My personal preference lays in a realistic style of painting. Moreover, I love cinematic scenes. To check if my colors are consistent, I constantly squint my eyes in order to check if color works or not.

After I've finished laying down main colors, I started to detail the character.

I wanted him to look semi-organic. It seems I am still under the influence of my Quake II adventures, so I created some sort of armor around his chest and head. (Fig. 06)

It may sound weird, but I enjoyed working on grass more than detailing the character itself. I also added some particles flying in the air in order to reinforce the atmosphere.

Post-Production

As I stated before, I love photorealistic and cinematic stuff, so I can't help myself but add some cinematic effects after the painting is done.

It is important to understand the main principles of photography. Most of the time one can notice that blurring occurs as you go away from a focal point. So in order to provide that, I use the 1 px radial (zoom) blur.

Another trick is in my use of a chromatic aberration. It looks like a shift of  RGB channels and adds a bit more of the realism to my pictures. Chromatic aberration is widely used by 3D artists in order to simulate photorealistic effects. I use the Digital Film Effects plug-in for Photoshop for this. (Fig. 07)


And the last thing I widely use in my art is grain. To fake the photography grain, I created a grey layer, applied noise to it, and then blurred the noise (Gaussian blur – 1px) I then set it up to overlay mode.

And here it goes. (Fig.08)

Conclusion

Being self-taught, it was a very serious challenge for me to grow as an artist.
I live and work in Tajikistan, a country that has no CG art schools, no cinemas and no modern entertainment. But I never gave up. Because what I need for painting is in my head and heart.
I love painting - that is where my heart is. The rest is in my head, so watch movies, play games, read books, travel and enjoy life.
Everything can be inspiration for you drawings.
Let the force be with you.
If you have any questions, feel free to contact me!
My characters say "thanks” for your attention. (Fig.09)