Last year for Macworld 2011 in San Francisco, I was invited to deliver a talk about digital artwork. As part of my talk I produced 2 paintings which were printed as large posters and displayed at the entrance of the main conference hall. This year I was asked if I could again produce a painting especially for Macworld 2012. I went on to create the painting in 7 days. The process can be seen in the following step by step breakdown.
My initial idea for the painting was to feature a futuristic female super hero with a dramatic San Francisco background. I had a clear vision of the colors that I wanted to use, so using Adobe Ideas iPad app and my NomadBrush stylus, I began sketching compositions for the painting.
Having setteled on a composition and the colors I wanted to use in the painting, I asked my friend Jayne Beesley if she would be my lighting reference model. Using my 2 iPads as colored lights, I staged a series of photos to help guide me when painting the female hero.
I then imported my final sketch from Adobe Ideas into Adobe Photoshop. Using a separate layer I then blocked in the basic colors of the painting. Once the basic features emerged, I removed the sketch layer and continued working.
Over the next few days I gradually worked around the painting adding details to the face and hair.
In a separate document I then began painting the San Francisco background. I started by making a series of building silhouettes and arranged the buildings to fill the available space in the painting. I isolated each building one at a time and painted in details such as windows and roof tops.
With the city complete I imported the image as a layer into the main painting and inserted it between the sky and the female super hero. I colored the buildings red and yellow and used a mask to fade out the furthest buildings. Last of all I added details such as the glow from the sunset and the light on the top of the Transamerica building.
The final painting can be seen larger by clicking below. It can also be seen at the entrance of Macworld - iWorld 2012 in San Francisco.
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