“Dreaming”

“One day it will have to be officially admitted that what we have christened reality is an even greater illusion than the world of dreams.“

- Salvador Dali

The original sketch

My artwork "Dreaming" has gone through various stages. It all started with an inspiring image on Pinterest. I quickly sketched out the idea and what I wanted to do with it, how I could incorporate my night style. The concept is based on a bubble in which there is a small nocturnal scene, in a forest, perhaps in a misty clearing, and a wooden hut. It was important to me that there were two moons, a large out-of-focus one in the background and a small sharp one in the night scene in the bubble. I only came up with some ideas during the editing process, but more about that later. First of all, it was about finding the right pictures.

Matching pictures

I started with the rock and the hut I found on Unsplash. All the images I used are linked below, as always. Then I needed a matching bladder. My first design didn't have a colour yet, which I only added later with another coloured bubble. Little by little I gathered all the tree stumps and the cat and took care of merging the images. I also drew in the light and shadows coming from both moons. To further match the images, I added a layer of colour on top to blend the images and make the atmosphere a little warmer. At the very end, I decided against a sunflower and in favour of a tail of light coming out of the window to represent a dream escaping the bubble, crossing borders.

Colors and atmosphere

Finally, it was about the colours and the atmosphere. Since the image was still too blue and cold for me, I applied a warm, reddish tone over everything and played with the fade modes. This made the picture more pleasing to me. Then I added the fog and made the axe a little darker to blend everything a little better.

I hope you like it. Stay surreal!