Ship Graveyard- Fantasy Illustration - step by step Photoshop tutorial

Hello steemian friends. A little while ago I shared a WIP of a fantasy illustration I'm creating. This is the finished illustration for reference. I'll be sharing my step by step process after that. I work with a wacom tablet and photoshop. And I also post most of my material at www.elventower.com

169 Dead Pirates-L.jpg

Here's a gif created from all the tutorial pics.

Animation.gif

Step 1. Draw the outline of main features like forests and shorelines.

1.jpg

Step 2. Add isolated trees, sunken ships and water lines.

2.jpg

Step 3. Add destroyed campsite. Notice the broken roofs and the pieces wasting away on the countryside.

3.jpg

Step 4. Create a new layer and add details and small touches to the forest, campsite and sunken boats.

4.jpg

Step 5. Draw all the hills and landmass details. This is time-consuming.

5.jpg

Step 6. Start with color work. All the different color parts are in different layers for easy adjustments later on. First the campsite-

6.jpg

Step 7. Add color to the sunken boats. Don't use the same one for all three.

7.jpg

Step 8. Add color to the beach and isolated trees.

8.jpg

Step 8. Now color the forest. I used the burn tool with a very soft brush to add depth and shadows in between the trees.

9.jpg

Step 9. Color the water mass.

10.jpg

Step 10. Color the hills and add shadows to reflect the light source and elevation.

11.jpg

Here are a promo and the finished illustration for reference. The finished one has a grid for RPG play and a compass. Compass by Deven Rue, a fellow cartographer on Twitter.

169 Dead Pirates-L.jpg

12.jpg

I release this illustrations with adventure ideas for my followers on Patreon. This is a screenshot of how my stuff looks in its finished form. If you wish to subscribe, please visit www.patreon.com/elventower

promo.jpg



I'm a graphic illustrator and I focus my work in tabletop RPG games like dungeons and dragons.

I'm new on Steemit but have great aims to share my work in posts like this one where people can see illustrations be created from the ground up.

banner2.jpg

Send some love, likes and follow me for awesome cartography illustrations.

I do this full time and I love creating fantastic locations !

If you're interested in my work, take a look at my Patreon page

There is a pledge level that gives access to my photoshop source files, in case you wish to see my workflow and learn in the process.

patreon_logo.png

optional text

H2
H3
H4
3 columns
2 columns
1 column
Join the conversation now
Logo
Center