Adding background to the drawing - mom

 In this post I will explain my work process of creating a background for my image of the mom. For each of the images, I needed to put the character in the environment that would fit their personality and work well with the rest of the image. 

The first character I decided to work on is the mom. The mom is an artistic soul - a very creative character. I decided to place her in a studio with big windows and an easel, so it is clear that she is a painter. The process of creating a background, I started by adding a new layer to my drawing and changing the opacity of the already drawn character, so I could see what is behind them so I could really get a sense of the space and to also work on what is behind the character even if it is not visible in the image. I think understanding the background and the general space I am creating. 

I planned the space for the character by drawing over the actual character but on a separate layer. I created a floor, two big windows and an easel. I wanted the background to be simple and not to take away from the character. This is why I decided for the items in the background not to have outlines in black. The outlines would make my characters blend in too much. I wanted my characters to stand out in the background and the space around them just to be there to support them. 

I decided to make it feel very much at home, so decided on a wooden floor and light orange walls and beige curtains. I had to think more about the view from the windows. As I said in my previous post, I wanted the ground to be made out of amethyst therefore it would be purple. I wanted to make some trees, even though trees do not grow on crystals, cartoons often do not make too much sense, for example in Spongebob Squarepants, Spongebob had a bonfire underwater. Creating something that is not fully correct logically is fine, because I am creating a whole new world, where it could be possible. 

I created a bunch of those very simple-looking trees and even though they look very simple I think they look adorable and they look like what I wanted them to look. I wanted to add some leaves to them and I even started the process of adding them.

When I drew this much of the leaves I decided that I really do not like this idea and that the leaves do not look good on the trees. I decided to try different sort of leaves, but none of them looked appealing or like something I wanted in my drawing. I decided to erase them and leave the trees bald. As I mentioned earlier, I am creating a whole new world and each and every aspect of it is under my control. 

I added more of my trees in and colored the whole image in. I did not outline elements and for the coloring and drawing part I used the brush called Plume Studio. When coloring in I used the option of coloring by the bucket tool that lets me color the entire object that is outlined at once. This definitely sped up my process of creating the image. 

When I colored everything in I closed the character layer to see exactly how the background looks like and so I could have gotten a visual understanding of the space I have created. 

Here is a studio I created before adding the color of the sky. For the color of the sky I have struggled a lot because I wasn't sure what shade of blue I want to use. I tried many colors and I eventually decided on a very bright, light cyan. I thought the color was not natural, but nothing I am creating is really real or has a sense of realism, therefore my sky color choice does not have to based exactly on what we have on Earth. 

This is the background I have created for the mom and i think it works really well. It is not boring but I do not think the character would bled with the background and that was very important to me. 

Lastly I have turned back on the layer with the character and changed the opacity back to the 100% one. 

When I have placed the character, I have added some shades on her legs so it is clear she is standing, not that she is levitating, and I have added some paint stains on the floor. I wanted the studio to have some of her creativity in it and definitely the floor covered in paint would do it. I used the colors of the character for the stains - so split complementary colors of purple. 

I am generally very happy with this particular image and I think the character looks fun and looks interesting. In my opinion children would enjoy watching this character and it was a goal I wanted to achieve. I am very happy with it. 

This is Acuarela in her art studio. I think she stand sout and doesn't blend too much with the background, so I am pleased.