Stage Set

This is when I get involved with the positioning of the camera and the angles.  From there I decide on what I want to see from the lens and start creating the ground with all the texture and reflection maps and I also start putting in the boy and the rocks.  Here I rely not only on my painting skills but soak into my photography background to create the set which is very important to establish the mood of the story.

Lighting

In this scene I rely on two lights & GI: one of the lights behind the character and the other is at an angle to the front.  GI is using a global color that I carefully choose to get the best result and effect.




Rendering

I would now put together all the final details onto the camera like DOF and anti-aliasing. Also, I would render one go with all the objects, then I would render every element on its own, so that I can get better control while compositing on PSD


Compositing

Then get into the PSD and align the layers on each other.  I would start illustrating the smoke by creating many layers of transparent smoke effects using my Cintiq monitor to paint in these details.  Also the birds and the sky would be put in position with a view to adjusting the look of these elements.  By this time, the image will be getting near to its final look, and I might again adjust the overall colors. 



With the tools we have today, the work flow is much better and I would always encourage the artist not to be restricted with one application, but go into all the tools that will help him create a better art piece.  I would say that we are lucky to have all these tools and life has never been easier for the CG artist ;). Finally, I would like to say thanks to CGArena for giving this chance and others to show around the world how different artists think when they create their art work.

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