Lava monster
For the past week I've been learning to use the inner and outer glow effects as well as other techniques to create a lighting effect in photoshop. The task was to try and create a Lava monster using these techniques to create realistic lava.
In class I tried two different techniques. The first technique was using bright colours such as yellow for the main body and using a red for an outer glow effect. I also added white highlights to help identify the hotspots within the lava. The 2nd technique was using the inner and outer glow effect tools within photoshop to simulate these effects automatically. The results made the images brighter and more appealing.
I tested these new techniques on an image of a rock monster clay model image. I added a lava texture in the background to make it appear that the creature is emerging from the lava pool.
My homework was design and create a creature of my own. I started by creating a moodboard of all lava creature designs within games, films and comics.
From there I created three roughs. I wanted to create more, but I had trouble coming up with unique and original ideas. I had two humanoid ideas, one based of Marvel's Ghost Rider and another emerging from a pool of lava. The third idea was of a dog with flames for fir and a charcoal skin texture.
I decided to go for the humanoid approach and my final sketch design is a humanoid punching through the surface as if trying to escape from the earth's core. I felt this design is dramatic, expresses the environment from which the creature is from and overall an interesting image to look at.
This design also gave me a chance to practice my foreshortening, which is a skill I need to develop.
I scanned the image into photoshop and drew over the construction lines with a dark brush. I added basic colours and shading as well as inner and outer glow effects for the hottest areas in the image.
I then added several volcanic rock and lava textures on the image to help add more depth and detail to the image. I went over the cracks on the texture image used for the creature using the inner and outer glow effects. I left the eyes un textured as they remain the brightest and the main focal point of the image.
This is the final result.
This image still needs tweaking as some edges need tidying up a little. I feel my foreshortening in this image isn't bad, I struggled with the legs and leaving them out entirely makes the creature look slightly off.
However despite these faults I do feel I have made an improvement and with more practice my artwork will improve.
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