First, thank you to our lovely hosts- I mentioned this already in a pm, so I won’t tag again, but events like these are what keep the e4 community strong throughout the year, and I’m sure I’m not the only one who looks forward to them. I know these kinds of things take a ton of time and planning, and it’s important to acknowledge all of the hard work that goes in to both organization and the submissions of all of the contestants!
Congratulations to all of the winners, and thank you all for second in the original category! I’m very happy with how this one came out, and I’m glad to see that it resonated with you all as well.
I cropped the full piece for the competition, so here is the full extended artwork:
The process can be found under the cut here
Sketch
This part is fairly self-explanatory: the initial sketch phase. I like to keep things pretty loose here and avoid too much detail to keep things moving.
Background
The background is split into two different phases. For the first above, I just laid down my base colors with a soft brush. Again, nothing too fancy to set the overall color mood and tone.
The second phase for the background is getting the clouds and light source in there. I like a bit of texture for the clouds, personally.
Linework
I like colored linework to soften pieces. The flowers are a brush I manipulated to give perspective.
Base colors
Getting the base colors for the foreground in there. Again, just quick fills to have a starting point for color.
Foreground Lighting
First I laid in my lights…
…and then my shadows. Backlighting is especially fun for me due to the heightened contrast.
Flowers
Again, I put in base colors for each flower. I wanted to make sure to include the ones that are present in-game.
And of course, lighting and shadows for the flower field as well.
Final touches
After another round of lighting adjustments, we’re all done!
And close-ups and easter eggs here for those that want solutions!
One of the most obvious is a female Combee- I have fond memories of hunting for a female on all of the available honey trees, Floaroma Meadow’s included.
These Drifloon are holding hands
And one of the ones in the back is shiny!
Shaymin flies above the field, as you get the Gracedia flower from an NPC in Floaroma…
…that Dawn is holding!
Dawn herself is looking toward the skies.
And of course, we can’t forget her Piplup that’s found itself a flower.
Once again, an amazing turnout this year. I hope to be around for many more e4 events to come!