SPACE

Before this first image I had put in an hour or so sketching ideas for what the satellite would look like. Dan (the writer) had envisioned a satellite that launches these sensor balls that detect minerals and other elements...



As is typical I start (from looking at a loose sketch for ideas/compositional thumbnails, I start with light-blue. I use a mechanical pencil. because every step after this I start to lose detail- so the more information the better.



You'll notice that the satellite is the only element that has ink on this- this is for depth using atmospheric effect. Things farther away appear dim and adjust to the local air . I did the shadows before the clouds (leaving the clouds white corresponding to their shadows on the planet) but I should've done the reverse, as I struggled to define the clouds based on shadows and not vise versa.



Well I king of go through all the colors. Starting with earthy tones for shadow, and keep building and building and building. Thats all there is too it. You have to build the piece up and up and stop when u get tired. then come back to it. Just jump in and not be afraid to ruin it (when it is looking good). I would rather learn from 10 bad drawings than only have attempted 1 perfect one.