PSDFan Extra

A Behind the Scenes Look at the Work Processes of World Renowned Artists

At PSD.FanExtra we believe that the best way to learn is from experts in your field. That’s why we employ some of the best tutorial writers and bring you regular quality content.

Tutorials are great, but I often find myself looking at work from some of the world’s top digital artists and wondering about the thought processes, techniques and workflows used to create such incredible art. I always think ‘if I only I could get my hands on their original Photoshop files I’d be able to break down exactly what makes their work so awesome!’.

Well that’s exactly what we aim to offer you guys, as part of our new series ‘Artist Breakdown’. We’re going to be talking to some of the world’s most respected digital artist’s and offering an insight into how they’ve created some of their most popular works. We’ll also provide a full .psd source file for our FanExtra members to explore. This will allow you to look through every layer, object, blending option and technique used. It’s a true behind the scenes look into some world-class work, and we hope you enjoy it!

Artist Breakdown #5. Edmar Cisneros: Herald (Source File Available)

Today we’ll be talking with Edmar Cisneros about his stunning piece Herald. You can check out more of Edmar’s work at his deviantart profile.

1. Herald has a very layered feel to it, which gives the piece plenty of depth. How do you decide which elements to layer up and construct your composition?

I usually just think about the concept and what I´m trying express with the illustration then I choose some different stock images or I do some quick renders in Cinema4D and then decide which of those elements I´m gonna use as I progress with the image.I also choose at this point the composition and the color palette (which may change as I go along with the illustration).

2. What is the theme behind the piece? What concepts were you trying to portray in the design?

I built my concept around the word Herald and one of it´s meanings : “A ploclaimer or a person who brings important news.” From that I started building my own abstract interpretation of it.

3. Could you give us a rough outline of the workflow for creating this type of piece? What techniques did you utilize?

I started out with the Head as a main focal point and started doing some color tratments of the skin to get the dark color.After that I rendered some branch like shapes on Cinema4D and started arranging them in a way that I felt had movement and felt organic.Then I started with the light effects placing around some nebula stock images to exalt the importance of the main character or “the message” and the then I worked on the depth rendering some more abstract shapes and using them to contrast on the background.The last step was to work on the details like the golden paint stroke across the head and the little light details on the branches.

Source File for ‘Herald’

FanExtra members are able to access the .psd source file for Herald, allowing them to see the specific workflows and techniques being used to construct the piece. (If you’re not already a FanExtra member you can sign up today.)

Existing members can login here to access this source file.

About the Author:

Tom is the founder of PSDFAN. He loves writing tutorials, learning more about design and interacting with the community. On a more interesting note he can also play guitar hero drunk with his teeth.

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