February Contest WIP in progress: Bump in the Night(fall)

[chrisaakins]

I have in mind a kid snapping awake because he heard something in the shadows. (Most likely a monster falling... Get it? Nightfall??? Night...fall... Don't roll your eyes at me! The dad jokes are running strong with this one. ) I am going to try and paint this completely digitally in Photoshop as I would a traditional painting just to give it a try. Except with lots of layers.

So far I am liking the foreground. I will post my thumbnails in a bit. This is a detailed closeup.

I think the perspective looks off on the candlestick but I don't know how to draw clean ellipses in PS.

How do the brushwork and rendering look so far? I am going for a quasi-realistic look with some impressionistic brushwork.
Below is the idea:

[chrisaakins]

Here is the background. Photoshop question: How do I make it overall darker as a layer? (Besides repainting it?)

[Coley]

I think it's a fun concept. Dad jokes rule LoL.
I googled how to make ellipses in Photoshop recently and got some good videos. I forget the one I found that was useful but you might try that? As long as you know the square your ellipse sits in, you can transform your ellipse (ellipse tool) with transform ( distort function). Distort your ellipse to fit the square. I can try to find the video if you like. I think it was on Vimeo.

For darkening, I think if you used the paint bucket tool you could fill a new layer with a darker color. Then set to multiply and it would make your layer darker. You could even erase out some lights as you go. I'm no Photoshop expert so there are others who can probably explain things differently or better!!!!

[chrisaakins]

@Coley Thank you for the tech support. I think I will see how all the layers go together before I make some changes.

More Progress:

I am really having a good time with this! I feel like this is shaping up to be one of the best pieces I have done so far.

I realize that the background will need some more work.

[KathrynAdebayo]

Can’t wait to see the monster painted

[braden H]

@chrisaakins I do like the sleepy 'just woken up look' on the kid's face!

[chrisaakins]

Here is it , mostly finished. I need to work on the Monster a little.

Question: Does the Monster look like he is falling?
How is the lighting?
Are there any glaring issues you see?
Do you like it?
Does it tell a good story?
Is it a boring pic?
Do I need more details?

[Nyrryl Cadiz]

@chrisaakins hi Chris! I have a few issues with this piece. I might get a little harsh so before I post them, I’d like to ask for your permission. Thanks

[chrisaakins]

@Nyrryl-Cadiz it's okay. I did ask for brutal honesty. I am probably going to redo it anyway if I have time.

[Nyrryl Cadiz]

@chrisaakins cool. I posted on your other thread.