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Note: This post has been made public for presentation purposes.

These are all pretty good!

Remember how, at the start of the month, I mentioned trying to relax more? Taking naps? Stuff like that? Then I took the next several days creating art for E3... So much for taking it easy, haha. That being said, I should take it easy for the next few days. I've got enough work to justify it.

I expect I'll still have time for NSFW Sketch Suggestions by the end of the week, and I'll focus on the Concept Art & Discussion thread next week -- though I don't know what it will be yet. Feel free to suggest something you're interested in.

E3 was fun. Disappointed Female Roto didn't get into Smash though.

Onto Dreams

It's been a few weeks since my last work with Dreams, but my latest "illustration" was created in Dreams. It was my post for the Link's Awakening reveal at E3. I enjoyed it.

I created everything within it and arranged the scene, but it was nice and organic and just felt like I was painting. I'd love to create more artwork in Dreams, though perhaps in a less meme-like way. Not sure how I'd go about it though, because it's not really what people are here for. Anyway, I had fun. I'll talk about it with you!

See the full 'piece' here on Twitter: 

https://twitter.com/brellom/status/1138491924002889729 

Behind the Scenes

Although the end result was only meant to last a handful of seconds, I had to spend hours crafting the space in which it takes place in.

I simply re-used my Link from my previous dabbling in Dreams, but I had to sculpt all of the assets currently there, from the trees, grass, flowers, rocks, giant egg, and even the clouds. Then I had to design the landscape, which definitely took some time.

Here are some process shots below. 

You can see the transformation of the scene. More stuff is added over time and what was once simple becomes more complicated.

The Big Picture

It was important that I create a cinematic feeling through the use of colour & light.

Capturing a sense of depth was integral. The mountains feel like they truly recede into the distance, and even the furthest trees do too. The atmosphere makes them bluer, helping them really feel distant.

Upon closer inspection of the palm trees, you might notice that the leaves are transluscent, so light passes through them. They feel like they could be real as a result. Under the canopy, however, are traces of blue in the shadows. This blue is light reflected from the sky, though I used some trickery to emphasize it. The scene feels like it's real and all the objects are in the same space.

There is some subtle grading too. Shadows appear bluer, and the sun is made very bright. The contrast & bloom is adjusted, and there's a soft blue vignette at the screen edges. The scene has an open-air, almost dream-like quality as a result.

Composition

By composition, I speak of the arrangement of elements; where the primary shapes of the piece are, and how they're designed to lead your eye where I want you to go.

Although I had to design the space in 3D to create a convincing, realistic space & sense of depth, I only intended this scene to be viewed from one perspective. The shapes mirror the GTA meme, but they're also designed to bring focus to the mountain in the background.

The trees are organized in a way to form implied lines, so following their canopies leads the viewer down to the center of the screen. There's a lot of empty, blue space for the eyes to rest at the center, but even your eyes don't quite make it up there, the vertical lines of the trees in the background should help lead your eye back up.

Even though Mount Tamaranch is far off in the distance and hard to see, it's in a natural spot for your eye to arrive at.

The Rule of Thirds

It also lines up with the rule of thirds quite nicely too. The rule of thirds is a guideline which applies to the process of composing visual image. 

Notice how the image above is broken down into boxes? There are 3 lines running down the piece, equally spaced from one another, and 3 lines running across the piece. Offsetting your elements by these boxes help to make a more interesting piece; either fitting it within the box, or placing it near where the lines meet (circled). I'll point out some good spots!

• The bottom-left rock fills it's box's guidelines.
• Link's shoulder/head is near an intersection.
• The top of two trees are near intersections.

The giant egg is the focus, however, so it's still in the center, being framed by the silhouette of the trees around it.

A closer look...

All of the rocks in the scene (even the mountains) are created from the same object - a single rock that's sculpted differently on all it's sides. 

The shapes above are all the same rock just rotated and resized. This basic arrangement of shapes is what I used to create every other set of rocks in the space. I duplicated them and rotated them so they don't all look too uniform. Re-use of elements!

Even the leaves on the trees are the same leaves layered on top of one another.

All of the grass & flowers are re-used elements too, though with some adjustments in orientation and size so they don't feel too uniform. The mountains are re-used too, but next time, I should consider making them from scratch to save on in-game space.

I'm not a botanist, but I feel like these flowers would better appreciate being in the shade, so they can stay cool! Though some of the red flowers are placed along the trail to help guide the eye, though they might not be too noticeable -- still, it adds to the scene. Their design is minimal because no one's going to see them at this range anyway.

Breaking the Fourth Wall

Whaaaaat?! There's nothing behind the camera!

The space was designed to show off Mount Tamaranch, where the giant egg rests. So, the space around it only needed to serve that. Link is on a platform, but even then, she's only limited to a small part of it thanks to invisible walls. Thus, the illusion is never broken.

Because this piece is essentially just an interactive "painting", the entire scene does not need to be sculpted. In fact, there are many holes in the world. The only things that exist are that which communicates the ideas of the work. Even these trees are just floating in the air!

It's a little hard to see, but you can just about make out where Link is off in the distance!

That's probably more than enough to look at though!

I'll stop talking your ear off for now. Thank you so much for your support! This was a very busy week for me, so I'll try to take it easy for a few days (but I might want to draw something tomorrow for posting so maybe I can't promise that).

Don't forget to eat & sleep!