This piece started off as a practice for getting the hang of different light behaviours through various state forms (solid, liquid, gas) as well as producing a classic sic-fi airbrushed book cover style, inspired by Robert Beatty (the album cover artist for the likes of Tame Impala, Thee Oh Sees and Neon Indian) as well as No Mans Sky and Stranger Things.
Then on a separate layer with a custom brush I did the shading/lighting in black and white, although I often used various greys in place of black. Then I'd use a gradient on top of both the shape and shading layer to make it the colour I wanted. This was done on every part of the piece.
This is photo I took early on, to show a friend what I was doing. You can see how things are a randomly coloured, flat shape. Parts like the eyes, the star and the smoke were added near the end, free hand.
I hope you enjoyed this piece! Thanks for looking!
