I was supposed to be doing something else but I was sidetracked. Procrastination Castle is the result.

While cataloguing sketches I rendered this black and white image using the basics of Paint.net. A few cups of coffee later this was the result ... only this time I took a few screen shots. Being a noob to Blogger I am redoing this post, pah.

The process: take 1 graphics tablet, pen and computer: add a paint program and an image. Now have fun . . . well I did.

First layer holds the image, subsequent layers are used for base colours then each stage of rendering and detail. I find it's easier to only merge similar layers after completely happy with the result. Although 'undo' works on layering controls too . . . came in handy a couple of times -ok, several times.

The background colours for the sea were done quite simply -select primary and secondary colours, select clouds and fiddle with settings.

The clouds were rendered using gaussian blur -also good for smoke effects. I drew some streaks in different colours then added blur, adjusting the settings until I was happy with the result. Took all of 3 minutes, hehe!

Using layers is a very convenient way of working . . . but don't do as I did, again. As the settings such as opacity or overlay vary between layers, merging too early changes overall saturation, hue or contrast levels. Poor cats were shouted at when I did that . . .