So, I have been getting frustrated lately, and wanting to draw more, so I went back to where I started digital drawing (nine years ago) - Puzzle Pirates. I made my first portrait background entry in two years. (I used an alias to enter - this has to do with my recent confidence issues - and a change is as good as a holiday, right?)
Anyway, I started, as I always do, with a scrappy sketch. I then tidied it up, using Illustrator and Photoshop.
I added some layer effects (gradients, colors and patterns), and started to fine tune the sail.
I wasn't happy with the way that the sail was sitting against the... whatever that crossbar thing is called, so I pulled it down a little bit, and thinned the outline. I drew the little lines on the ropes, added, fixed up, then recolored the patches on the sail, and lightened the cloud outline (not sure if it is a bit too stylized for the game, but I like it =D). Lastly, I had fun shading the sail quickly, using little dots.
Lastly, I added some more shading and adjusted the ship rail. The final entry looked like this:
The image is based on the times when you're doing badly at the sailing puzzle, and the sail kind of hangs off its little stick on the indicator thing. Making the sail dark blue (like it is on the little indicator thing) looked too... dark/mingled in too much with the sky, so the sail is bluey-grey.
I was really stoked to win with this portrait background entry! (I think I was actually happier to win this time than I have been any other! =D) It definitely gave me the confidence boost I needed!
~Ad =)
