Here's the finish line. I add goblin silouettes in the dust and make some more minute adjustments. Correct the levels. Sharpen a bit... And it's ready!
Here are the stages:
6. Useful Advices for Beginners
6.1 Considering layers.
Do not pay too much attention to layers. When I was starting my painting career I was literally obsessed by them, putting tens of layers in every painting. It seemed to be handy, but the more layers I created, the more I was dominated by them. Technical manipulations with layers took too much of my time and attention, pushing the creativity aside. On the other hand, just dividing background from foreground is often enough to save you from a lot of troubles later while editing. Nevertheless, even this rule is often neglected by me.
6.2 Light sources
It is important to define where the light sources are, and think of them while drawing. With time you're getting accustomed to keep these light sources in mind and trace them mentally - so-called Brain Powered Raytrace Engine :) One shouldn't forget that lighted and shadowed areas have opposite hues (in color circle). For example, an object highlighted by red light will have a greenish shadow. On open air, the sky is creating an additional light source: in bright sunny day the shadows have a bluish tint because they are illuminated by blue sky.
6.3 Highlights and reflexes
Highlight is when a light source is reflected in an object, while reflex means that object is reflecting its surroundings. Shape and intensity of a highlight tell us a lot about object's substance; reflex, on the other hand, joins the object to its surroundings. If you want to include an object into its surroundings properly, you shouldn't forget about reflexes (and about lightning, too). I've noticed that paintings of artists who do not pay enough attention to reflexes and highlights seem to be dry and lifeless. On the other hand, if reflexes and highlights are drawn with enough attention, the painting becomes rich and tasty.
6.4 Stages
My work is divided on the following stages: 1. Rough Sketch (paper). 2. Exact Sketch, the "framework" (white background, pencil drawing on a transparent layer). 3. Global color gamut (painted on the background layer). 4. Merging the layers and rendering the details. All changes are made on a new layer first; if they seem to be good, this layer is merged with the previous one. 5. Final detailing and polishing. This doesn't mean you should stick to this sequence - just formulate your approach and keep it. And don't forget to experiment.
6.5 Flip horizontal
Assign this function to a hotkey. When you're working on the same painting for a long while, your eye become tired and do not grasp mistakes as easily. Horizontal flip allows you to look at the painting from a new angle.
6.6 Advice from my past experience as graphic designer
If a designer starts his work at his drawing program at the moment the task was set for him... He's a bad designer. Seriously, you should give yourself some time and means to think your task over. Your mind, your imagination work hundred times as fast as your PC. So, you shouldn't limit yourself with its speed. To sketch or mark something, paper is much better. You should have a fully generated idea when you're starting work on your PC. As they say, "look before you leap".
6.7 Final hints
You should avoid parallel lines and objects of similar scale: that's boring. Do not forget about dynamics. And, in general, "basics of a composition" should never be neglected!
P.S.: Here I present the stages of creating my Undead Sea painting:
