I'm itching to just merge all the layers and just paint on top, but I still think there's some work left to do that'd benefit from the piece not being merged.

Size and positions of characters have been adjusted once again - perhaps for the last time.
I regret trying to eyeball it all in the first place, rather than using a perspective grid. The added shadows instantly connects the characters to the ground (as expected), and I'm kind of feeling like adding some mist here and there to create more depth between the characters.

Becase the clouds had so much brushwork details, they created a lot of noise and drew attention away from the shieldmaden, so I softened them and will aim to bring back some of the details to the clouds in the center.

Lots of very dark spots, such as the top corners and all over the shieldmaiden. Both are something I think makes the piece look a little muddy. I'll have to check that too.

edit:
And I also shrunk the mountains. It made a huge difference and I suspect they (pronoun for mountains??) were the reason the depth of the piece was thrown off somewhat.

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@prinzmoana
Bruh, I wish I got into top 30. That'd be so cool.
Glad you're enjoying my talkative side.

For today's update, I've done some more tweaks to the shieldmaiden and fixed her hair.
More importantly though, I've polished pretty much the entire sky. Mostly focused on getting that almost divine look to the clouds around her head and bringing back some subtle texture to the rest.

I wasn't quite happy with the mountains and the forest, so those two recieved a paintover. They seemed a bit too dark and the lack of intentionally implied detail messed a little with the depth of the image.

I'm feeling quite good about all the things I did today, so I'm probably not going to touch those part any more than this. Now they're finished.

Moving forward, I'll be working my way from the "army" in the midground and make my way to the front and finish it with details and some adjustment layers.

Turns out I was right about adding in some mist and how it'd effect the overall image.
I had a hunch that it'd strengthen the depth and mood of the image and it did.
With the addition of painting in the grass, it all just comes together neatly.

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There are a couple of things I might add, depending on how good they look:

1) "Foreground grass" - maybe a few strands that pop up in front of the camera to further enhance the levels of depth.

2) Random flying stuff - perhaps some leaves or grass strands being thrown around by the wind. If placed right can enhance the compositon of the image.

3) Dandelions - The rougher drawings had flowers in the laurels, so maybe I should look into bringing some back? They're also a very summer-y flower, so putting some down around them would not only add more stuff to the piece, but also help enforce the depth.

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Thinking about these kinds of things should prevent me from aimlessly cluttering the image and ruining what I've got going.

Not much left at all now, as the next one might be the final.
Quite exciting to see things coming to an end!

Name: John Dahglren
Email: Kuya.Dahlgren@gmail.com
Website: morecado.com
Twitter: twitter.com/morecado
Instagram: instagram.com/morecado/
ArtStation: artstation.com/morecado

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And that's a wrap!
After doing some minor tweaks and final detail work, I reached a point I'm happy with.
I tried out some of the stuff mentioned in the last update, but they didn't quite have the desired effect on the piece.

I had a lot of fun working on this and I'm very happy for the nice comments people left.
In the previous years I participated in I was a little scared of drawing environments/scenes, so this year felt like a good step up and confrontation of my fears.

Hopefully I'll be able to participate next time again!