The Joy of Designing: Workshop One
Contestant Deadline: 4/29

Hello all ~

Alongside the Joy of Designing Contest, I will be holding some design workshops. These workshops are open to everyone, so please feel free to join in. All contestants who participate in the workshop will earn an additional vote on their designs for the week! There are two types of workshops: one focuses on developing design skills, while the other focuses on giving back to the community. (: If you choose to participate, I'd love to see what you come up with - please feel free to post!


Wonders of the World - Design Workshop

This week's workshop focuses on design skills. Design workshops will be tailored to the next rounds theme. Please note any designs created in this workshop cannot be used in the contest!

With the current round being tailored to the wonders of the world (ancient, modern, and natural) I wanted to focus this workshop on breaking down some of the complexities of these designs. References of these wonders can be enormously helpful in guiding the design process, but capturing the entirety of one of these wonders in complexity and color can be extremely difficult.

We are going to break down my personal thought process when dealing with a complex reference. This workshop will work best when using images of cityscapes, oceanscapes, starscapes, and landscapes, but can be tailored to most picture references! :) If you don't want to search around for an image to try this workshop with, I have provided a set of photos below which are perfect for going through the workshop.

If you are a contestant: Please post the picture you used, final product, and one in progress screenshot of your work in the art program you choose to use.

Images

Step One

Take your selected picture - either one from above, or one of you own choosing - and place it into an art program. Most computers, PC or Mac, will come with one - you may use a more advanced program if you wish and there are also several free programs. For this workshop I will be using MS Paint. Place the image in your program and identify areas of the picture where you'd like to take colors from.

All areas I selected colors from in this image are highlighted with a white square. Doing so may help you not repeat colors from similar areas and help you remember where you've already taken colors from!



Step Two

Your program should feature a color picker tool - this tool is often displayed as an eye dropper. It allows you to lift the colors from an image and create a palette from the picture. I used the eye dropper tool in all the areas I selected with white squares. Simply use the tool in the area and create a palette out to the side of the image.



Step Three

Now you've selected the colors you want to use, you want to organize you palette. I have sorted mine by color: greenish blues to blues and then red to yellows. Based on the picture and the range of colors, I have selected the bases colors and accents: the blues/greens to be my base colors, while the reds to yellows will serve as accent colors. The blues/greens serve as my bases because the city is darker and illuminated by the more vibrant orange. Now it is likely you won't use every color you selected, but it is better to have too many than too few.



Step Four

When translating to this into the generator, I select my Sylesti of choice for the design, and start using the color picker on Sylestia to get as close to the colors in my palette as possible - this might take a little trial and error. (: And how much of which color used will depend on the species selected. For now, I am going to work with a puffadore as it is a fairly popular species.



Step Five

Majority of the time, your sylesti's body color will be a more middle of the road color and the lighter and darker shades will be used to create highlights and lowlights. Runes are often used as an accent color or highlight feature. Mutations that affect the body shape, such as tail mutations, tend to use base colors. Mutations that add features to the animal instead of alter shapes (like all puffadore mutations) are better for featuring accent colors. (:



You will notice with this puffadore, I elected to make a 5-vis. This is because the bodies of puffadores can get quite busy. Thus, I treat G2, like the rune slot and use an accent color in this place. (: The clouded leopard G1 trait helps mimic the water, white the pearl armor M1 pulls inspiration from the structure of the buildings. The more you are able to get the traits to mimic look and texture, the better it translates.

Final Product: Dubai Puffadore!

Sorry if Im not allowed to post here, but may I please be taken off the Ping List? I decided a bit ago that I would not have time for this contest due to other real life priorities. That Dubai Puff is lovely, though.

Thanks,
Pickless

Oh wow! This is lovely! I'd love to participate!

Feel free to select an image above or of your choosing, go through the steps, and post your final product! I'd love to see what you come up with. :)

Are we allowed to use Ferriki or is that out of the question? Just wondering before I get into it ^-^

You are welcome to use any species you'd like! (: