Tree of Life - Book 0. pg. 2. (Patreon)

I must say I'm very proud of how the first page turned out!

I added a few things that I didn't plan to in the first place, because I didn't know how to do them yet. When days ago I planned in my mind how the page would look like, I didn't expect how many other things it needed to look “complete”. But in the end I think I figured out everything to make the page really fit well with the characters and the mood. I'd like to share some of my realizations that led me to the result. The solutions were sooooo simple, but it was hard for me to figure them out.

The first one: One of my original plans was that to make the background just an empty blue space, and maybe add small leaves or flowers to indicate that it's a friendly place.  But the old man faded into the darkness in that way. Some source of light was badly needed. If I had used a blue light source, such as lamps, the old man would have been visible, but the blue would have suppressed every other color. So now different color was needed. The orange was the best choice, but at first I didn't dare to add too much. But I'm glad I did in the end. It helped to highlight so many things and spiced up the visual look of the page! It makes such a great contrast with Luna's blue too!   

And the second: Already at the beginning of the progress I thought I had to give up on Luna's glow around her body. I just felt like I haven't found the right way to do the glow easily and efficiently.  It really hurt because I always wanted to portray Luna with a glow in the comic. But at the last minute I was able to figure out a way I can add that glow in no time! I just made an extra layer about Luna and hided below her other layers. And then I found a smudge tool for slightly blur the edges with only a few strokes. And that's it!  

Thanks for reading, and I hope you like the real first page :D