Fish Plates (Patreon)

They're escaping!

I got the idea for this painting yesterday and decided to work until it was done! I've been feeling really stuck with rendering illustrations lately, so this was a nice no-pressure way to get back in the painting groove.

The process for this one was pretty straightforward! I went right to painting from the rough sketch. The last image in this album shows my layer structure-- there really weren't that many! To rely more on my color instincts, I didn't use any layer effects or masks-- all the painting layers are set to Normal.

I'm sorry I didn't take more WIP shots while I was painting the wood-- I got so into it that I forgot to stop and take screencaps! I love painting wood.

The fish and plants also aren't a particular species; they're a romanticized blend of the fish and plants on some antique plates I found to use as reference material, visible in some of the process images. Other images show my reference images for the lighting/mood and the dark, smooth wood grain.