beatrice
Castle Close up
ONE
When I first painted the castle I wasn’t expecting it to play quite such an important role in the scene. But as it turned out the castle needed a bit more attention than I originally devoted to it.
With all my architectural and costume designs, I try to stick pretty close to historical authenticity, with just a touch of the fantastic to create the sense of an alternate time and place. I think it’s important that the imagery remain very accessible (at least for my pictures) so I don’t let things get too far fetched.
For this castle I found some pretty good reference material to get me started. Usually I assimilate a lot of different reference material then produce my own imagery from my head, but at this late stage I needed something a bit more concrete.
First I did a quick pencil sketch to establish the basic form and perspective.
TWO
I then laid some basic colors under the pencil sketch (which was on a multiply layer).
THREE
It didn’t take long to work in the necessary details to bring this castle to life. As usual, I keep it pretty loose and smeary
FOUR
Finally I decide to tilt the castle a bit to better support the flow of the composition (gotta love digital), adjust the colors, and I’m done.
(c) Chris Beatrice, www.chrisbeatrice.com
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