Altered States Part 2 - Final Piece

Above: Final piece version 1

Above: Final piece version 2

I have detailed my process for creating the final pieces below. Below that is a time-lapse to go with it, showing everything I am describing.

I started by plotting out the composition using my initial background sketch. I ended up enlarging the sketch and only using a part of it, because I felt being able to see more of the door looked a lot better.

I used white to make a hazy blurred line between the two halves, and experimented a bit with different effects to make it look a little more interesting. I settled for a speckley effect that looked somewhat like sparks from a flame. I later changed the white to a light yellow colour, as I felt the white would look too harsh.

I then started on detailing the background. I referenced the Google Earth screenshot off screen, and picked out the colours for shading and highlighting on my own so that it all blended a little more smoothly.

When I finished with the detailing, I added a Gaussian blur to the whole thing at a strength of 5%. I did this so that it would be easy to see the difference between the background and the character later. I went with 5% strength because I didn't want to obscure all of that detail I just added in.

I duplicated this finished background to use it again and adapt it for the other side in order to save time.

While I was working I rotated my canvas so that the dystopian side of the drawing was the right way up, but the time-lapse didn't rotate, so the next section will be upside down.

I started adding a lot of greenery to the building, using my mood sheet for inspiration and reference off screen. I made a hole in the door to add a bit more to the worn down look at this stage.

I made sure to add Gaussian blur at the same strength as before to all of the modifications so that everything would fit together seamlessly.

I used off screen reference to sketch out the final poses for my character. I'm glad that I kept checking the time-lapse footage during the process, or I wouldn't have noticed the visual issue at this point. While I was working on the dystopian character sketch, I had a light coloured layer between the sketch and the background so that I could see what I was doing, but for some reason it didn't show in the video. I figured out that I had somehow made this layer 'private' by mistake, so it doesn't show up in the footage. I didn't know how to un-private the layer, so I just hid the background layer while working instead.

During the sketching process I took a break and zoomed out. It was at this point I decided that I was drawing too small, so I made the sketch a bit bigger to fill the space better.

I imported the colour swatch palette from my sketch files and started colouring the sketch. I had been on the fence about how I should go about colouring my character in the final piece the whole time, so I let myself zone out a bit to see what I would do naturally without too much thought. I usually colour within linework, but while laying down my flat colour I started setting it up in the same way that I had done the background- without relying on heavy linework. I decided to roll with it instead of changing it, and I am so glad I did. I feel that it looks a lot better than it would have with linework.

After finishing the flat colour, I started shading and highlighting. I picked out a lot more colours for this than I had in the swatch palette, so I made sure to add the new ones I was using to the palette as I went, so that I could use them again easily if I needed to. This was really useful to me throughout the entire piece, so I'm glad I decided to do this. I think I will do this with every piece in future.

I repeated this process again with the steampunk side, but I made sure to hide the background layer for the sake of the time-lapse this time. While I was drawing the ruffles for the skirt (I still really struggle with ruffles, I need a lot more practice), you may notice that I changed parts of the sketch to red instead of black. I did this so that when I coloured it later, it would be easier to differentiate between the ruffles that needed to be brown and the ones that needed to be that cream/off-white colour. This made it so much easier.

With all of the drawing done, it was time for the final touches.

I decided that I wanted the box art to be for a game made for the Nintendo Switch console, as that is the main console I myself use, and I like the format for those boxes. I looked at the box for one of my favourite games to see where the console logo and age rating information went, and imported those images into the canvas. I sized and placed them appropriately on a layer above everything else.

As for the name of the game, it was both the hardest and easiest decision of the whole project.

I have spent the entire project debating the name of the game, only to come up completely blank every time I tried to sit down and come up with one. While I was looking for a font that I liked, I had a word document open to test ones that I already had. I used the words 'Altered States' as a placeholder until I could come up with a name for the game, but then I realised what a great name it already was. It all seemed so simple at that point- name the game after the project. I eventually found a font that I liked on DaFont.com , called Timotheos.

I used a trick I picked up while working on Picture House, and I used a blurred black layer under the white title in order to make it stand out a little more.

I merged the title, console logo and age rating images into one layer at the very top. I exported the piece as it was, then I rotated the canvas and the layer through 180° and exported it again.

This way, there would be two versions of the final piece, with both sides of the image getting to be upright once each.

With this, my final pieces were finished.

Above: Time-lapse video from Procreate showing how I made my final piece