PAINT A VERDANT FANTASY SETTING

Richard Lay shares his process for designing a fantastical landscape through the use of various painting techniques

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I had an image in my mind of a wide, expansive landscape showing a large amount of depth.

I wanted to paint a scene with an alien-looking object of interest to help draw the viewer into the fantastical environment and give them a sense of wonder.

The final image looked a lot different from my initial concept of the landscape, as I expanded my ideas on the canvas to really sell the space and depth of the piece. I knew what I wanted to achieve overall, but much of getting to the final image was a case of figuring things out as I went along.

I wanted the alien object to be curvy. This is echoed in the design of the round dwellings, to help with the overall flow of the piece. The people who live here made the structure their place of refuge and built their homes on the land surrounding it.

I wanted to heighten this contrast by indicating that the town and the alien object are constructed from two distinctly different materials.