Latest updates May 08, 2011

It's been a long while since my last post. I barely have enough time to do freelance work let alone personal pieces. But I'm glad I found time to:

• participate (AND WIN!) in one of the ImagineFX weekly art challenges.
• create my own gallery on the Advanced Photoshop website and get a picture of the week award! 

Here's my winning entry for the IFX weekly challenge:

There's a larger view available for those who might be interested. This is also available as a fine art print. To view these options, please go to my main gallery. I hope you like it! I hope you like the story about it which I wrote myself using Nat Geo magazine articles as references for the writing style! :)

Here's the documentation of the creative process:

The thumbnails. My first study is the little blue one on the lower left corner. It was okay but I didn't go with it because it looked like a still of an aquarium rather than an image taken from under the sea. The second one (the one right on top of it) is a shot from under the massive eel which, unfortunately, didn't feel massive at all. I went with the rightmost variation of my third study. I'm surprised that the portrait orientation worked.

This is a closer view of the thumbnail I chose. Diver, giant eel, coral reef, school of fish, blue and green and some dramatic lighting. Yep. At this stage I could clearly see where I was going so I decided to build up from here.

The next thing I did was background detailing. I was a little slow at first because I was using newly found custom brushes. I kept looking at underwater photos from Google search to make sure everything felt right.

Then I began to paint the cutlass. I used pictures of Moray eels as references.

At this point, I was beginning to feel uncomfortable about how the eel was coming along because initially, it appeared too ordinary. I got saved by a happy accident. I accidentally selected a blood spatter brush and applied it on the eel's dorsal fin. It looked rather fascinating so I continued to experiment. The next image is my last WIP shot. As you can see, it's very close to the final image save for the bubbles and additional lighting effects.

I WON! Hahahaha! Thanks to all who voted for my entry! 

And here's the artwork that got me "picture of the week" award on the Advanced Photoshop website.