"The Mouse's Return" -- Step-by-step

The Mouse's Return began as a character sketch-demo for one of my classes, and developed into the final woodland scene after I took a new look at the work
of Bruegel.  Probably the most difficult part of the illustration was preventing tangents and keeping depths clear and separate considering its final complexity.

As usual, I worked front-to-back to avoid spending time drawing details that would be covered.  Once the general composition was worked out I could concentrate on making sure individual objects stood out against their local backgrounds.
     The initial sketch was one of several anatomical studies to find the old lady's posture, but I realized later that she was too heavy to allow much baggage around her waist and on her back.  Once she got thinned I started worrying that she was looking too cartoonish, so I resized her nose, mouth, and shoes.  When I finally figured out her physique and personality, I went grayscale and started adding the details.  The mouse appeared early and suggested the theme unexpectedly, but then the owl on the old woman's back had to become something less predatory since I didn't want the mouse threatened.
     The only compositional sketch I did was a rough outline of the main tree and roots as a framing device around her and her stuff;  the distant trees were an afterthought -- I had originally wanted her to be in darkness, deeper woods and more threatening, but it wasn't working.  If I want to create something in darkness I've got to start with the darkness and judge the figure-ground relative to it, more like a traditional painter.  Then I would probably work the PS layers back to front instead of my usual approach.

Comments

[Ed]

Thanks Sam. No 3D, just drawing in Photoshop. I usually layer front-to-back to avoid covering work since my method is fairly slow. No unusual brushes, just a standard round with low opacity.
eb

[Sam]

Very nice work. Are you using any 3D in this image? I would love to hear more about your technical procedure. Thanks

[Rick Lovell]

Beautiful work, as usual. Interesting progression as well; typically I work out my values from back to front, but your system seems to work very well. Do you set up a value scale as swatches before you begin, or just wing it? Also, is this really in grayscale, or a set of warm grays in RGB?... it seems warmer than just grays. Again, just gorgeous work!