Foothills Park
I painted this image using the Vector tool in SketchClub. It took some time, but I think it is much faster than painting using a brush. The difference is that with the vector tool it is easier to get a shape, but with the brush tool you would be spending time to get that shape, then editing the shape, and then be tempted to do shading and even texturing of the surfaces! This image proves that with only flat shapes you can get a convincing landscape full of trees and foliage. I used iColorama to apply dramatic color to the image, and I used Metabrush to smooth it a bit.
I started with this photo of mine. I opened the photo in SketchClub. I reduced the layer opacity to 50% so I could use the shapes and colors in the photo as a guide.
On a new layer, I used the vector tool to paint a background of the green mountain at the right side of the image. In the photo you can see it through the trees. Here I show the shape with the visibility of the photo layer turned off. I dragged this layer under the photo layer.
On another new layer, I used the vector tool to paint a background of the brown rise at the left side of the image. In the photo you can see it through the foliage. I dragged this layer under the layer with the green shape. Here I show the result so far with the visibility of the photo layer turned off.
On another new layer, I used the vector tool to paint a background of the yellow light in the image background. I dragged this layer under the layer with the brown shape. Here I show the result so far with the visibility of the photo layer turned off.
Now I put the visibility of the photo layer back up to 100% so I could pick colors from it. On a new layer above the photo layer, I used the vector tool to paint some tree trunk shapes. I used the color picker to select different colors from the photo for the different trees. Using the vector tool, I followed along the edges of the tree trunk shapes in the photo, both going down along the trunk and then in the same stroke, going back up. With some practice you should be able to create such shapes. They don't have to match the photo exactly, because in the end we will be getting rid of the photo by turning off the visibility of its layer. Sometimes I used more than one vector shape to make a single trunk or tree. I added layers as I went, whenever I had the need to put one tree or branch in back of one I already painted. When you need to paint behind another set of objects, make a new layer, paint one or more shapes, and then drag the layer further down the layer stack until it is behind the objects that it needs to be behind. If you really have trouble using the vector tool for this kind of work, try using a Brush tool with a hard round brush instead. I think this would take longer to get tree shapes, but it's all up to the preference and skill of the painter! Here I show the result so far with the visibility of the photo layer turned off.
I continued making tree trunk and branch shapes using the vector tool, adding layers as I went, and dragging them behind other layers if needed, until I got this. I used quite a few layers. Here I show the result so far with the visibility of the photo layer turned off.
Now, with the visibility of the photo layer still at 100%, I added a new layer at the top of the layer stack and I started creating the foliage, in much the same way as I did to create the trees. I added layers as I went and dragging them behind other layers if needed. Here I show the result so far with the visibility of the photo layer turned off.
I continued making tree trunk and branch shapes using the vector tool, adding layers as I went, and dragging them behind other layers if needed, until I got this. I also used quite a few layers for the foliage. All of the foliage layers were above all of the tree layers in the layer stack. Here I show the result so far with the visibility of the photo layer turned off.
Now I added a new layer as the bottom layer. I put the layer this far down the layer stack because I will be painting the sunlight, which is behind everything else. I selected Brush from the tools menu, and I painted with white paint and a large soft round brush, to try for a glowing effect behind the trees. This doesn't succeed so much as a glow that leaves around the tree trunks, but we will use iColorama for that, later. I saved to my camera roll.
I opened the image in iColorama. I used Effect/Glow to enhance the effect of the sun in the upper left, using an inverted brush mask to confine the effect to where I wanted it. Removing the mask, I used Effect/Raise to give some definition to the strokes.
I used Style/Flat preset 15 and experimented with all the sliders to get this result that I liked. The Flat 15 preset adds a bit of psychedelic color, if you like that! I brightened the image a bit using Adjust/Levels.
I opened the image in MetaBrush. On a duplicate layer, I painted with the default brush and brush settings in Brush/Art3 and Brush/CLR4. On another duplicate layer, I painted with Wets/Lines and reduced the layer opacity. I saved to my camera roll.
I opened the image in iColorama. I used Adjust/High Preset 1 to add contrast and add light to the highlights.
I tried a crop using Form/Crop and I like it better.
I used Form/Warp in iColorama and then I used the Elasticam app to change the lean of the lines in the upper left corner, for a more balanced feeling result.
