The Path [Fan Art] - Sharing my process

Hello everyone!

So, I decided to share a bit of my art process. Every time I join the challenge some fellow exile's ask me how it's done or what program i use to paint, so maybe this can be useful, or at least, interesting!
My weapon of choice for this art was Adobe Photoshop CS15 :)

PS: I'm from Brazil, so I'm not a native speaker - sorry for any bad engrish momments ):

This is The Path (you can find it in a better resolution here https://www.artstation.com/artwork/JnKkz



[STEP ONE]First thing is the theme/style - This time the league was not the theme, just "Path of Exile", so I decided to make something around the whole game instead of one character or place.

I wanted to execute this idea for a while, but never got the chance or time to do it. Perfect timing GGG, thank you!

So, I knew I wanted to tell the story we go trough the game. The Path - of the exile. Places, monsters, characters, artifacts, dreams, gems, fishing... How do you start something this big?
You make a moodboard. Here's what I did:



This board makes everything easier. I know all the pieces now, i just have to fit them together in one image. I've lost some of the topics during the process, but that's ok!

[STEP TWO] References! Path of Exile is an isometric game, so everything looks small and you can barely see the monsters you're smashing sometimes so I had to grab all the references I could in order to be able to represent Wraeclast correctly - GOOGLE TIME - grab a lot of images, concept art, screen shots, fan art, original art etc. Also, i wanted to make it look like a giant stained glass, so i grabbed some references to that too.

Many references i took straight from the game. Log In - walk to the zone i needed and take screenshots. Mostly with bosses like Malachai, Daresso and Vaal Oversoul. The result of this process is something similar to this board:



[STEP THREE] ME! Yep, I'am step three lol. I wanted to have fun while doing this. I love POE and I wanted to have as much fun as I have playing the game (since I knew this art would take several hours to finish). So i though: I AM A FAN RIGHT? WHAT WOULD I LIKE TO SEE IN A POE FANART? YES, FISHING! I mean, I'd like to see a lot of stuff, with a lot of references to different moments that you experience as a player.

Also, I've participated in previous challenges (with good results) with a very specific style. I wanted to try something new but connected at the same time, so my previous entries were used as reference too.



[STEP FOUR] The structure. With style, references and a CHAOS-ORB-KEYCHAIN in mind I started building a structure. I'm not posting the sketches because it would get too long, but after FOUR HOURS i reached this structure. I know it doesn't look too complicated, but it's hard to find a structure that you can stuff with so much information. This had to be perfect because every image was custom made to fit in their little space. If at some point I had to rework the basic structure I would have to throw everything away and start again. Here's the thing:



[STEP FIVE] The grind. The hard part was gone, gearing up. Now i have all i need to get to the end - Tabula rasa, goldrim, lifesprig and no pants. Build a column at a time, without losing perspective of the final goal and style. Took me around 30h to complete this piece. Maybe more. I DONT KNOW.

Here's the process.











OK - Now i have all the information distributed. Some sacrifices were made (to Vaal) and it was time to spam chromes on it. I needed the right colors to make it work, otherwise it would look like a hot mess.

So I tried a lot of diferent schemes. It had to look royal, it had to look bloody somehow. It had to be colorful, but it couldn`t look cheerful with too many bright colors. So I used ACT1 column as a test to find the right scheme and then applied it to the other columns.









AND FINALLY



And, that's it :)

I'm really happy with the results and the feedback i got in reddit! WOOHOO!



I just wanted to show some love to all the GGG employees and somehow make a homage to their wonderfull work ( I'M LOOKING AT YOU CHRIS AND BEX). I love GGG and Path of Exile and this is my humble way to contribute to this wonderful community!

Please let me know if you have any questions! And let me know what you think of this piece of work! Do you like it? If you dont like it, let me know why! I'm always trying to improve as an artist :)

See you next time guys! Maybe we'll find ACT5 in the next challenge!

Thanks for reading!

I just have to applaud your results as well as your process. Absolutely amazing all the way around. I love seeing the behind the scenes of a finished masterpiece like this.

Never stop doing what you're doing :)

"

Ahfack wrote:

I just have to applaud your results as well as your process. Absolutely amazing all the way around. I love seeing the behind the scenes of a finished masterpiece like this.

Never stop doing what you're doing :)

Thanks a lot man! I'll try to keep it up in the future :)

Usually I play the first month of the league to get those sweet challenges, then i dedicate a week for the fan art contest.

Grinding is priority, haahah

Very cool to read, thanks for sharing!

this is honestly one of the best artworks i've seen so far. everything is absolutely stunning! you can find new details everywhere on this piece. even after looking at it for the fifth or sixth time i still find new details. really really love it. instant download and wallpaper for me.

i am really looking forward to your next PoE art.

btw your guardian art was really great too! do you have a page or something for me to enjoy more of your work (even if non PoE related)?

Now this is simply gorgeous! So so pretty! :)

Seriously though - this is amazing work. I really liked the step by step guide. As a person who just got a graphic tablet to try to scribble with, seeing this step by step gave me a lot of eagerness to start using it :)

amazing Art , Really.. :)

"

Skilez wrote:

this is honestly one of the best artworks i've seen so far. everything is absolutely stunning! you can find new details everywhere on this piece. even after looking at it for the fifth or sixth time i still find new details. really really love it. instant download and wallpaper for me.

i am really looking forward to your next PoE art.

btw your guardian art was really great too! do you have a page or something for me to enjoy more of your work (even if non PoE related)?

hey there!

i'm glad you liked it :)

https://www.artstation.com/artist/2minds

also

www.2minds.ws


this is my personal art station, you can find some of my stuff in there. I've been working with concept art and art for games for a while now :)

2016 I did my first freelance job for Blizzard, a shame it was not for the Diablo franchise (wich I love) but i'm quite proud of :)

Maybe GGG one day? I need to upload some concept art that matches the game style :DD


hope you like it!

"

The_Bozzy wrote:

Now this is simply gorgeous! So so pretty! :)

Seriously though - this is amazing work. I really liked the step by step guide. As a person who just got a graphic tablet to try to scribble with, seeing this step by step gave me a lot of eagerness to start using it :)

hey man!

Let me know if you need any help with your graphic tablet or software!
The world needs more artists!

<3

this is the first piece of POE art that i've seen that i thought was really cool.

awesome job dude.