In creating this image I danced around quite a bit. I started off looking for some reference images but didn’t find many that fit my idea of things. So, I decided to create a reference in 3D Studio Max. Mainly for the water aspect of the painting because even though I love the water and how it can add a touch of magic to any environment, it isn’t very easy to get it right and will harm the painting more than help it if you don’t get it right. And being that my painting’s subject was surrounded I wanted to get it fairly “right“. As I got into modeling things, I thought that maybe I would just do the whole thing in 3D instead of a 2D painting. But then I came to the point that I just couldn’t get the lighting the way I wanted. I tried different things in Photoshop to give it that atmosphere I was looking for and then realized that everything is too realistic. Although I wanted a semi-sense of realism, I wanted more the feeling of fantasy with a touches of cartoon like exaggerations. And so I started over. I first sketched it out on a piece of paper and then painted it in Photoshop. Most of the elements from the 3D version are in the 2D version but I am much happier with the results of the 2D painting.

You can view enlarged details, the sketch, and 3D render at http://ryan.nore.at/2012/01/world-of-art/

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