Decoding Daily Deviations: Bewitched and Betrayed

Share with readers the details of how this piece came into being. Did you have a clear story idea/inspiration from the beginning?  

The purpose of this artwork was to learn and improve upon my skill, add to my portfolio, and have fun generally.

I wanted to create an illustration of the quality and design of card art, splash screen, poster art or a combination of all three. Those have always been the illustrations I enjoy the most… creating and feasting my eyes on them. Character design is another discipline that I have a great love for, so I wanted to create an original piece from the ground up."

“Bewitched and Betrayed” is a slick and sensuous high-impact image. Please, take us through your process on the painting and the elements you prioritized to achieve your vision.

I had an idea of the image I wanted to create. But not yet having the skill level to have the art just flow out of me, it was a process of pouring out mud and then slowly distilling water. So lots of references were used to separate the ugly parts from the visually pleasing.  Not just photographs, I especially looked at how other artists tackled rendering, lighting, forms, composition, and color.

So I started with a rough layout just to define the composition. Generally, just to have the figure in a third of the canvas. Then started on a sketch, working out the pose using reference, and trying to create a focal point on her face. I then proceeded to go too far with details. (I really need to work on that. Sometimes I spend so much time on a design element that I have to go back and remove because it’s just not working.)

Most of the time was spent working in black and white, figuring out the values, lighting and character design, which I tried to let add to the composition and reinforce the focal point. I originally wanted her weapon to have an element of magic so that I could have a source of light to play with.  I do not have a lot of experience with light emitting objects in scenes. I think that they are lots of fun so I really wanted one in there but I found that it competed with the focal point of her face so that design choice was sadly omitted.  (Maybe next time.)

After a few variations of blade design, I settled on a simple design that would have suggested converging perspective lines pointing back to the face, the focal point.

I wanted to fill the space around the character with something more interesting than the background ideas that I was coming up with and so a dragon was born. I tried to find a placement that formed a balanced secondary focal point since it was an after-thought. As the general design built, I’m focused more on the general lighting, getting more into the details and finally getting into the colors.

While I didn’t spend a lot of time in the exploration of colors, I did use a wide variety of techniques. Using different gradient maps, layer modes and a combination of the two.

In the end, I went back in and added a strong light coming in from the right to better separate the background from the foreground, heightened the contrasts to further define the forms and to make the entire piece more graphic."

 
 
 
 
 

Did you encounter any creative challenges when working on the piece? If so, how did you tackle them? Is there anything you would do differently now if you could?

This was a “make it up as I went along” kind of thing, so I guess the challenge was being able to let go of things that didn’t work no matter how much I wanted them in there.  Next time I need to put more time in the planning of the composition and think more about what I want to achieve in the end. I need to be more disciplined."

What’s one piece of advice that you would share with other artists hoping to reach this standard of work in the future?

I think the best thing that one can realize is that it is possible. It will not happen overnight, so just make a goal of creating measurable progress over a reasonable amount of time. Think progress, not perfection."

What does this DD feature represent or mean to you at this stage of your artistic development? What can your watchers look forward to next?

This recognition means so much to me. To be validated by anyone really means a lot since the voices in my head are so harsh with their criticisms. (My only retaliation is to poke them with a Q-tip.) So this makes me feel like that light at the end of the tunnel might not be a train after all. And maybe I can start running towards it. In the future I hope to constantly improve and deliver more eye candy to fatten the eyes of my supporters on Deviant Art."

From : 'This is amazing~ I really like the design, especially the spear with all the little details in designing the blade which I think is a nice touch.'

I like when an artwork is created and you like the whole thing, but you just fall in love with a little detail.

From : 'I love this. I feel like she's a video game character and you left an interesting short story in the description. It help make this all the more unique. I do have one critique, however. I know this is more opinionated than anything else but, I'm not a fan of how sexualized she is. I feel like this would have the same dramatic effect if she was in a more modest apparel. I know that's nit-picky but, I'm not trying to be a hater. I just want to help a fellow deviant!'

I really appreciate constructive criticism. The positive comments are a moral booster but constructive criticism is where I find the most benefit. So I really appreciated Castilight’s feedback."

Thanks to SlimSpidey for kindly consenting to the interview!

Check out his gallery for more great pieces: 

 




Previous Decoding DDs:

Walls
The Cordyceps King
Vicious Cycle
Spoiled Princess
Retired
Incoming
Artificial Guardian
Mountain View
Monster Eating Vampire
Roth
Death Knight
Queen of Hearts (Alice in Wonderland)
Dragon Watchers
The journey and the big fish
Forrest Defender
Red Snow
Catching Spirits
The Tomb King
I'm fine
Despoiled
Cat Girl
Forest of Bunnies
The Journey
Boulderback
FIELD OF THORNS: OFFER
Malavestros: Muse of Madness
Jet Futura
The Northern Administration
Prisoned Singer
Don Kichote
On The Hunt
The Platform
I know a bank
Love and war
52Hz
Chase, The Dreamer
Mad
Until the End of the World..
Crow Temple
Accolade
Dragon's Breath

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