This is a newer wip...
Below is a simple compilation of steps basically for reminding myself (getting old) the steps I did. I always just fudge along until sometime works and den totally forget it the next day. And its getting tedious. Anyone seeing this, if u got some tips, pls comment.
- Breakdown into background, midGround and foreground.
- Use different flat colors and layers to differenciate them for a start.
- Using different colors and gradient tool, adjust saturation and opacity to give the image some subtle color changes.
- Use Soft brush with Shape Dynamics. Use broad Strokes to lighten section of sky. Again just to introduce some difference in density in the sky.
- Add far clouds on new layer.
- USe custom brush that is soft and cloud-like..... Pay attention to where the light source is. Also paint contrastingly to light the clouds from background. E.g light on dark, orange on blue. Use Low opacity(like 20% and below) on brush and build up gradually.
-Remember to maintain the illusion of volume of the clouds.
- Use color dodge to get the strong rays of light hitting the clouds
- If you fail to paint manually or is a lazy git, photo manipulation with cut and paste saves you a lot of time. But the rules above the apply in terms of colors and how light works
- Reference, reference and more reference.
- IMPORTANT! Be careful of the range of colors used. As intense as a sunset is, the colors are fairly consistent. Eg. The strong highlights should all be the same hue. But as the sunlight travels further into more atmostphere. The color gets redder and less intense.
Below is an earlier attempt that was quite simply fugly. For your amusement on how not to paint a sunset.
