Final Photoshop concept art

when I created this concept I first decided that I wanted it to be in the morning so I could use the sunrise in the back to highlight all the edges of my scene and I tried to mimic some of the bright sunrises/sunsets I found in the research of different films and games in a fantasy setting.

I had used one of the unique tree concepts I created with a twist in the trunk as they were different but not too striking that they draw too much attention from the centre of the scene where i put my main eye catcher which was the bridge, I made the bridge a contrasting colour to the surrounding scenery so it would stick out more, I also created vines that were growing underneath wrapping around the supports to make it seem very old and the plant life is growing around it making it part of the natural scenery.

bellow the bridge I created a creature that was a cross between a bird and a reptile because I thought it was an interesting and unique idea, I wanted there to be some animal life in the scene to make it more interesting to look at and imagine how they would live within the scene.

I origionlally planned to add a lake in the back ground but I decided to remove because I was struggling with the lighting and making the surface of the water reflective, I decided to instead leave it as an open field so its not so distracting from the foreground.

Having done experiments creating rocks i used what i had learned to create a more realistic looking attempt, i did this by focusing more on the shape and shading of the rocks instead of the texture like i did with the experiment

simple sketches

In Photoshop I did 2 quick sketches to get an idea of how I wanted my scene laid out when I come to creating it in Photoshop for my final piece, I added black and white colouring to the second sketch as I was leaning more towards it and thought it would be a more interesting scene, however, the placement of the trees are too close, when I come to create my final concept I will move them much further back to allow me to create more space in the scene.

I would later take different aspects from both layouts when I developed even further, things that had altered is reducing the amount of man made structures to make the scene look more natural

I later on took aspects i liked from each concept and created one i was happy with and would use to later develop my concept art work further.

Experimentation

using an existing photo i already took as reference i tried to re create it within Photoshop as accurately as I could, this was good research for me as to how i can create realistic looking terrain in Photoshop.

If i could re-do this experiment i would put more time and detail when creating the clouds as I thought they lacked.

Experimentation

to practise creating realistic looking terrain in Photoshop i found a reference image and tried to re create it as best i could, i believe i could have done better with the rock as it doesn't look as realistic as id like, to achieve this i will have to spend more time in making sure the depth and shading for the shape of the rock is better as its hard to get a clear picture of the form.

Having done this experiment i can use what i learned when doing my final Photoshop as i now know what i need to do to improve from my experiment work.

I also tired to make different fantasy styled trees, some have slight differences like odd shaped trunks which i prefer the look of compared to the brightly coloured un natural trees.

Reasearch

From the suggestions my other classmates gave me i looked into the different games and films and found reference images that i could in my final concept use as reference, taking different aspects like the floating terrain from avatar and the pink hue of the sky in the witcher.

A game source that inspired my work was the elder scrolls series because it had many of the elements that i want to include into my final piece like the unique looking wildlife and the way the scene is set out to have a foreground, a lower middle ground and hills in the background to create a skyline.

Another game which had influenced my work was the legend of Zelda the twilight princess, a game i played a lot when i was younger, i used this game as research mainly due to how the lighting in the game was portrayed in some parts of the game, light being a main theme of the game, a lot of the memorable scenery was due to the way the light created a twilight effect having the sun bellow the skyline or just falling or rising filling the scene with an orange glow, this is a prominent feature i wanted within my scene.

Suggestions for development

1: LOTR, Witcher, Destiny, Nomans sky

From the films and games suggested I found reference images I liked that I could take inspiration from in my concept piece. 

2: Robert + Shana parke Harrison    Jerry ulesman     Dominal+Subduminal forms in painting

I found an image I liked by jerry ulesman which showed a floating block in the middle of a field.

3: Asset research and studies. Think about what you could use in your final concept. Think about a backstory behind the land scape.

4: Look at every fantasy type environment. Avatar is a good reference. Look at faund (sci-fi and fantasy)

The terrain in avatar is very un-natural with its floating islands and very colourful glowing plants, some things I want my final piece to include.

5: Look into different time zones. Has the area been destroyed, why does the area exist, how was it built.

Primary source research

i put together existing pictures of landscapes i have taken and compiled them together, i can use them in reference in regards to layouts of the hills and build my own fantasy scene on top, i also added certain pictures i thought already had a slightly fantasy touch like the bottom left picture of a sunset in Ibiza because it showed interesting and vibrant colours in the sky, also the middle picture the hilltops peak above the clouds, I thought in a fantasy world they could be floating islands above the clouds.