Shrine Lighting Studies

A young traveller stumbles upon an abandoned shrine in the middle of the forest.

Running a scene through different times of day doesn't just exercise color and value usage. It also informs the mood of the piece, and can provide variations - hopeful, spooky, triumphant - that may not have been considered at first.

Process Work

Right: Thumbnail sketching for the composition. These thumbnails were done only in black and gray, staying fairly abstract and building up interesting shapes.

Below: Value studies on the cleaned-up comp, solving the lighting of each time of day before worrying about color.

Values and contrast first, color second. Strong lighting can salvage weak colors, but strong colors can't salvage weak lighting!