Tiki Spirit

I have spent the last few days working on this new piece, as usual- here is a run-down on the process for those that are interested. After numerous thumbnail sketches getting the shapes right and drawing a lot of totems and skulls (so much fun to draw) i finally got the idea sorted and moved into artrage to pencil out a refined drawing on an oil textured pink background. The next sequential shots show the first few steps, the girls skin painted then the clothing.



The rest of the painting progressed in much the same way, tackling each section in separate files in order to bring it all together in a master photoshop file.



After the robots came the skulls, fish, mug and bottle, then the grass with the foreground leaves and the forest and volcano coming in near the end. Unusually for me, this piece was painted almost completely in painter with oil brushes then brought into photoshop for tweaks. This was largely due to the end effect i had in mind- i wanted this piece to look more like a painting on weathered wood and for more texture to be apparent. Painter allows me more freedom to create a work more closely resembling actual paint.

Almost the last piece to be finished was the girls tattoo, as you can see from the sequence- the majority of the painting is finished, this was so i could see how the colors would work together and get a better idea of the shape i had to work with.



Finally, distressed effects were added together with a more fitting border shape. Below is the final image together with some 100% closeups. Prints of Tiki Spirit are now available to buy through CIA Shop.