EARLY ACCESS // smoke (again) (Patreon)

Another smoke painting! (Here's the first one I posted earlier this month.) When I made the rough thumbnail sketches for this dark smoke concept, I had two variations - one from dark to light, and one from light to dark. I decided to finish both of them because I was really enjoying the flow I was in, where I was painting a lot of clouds and smoke. I wanted to stay in that vibe so I returned to that second thumbnail, but I wasn’t into the “villain” idea so I gave it a bit of an overhaul. You can see in the WIP versions how I gradually changed elements of the painting to make it more introspective and emotional. This is a typical example of a painting process where I pivot into a different direction halfway through the process and the final result is quite different from the first sketch! Hope you like this one.