Hi guys! I'm mind blown by NFTs and feel so lucky :) I've sold way faster than I imagined and this drawing here has only one edition left :D The first edition sold instantly, just after I refreshed the website _
You can check out higher quality here and the additional story:
https://knownorigin.io/edition/198525
Update: the last edition has been bought <3 :D
I'm having a lot of fun with this series and I'm looking forward to making many more. The Curiosity Shop is certainly my favorite so far, even one of my all time favorites that I've painted so far. <3
Getting started is probably the hardest part, as soon I splash a bit of paint on the canvas, I feel more comfortable and confident.
I adjusted the colors more to my liking, making a nice warm sunset like atmosphere.
I used a few apothecary references, but my main goal was to make it look like a shop. I try not to use any undo when painting, rather the mistakes work like an extra texture in the end.
As I finished the shape of the room I spend more time on the details. Details alone can take more time than all the steps before together.
This drawing definitely took more than my usual 30min, I'm guessing around 1h-2h, I totally lost track of time as I was enjoying this so much. The final touch is the light glow, it's a layer set on color dodge.
So I've noticed that in several of my posts I mentioned "good" composition, but I never explained what it means. I'll try to explain it how I understand it and I still have a lot more to learn myself :) I've started using a lot of composition elements more intuitively now, but it's important to first spend time practicing these slowly and deliberately.
First is the focus- be aware what you want to be seen, I try to make edges dark so the eye flows to the middle. You can see this best with values- use a black layer set to color adjustment. In the values you can also see if your painting has enough contrast (or too much), I avoid 100% black or whites. Extreme contrast should only be used in small areas if you want to draw focus to the spot.
Flow- I try not break the flow of lights or darks too suddenly, as that would break the flow. Of course you could do that on purpose if you want a tense or suspenseful composition. You can also achieve flow with patterns, here I used repeating windows.
Proportions- The biggest elements should be the rarest and the smaller shapes should be more common. I don't do this perfectly, but if something stands out I'll probably paint over it.
Last but not least is the rule of thirds, personally I don't use it enough except by accident. I try to keep important details a little off center and keep some distance between important details. Turns out in this painting I intuitively separated the painting into thirds-the tables vs the windows separator.
There are many other elements of composition and highly recommend doing some research. You don't need to use all of them, but using a few every time has improved my paintings greatly :)
Dragon Head winners: (my blog) 
Thank you for checking out my post and I hope my explanation helped ^^ Feel free to ask any additional questions (or requests).
Cheers!
