BA1a (2): Final Piece

Before starting my final timepiece, I decided that I wanted to draw a few simple thumbnails to figure out how I would like my timepiece to look. Whilst I did previously state that I could have these snakes on a raised platform of some kind, I changed my idea for this because I simply just did not want to go with it and just wanted the pieces to be on the floor.

I had a basic idea of how I wanted my final piece to look so I worked with that and created three different looks. I shall be using the last thumbnail as a base template though because I feel that this is the strongest one and fits better for my timepiece since it revolves around the apocalypse, having an arched window gives the impression of a church or some kind of old building which will fit the theme better. 

To start on the actual final piece itself, I started by using the line tool to draw lines to create the corner of the room, and then used the brush tool and begun drawing the window, snake and trench. I decided to only go with drawing one snake simply because it would be difficult to include all four of them with the square/diamond floor plan that I liked for them. The snake that I chose to draw was Pestilence from a mixture of being my favourite design and being the first Horseman of the Apocalypse. I tried out a few different designs for the window and will decide which one I shall use later on as I develop the background further.

I filled the entire image grey because I wanted a stone wall and floor. I wanted to work on the wall itself since it was the largest part I had to do. I had a look at a few stone walls so that I could get an idea on the different types of stone walls, and in the end settled on a wall with various stones scattered throughout it. I started this by drawing completely random outlines all across the walls, and then filling them all the same grey that I drew them with. 

I added some black lines to give myself a guide as to where I should add shading to the rocks on the walls. To give myself a break from the walls I decided to colour the snake, which was simple enough to do by selecting the inside of the snake parts and filling with the respected colours. I then shaded the snake on a separate layer using the brush tool and setting it to black, then setting the layer itself to 50% opacity. I also lit the window sides using the same technique as the shading with the snake, only using a slightly yellow-white instead of black. I also shaded the trench at the bottom with the same technique but with a 30% layer opacity.

I then began adding shadows to the rocks by using the same technique that I have been using for most of this project, but with a 40% layer opacity, as well as shading underneath the rocks slightly with a 30% layer opacity. I also shaded the walls and floor with the same techniques. When it comes to the flooring, I wanted a stone tile flooring to match everything else. I did it by simply drawing in a dark grey, allowing the lines to be shaky in order to give the appearance of an uneven surface, then drawing smaller lines to create cracks. 

At this point the image was practically finished, but I blurred the rocks in the background so they were not as defined and didn't draw attention away from the snake. The outside view was simple enough to create by filling the empty space blue, and then using a different brush which was faded around the edges and was almost blob-like. Using this brush, I painted some clouds, a mountain and some trees, leaving out a lot of detail so that it looked very distant. 

Above is my final timepiece artwork. I wanted a very dull and plain background that is entirely stone, something that looked ancient, and to contradict this I decided the outside world was to be bright, both to stand out and to contradict the inevitable apocalypse. In terms of how I organised the composition I tried to follow the rule of thirds to some degree just because I quite like that composition, however I did not follow it as much as in the previous insect project. Unintentionally the 'L' also appeared with the shadows creating attention for the window.