Final Major Project Update – Environment - 23/3/20

I created a new photobash recently to depict a fortress built by the enemy race in the middle of the woods. I began with base images of a forest, some giant sequoia trees, and a mossy ground. 

I manufactured the hole in the tree by using two images of a tree and merging them together. 

I then added the fort itself and decided it would look more convincing to cover the front with a gate, so as not to make this fort look very welcoming. Something felt off and then I thought that as they are such a practical group of people, they probably would have created some kind of rough road to make it easier to travel and use transportation (like carts etc.), so I added a dirt path (made up of two images of the same path). I also felt that there was a lack of depth behind the fortress, so I bashed another image into the back to make it feel like there was space behind the building. 

At this point in the photo bashing process, I have gotten all the main/base features down. This is the point where I start to add a color pass and lighting. I also added the important red ivy detail. 

I needed the environment to look more like a jungle-like forest than a regular forest. I added some viney tree images into the background behind the trees to make the forest look more tangled and cluttered with overgrowth. At this point I had also hand painted over a couple areas to make them appear more natural. 

I duplicated the group and merged it into one image and edited the hue and levels to give the scene the same color scheme as my previous environment pieces. I still have some finishing touches to add but I added some guards to the gate and painted a native scout hiding behind the large tree in the foreground. I've left this piece on hold for now to have fresh eyes next time I edit it. I want to make the native appear more realistic, since I think she looks a bit too 2D right now, and I will change the guards a bit to match their actual uniform designs (showed in previous blog post).