'Photoshop'

Software Used :

My brother Surat Toimastov is professional photographer who travels a lot and shoots different places here in Tajikistan. Looking through his amazing pictures sometimes I am really shocked by how beautiful and mysterious these places can be.

So the story of this image begins from this photo (Fig.01), which was taken somewhere in the Pamir Mountains. I was really inspired by this photo and started to imagine some kind of structurs or industrial complex just behind that horizon line.

So I took the photo and quickly put the main forms and ideas down as a quick sketch (Fig.02). I wanted this structure to rise over the top of the mountain and wanted to really emphasize the size of this structure. I also wanted to have the people in the image arriving at some kind of arctic base or something similar and so I put some guards and flying machines along their path.

After establishing the main composition and shapes I tried to establish the mood that I wanted to deliver (Fig.03). I wanted to go with blue-cyanish color palette that could reinforce the cold and snow-filled atmosphere that is common at these high altitudes. I also added some lights and spot lights to make the place come to life.

Up to this point, there were no difficult technical issues in terms of the drawing; everything was simply created by using basic Photoshop brushes. The only thing I want to mention is my use of the Lasso tool (L). To create these sharp and straight lines I selected the desired region with the Lasso tool and painted inside it with a brush.

Besides the mood, I was also thinking about title for this image and I ended up with “Welcome to 2010”. You can see it painted on the main building. Why not? I thought that this image could reflect my own wish to move to somewhere more technological and sophisticated in this brand new decade.

Anyway, let’s return to the painting. After I was happy with the overall structure of the image, the long process of detailing started. If you are trying to paint some industrial or technical stuff, it is good to plot the perspective grid (Fig.04). For this you can use Line tool (U).

I plotted my perspective grid with different colors. Each point stands out for a vanishing point. The amount of vanishing points depends on the structure and the camera angle you want to go with. Of course at this stage basic perspective knowledge is very welcome. Otherwise you can spend a lot of time detailing the piece, but if perspective is not right your image won`t work.

So I think that in the case of this image in particular, correct perspective was one of the crucial things. Also to reinforce vertical perspective lines, I put some spot lights flashing directly to the sky.

After setting up the right perspective, I started to detail the main building (Fig.05). This was the most time consuming part of the creation process with a lot of selection with the Lasso tool and painting.  To make it more realistic I used textured brushes to simulate the concrete texture of the building.  To be familiar with industrial buildings it is good to go through some photo references. Look through some factories, nuclear reactors or whatever you can find. Because even if you are trying to create something original, you have to base it on something that people are familiar with.

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