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The fantasy feel of this image comes from the texture that I created in Metabrush, plus the extreme warping that I did in iColorama. I used three different warps of the same starting point to create three creatures that look very similar to one another, much as we often image to be true of such aliens. A lighting effect added in iColorama heightens the impression of something happening just to the left of the canvas, which the creatures are impassively observing.
I started by creating this image in MetaBrush, in Brushes/Paint mode, using a medium-sized square brush at 100% opacity. In brush settings, I set spacing to its maximum value, I set position variance and rotation variance to their maximum values, I left dynamics at their default values, and I set the Extras sliders to their minimum values.
This is the brush image I used in the previous step. It is a photo from Pixabay, a source of copyright-free images. (While in Brushes/Paint, to choose the brush image, touch the flower icon on the left edge of the screen and select an image from your camera roll.)
I will use this photo from the Rijksmuseum website, which provides high-resolution images free to use and modify for any purpose, in their Rijksstudio.
I opened the Rijksmuseum photo in iColorama, and I used Effect/Blend to blend the Metabrush image on top of it. I tried several blending modes and slider settings.
Using Effect/Blend, I blended the Rijksmuseum image over the previously blended image to recover some detail from it. I tried several blending modes and slider settings.
I used Form/Warp to warp the image. I'm not too concerned about the left and right parts of the image, as I will be using just the middle portion of this image in my composition. Call this Observer 1.
Starting from the unwarped image, I again used Form/Warp to warp the image for a different result. Again, I'm not too concerned about the left and right parts of the image, or even the bottom of this image, as that part won't be visible in my composition. Call this Observer 2.
Once again, I started from the unwarped image, and I used Form/Warp to warp the image to a yet different result. Again, I'm not too concerned about the right side of the image, as it will not be visible in my composition. Call this Observer 3.
Using Effect/Blend, I blended the Observer 1 image onto the Observer 3 image. I positioned Observer 1 so that she is on the right-hand side of the composite image. I used a brush mask as needed to deal with any overlapping areas. Next, I used Effect/Blend to blend the Observer 2 image onto the composite. I positioned Observer 2 in the lower middle of the composite image. I used a brush mask as needed to deal with any overlapping areas.
I used Form/Warp to warp the image a bit.
I made some tonal and sharpness adjustments using Adjust/High Preset 1 at low sharpness bring out the highlights, Effect/Raise preset 3 at low opacity to emphasize the texture, Effect/Sharpen preset 4 at low Radius and low opacity to sharpen the image, Tone/Duotone in Multiply mode at low opacity to tone the shadows, and Adjust/Levels to add some contrast.
In two different blend steps, I used Effect/Blend to blend the image with itself, offset it and rotate it, each time using an inverted brush mask to replace the rough parts of her hats with another section of the image.
I used Adjust/Vibrance and an inverted brush mask to bring out a bit of red to the lips and cheeks
I used a preset under Texture/Leak to add a lighting effect. I tried several presets and slider settings, including the sliders under Set. I used Screen mode. I positioned the effect so that the light appears to be coming from the upper left of the image, where it illuminates the faces, as if coming from whatever they are observing off to the left of the canvas.
I used Effect/Blend to blend the image with itself, and used an inverted brush mask to blend back the eyes and lips. I removed the mask, and I used Adjust/Vibrance to deepen the colors of the overall image.
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