60+ HOUR ART ILLUSTRATION, Fantasy Marketplace, Took soo long..Steps + GIF
Hello everyone! Its been a while. Im still making art and working on projects of course, I just got stuck on this one for a bit. You artists every get stuck on a project or commission that is so daunting that it just takes forever???? WELL this is it. I lost count of hours, I even lost count of the video since the file was so huge my pc kept freezing so I stopped recording my process. BUT ITS DONE!!! And I shall share with you all my trials and tribulations with this piece... please enjoy :).
ARE YOU READY TO HEAR OF MY PAIN AND STRUGGLE??? HAHHA just kidding... but seriously this was tough stuff.
STEP 1!!!!! All these rough drafts...
Well with any project that I take on I take it very seriously. And with seriousness comes deep thought.... SO Im not going to just start throwing color down on my digital page and hope it comes out some amazing market... I have to first think, and then sketch... and then think some more... and then think even deeper because I've never done any type of perspective scenic piece before. BUT I accept and decide to do it so I can make myself suffer and learn lol XD Here are all my sketches in a row.
Hmm yes... I can feel the market here.. But its just my first draft and I dont like the angle..
I continue with it anyways.... NOPE Denied.. Time for another.
Hmm.... closer I believe. I like the angle, and all the energy going around but Im not sure.. Ill spend more time on it..
Before I went too deep.. I scrapped this too... NEXT
Well this is a sad excuse for a sketch... but I like it... More??
OK I can possibly work with this, its getting pretty close to what I had originally in my head.... move on please.
AAHHHH yes.... the first figures appear. I think I am definitely gonna like this....... or hate it completely... lol
STEP 2. THE LINES THE LINES!!
After a VERY VERY long step one we can move on to step two, I simply took all my understudy and created lines. I can tell you now that all these lines are crap and wont be in the final but we all gotta start somewhere ;).
STEP 3. UNDERCOLOR!!!! And more design work.... and the problems that persist.
SO now Ive begun. I started coloring underneath and also a few spots above as well... Its already been so many hours and Ive only just begun.
WOOOO and now hours later I started coloring the main girl.... SIGH I need some coffee... -_-
NOW This part really upset me. I had to delete all the background and teach myself about a bit of perspective. I had to create a waypoint and make sure all the angles fit accordingly.. I had never done this before. SO now I guess I could call this step done.
Step 4 Re designing adding and painting....
These next steps took so very long. As I looked at the screen I could see how bare it was, and it did not match the image in my head at all so I had to start to work hard... like REALLY hard. Im used to drawing characters not full scenes...
Oh those bricks, I bet I could of found an easier way to do them but I chose the hard way... its ok :)
Now I think the buildings are done... still hating it.. -_
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OHHHH at this point I was really happy. I remember listening to pet cemetery, by stephen king, an audiobook and I was just so relieved that the clouds looked so well :) ONWARD!!
Step 4. Filling in the spaces and adding more... more details more please.
At this point I was starting to be a bit happier about it but... It was still so bare, so many lines to be drawn AND I was ohhh so bored of it. Oh well.. have to move on.
OHHHH more people and all these shop accessories... still so much more to go...
AHHHHH FINALLY! At this point.. which had to been at 30+hours later I could finally start to see the light.. FINALLY start to envision the end... More people.... more life... more convincing light..
STEP 5. THE END STEPS... might be close, but not even close at the same time... I know frustrating.
The last part of this took days.. No kidding.. but here are the final results ...
So much refining and more painting and fixing and second guessing myself...
BUT THE COMMISSIONER WAS SOOO HAPPY!! XD
That means Im done... I hope you guys enjoyed this VERY detailed tutorial.
HERES THE MAGIC https://giphy.com/gifs/feiNJjSVlELcB3futu/html5
ALRIGHT!!! Well My name Is Nycto for those of you who dont know me :).. BE SURE TO FOLLOW ME for lots more art and tutorials.. Have a great weekend everyone ^_^.
-Nycto 
Damn! This is fascinating and fantastic!
The hours were well worth it. The final product is incredible buddy.
woooo thank you so much @calumam XD My client was quite pleased as well!! Thanks so much for commenting.
WOAH! That is some crazy stuff! Thanks for sharing it with us. :heart_eyes: :) looking forward for next pieces!!!
Glad you are back and posting - amazing stuff as always!
I'm not really sure, but I think the gif is bugged, at least for my little machine. - not that I need it :D
Thanks so much @svemirac XD Im so glad you enjoyed this process! And oh yesss I have much more on the way :) thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment!
What an amazing posting. Well done, well done :)
Thanks so much bro! =D Glad you liked this one.
Hi nyctoinc,
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WOW!!! Thank you SOOOO much @curie =D Ive never had to many votes on a post before. I will do my best to create content just like this one! ^_^
It’s so easy to get lost in our ideas, isn’t it. And, perspective mistakes can be the worst to correct – it’s a lot easier these days with digital art than in the old days when you had to plot the perspective out with actual math you had to work out on your own. LOL
Your final product is terrific. It kind of reminds me of Robert Asprin’s Myth series cover art.
I followed your links from the @curie chat on Discord.
Thank you so much @momzillanc Im glad you like the final product! It was quite a process... and yea deleting/erasing things is MUCH easier these days than back in the old traditional design days. I still Had to do plenty of math and plotting out points of perspective... still hard but Not as hard as back when it was only on paper :). Thanks again for commenting!!
I'm so glad I stumbled upon your post! This is so amazing!!♥ Feels like its in a fantasy RPG!☺ followed!
I like your thought process. I'm very much interested in creating my own digital art if only I could squeeze it in my time.
Congrats on the curie upvote!
Thank you very kindly @iammegankylie =D This was a really long process so I wanted to try my best to share all my thoughts and steps! Im so glad you enjoyed my post =D
You have been scouted by @promo-mentors.
We are a community of new and veteran Steemians and we are always on the lookout for promising authors.
I would like to invite you to our discord group https://discord.gg/vDPAFqb.
When you are there send me a message if you get lost! (My Discord name is the same as here on Steemit)
Thanks man! I totally joined! :) Ill get on discord in a bit here and introduce myself!
Hi @nyctoinc ,
Love your dedication to the piece. So many intricate details in there. Great work!
This post was nominated by a @curie curator to be featured in an upcoming Author Showcase that will be posted Late Friday/Early Saturday (U.S. time) on the @curie blog.
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Thanks for your time and for creating great content.
Gene (@curie curator)
I have no idea how I missed this earlier. Plainly put, it's amazing and a testament to hard work, discipline, and the willingness to go back and rework earlier issues.
You wrote that you're mainly used to doing characters and not scenes, I've gotta say that that does not show here. You've created a vibrant little marketplace with plenty of attention to detail everywhere. I could totally see this on one the cover of one of the fantasy books from my youth.