By Justin Gerard

For a long while I have been wanting to go back to several pieces from the Silmarillion and monkey with them digitally. This image of the battle against the dragon Glaurung in particular was one that really kept coming back to mind.

Most of the time I am really against this sort of thing.  When it’s done it’s done, and should probably just be left alone.  But other times, I just don’t feel like I ever truly caught what I was originally shooting for and it bothers me.

For this one, I had always wanted to hit something a little closer to the digital color comp.

Digital Color Comp

Photoshop over Watercolor on Bristol

I still really like the original watercolor for it’s old manuscript feel.  But here again I can’t help but tinker with the colors and values digitally to push them into a higher range. I’m not sure which version I like more, but the digital one is always the one that is closest to what was in my head when I originally set out to create the image.