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Step 7: I felt that the image lacked depth, so I added a big rock in front of the others. I also started some work on the background by taking a very big brush at low opacity and making a few strokes to illustrate the sun. I never had any intention to make a really bright sun, but rather wanted to keep it diffuse, like it was hidden behind dust.

Step 8: I finished the rocks. You may notice that the rocks to the right don't have as much detail as the ones to the left. That's because I knew I would darken that part later to match my lighting conditions.

Step 9: Until this stage all my colours were very pale and low-saturated, so I duplicated the layer with the painting and set it to soft light. You can try out overlay to see if you like it more. I also intensified my shading greatly, mostly by using dark or bright colours which I painted over the image at low opacity. The light comes out of the background, so the rocks had to be rather dark since they aren't directly hit by the light. Watch out for the tree's branches and roots, as they have a bright and a dark side too. I added a small shadow of one of the roots on the rocks to give the illusion that it is hanging free. I'm not quite sure if that is correct in terms of the lighting but, hey, I am the artist! ;)

In the background I added some colour where I wanted to add landscape later. The image needs a background for perspective.

Step 10: I created some rocky structures in the background. You can go much further if you like - I suck at backgrounds and have to practice them a lot myself. I also brightened up the sun a little, but only slightly to keep the overall effect mellow.

Step 11: I added some details like two birds flying, some grass growing under the roots, and a little branch with leaves sprouting out of the tree. It symbolizes some hope, and makes the image less lifeless. I also performed a few colour corrections and... that's it really! :)

I hope this walkthrough gave you some idea of how I work, and think it could help you a little with your paintings too. If you have questions don't hesitate to ask me over at memod@dp-world.net. If you like this painting be sure to check out my website www.dp-world.net to find more artworks created by me too!

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you have done a great job....its like you haven't missed any single step to look real....

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I simply love this kind of stuff - tutorials describing application of PS in colouring hand-drawn art. This one was pretty nice, inspiring and truly helpful. And the result really resembles traditional hand-made painting, enhanced by usage of all nice features of PS (and no dirty hands there). Thank you very much. Now, I'll check out your site to see other things you created.

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