Step 5

Alright now it was time for detail – my favorite part!
I used a Hard Edge brush and start adding as much detail as I could, just using lighter and darker tones of grays. I also modified the face of this big boy to make it look more convincing.

As you can see, the image now had color. I started experimenting with different color schemes. Browns are commonly my first option, but eventually I changed to other colors such as green, blue and grey. Everything depends on your style. I painted the sky with a mid-brown, and the mechs with a very desaturated brown. This also added contrast between both things (Fig.05).

Step 6

I kept experimenting with colors. I added some red to the sky and the ground, and then I noticed the picture was getting too monochromatic or "reddish”. So I changed that on the final step. I also modified the sky (to make it look more realistic), and added some soldiers here and there. You may think that is just a simple detail, but the soldiers actually helped to reinforce the scale of the scene.

I carried on doing post-work here and there. I added some dust on the floor, finished the buildings in the background, and added some details to the clouds, some lights to the mechs and some detail to the robots as well. Brightness and contrast is something you should also consider when you are about to finish (notice the contrast difference between this step and the previous one) (Fig.06).

Step 7

So by this point the color had been turned into a yellowish green. This color scheme looked better to me. It made the robot stand out even more, and the atmosphere seemed quite interesting as well. And with that the work was finished and ready to receive my signature! (Fig.07).

I hope you enjoyed this Making Of and that it will help you with your own work.