Project 1

For my Project 1, I decided to create a griffin. His head and body is mainly based off of a bald eagle with a few modifications (such as the obvious color and head additions). Griffins are large flying creatures that I always picture having the easiest time living on cliffs where they can take off by simply running to the edge and gliding off as opposed to trying to lumber up from standing still on the ground. So that's why the background is a cliff face.

My workflow was pretty simple. I did outlines of both the griffin and the environment. Then I added color on top of it in different layers and at different opacities. I used the smudge tool a lot especially on the sky and the lower layers of both the environment and the creature. Each separate element basically has its own layer. The sky, cliff, and the two levels of trees have their own layers. There's a small adjustment layer on the sky as well. The griffin's beak and eyes are separate layers from the actual body which is made up of about four or five different layers, each with varying colors and opacities on them. The higher layers of the eagle are more transparent, allowing some of the color variations created on the lower layers through use of the smudge tool to show through slightly.