Lava Monster

This week we were learning how to do glow effects in Photoshop, and what could be a more appropriate topic for this than lava?

First off we started with a bit of experimentation - using painted layers and photos of lava and applying the glow to them.

I quickly found I preferred the look of the glow on the photos, as it would apply the glow within as well, giving a hyper-realistic look to it.

Then we practiced with a paintover of a model; specifically, this one.

I decided to make it so the lava was holding the rocks together as an adhesive, so I started with painting thin strips of orange in between the visible lumps. Adding a glow effect, I then used a yellow to add luminescence, and more orange on a low opacity brush to add bounce light from the background.

I used this as an excuse to mess around with photobashing a background for the piece as well. The foreground (the "stream" of lava) I am happy with, but there is something about the background that does not work so well.

We then were tasked with coming up with our own designs for a lava monster at home. I started with a page of doodles, and took the design I was most happy with.

I chose the floating rocky eye one in the top left, and decided to do three variations of it after finding some really cool boulder references.