Scenery and Environments - Chalk Pastels

A videogame I find to have particularly inspiring and visually appealing scenery and environments is 'Mother 3'.  I love the colour palettes used in the game especially.  For inspiration on what kind of environment and look the fantasy world I am developing would have, and also to experiment with how to create rain that looks natural and believable, I decided to create a piece based off of an area within the game known as Sunshine Forest.  I chose this particular area because I imagine my fantasy world to be particularly filled with nature and greenery.  Here is a screenshot of Sunshine Forest from the game:

 

Referencing this screenshot, I roughly sketched a shot of Sunshine Forest, which I planned to colour in with chalk pastels:

Here is the final piece (it is a little blurry because I took it with the camera on my phone, but it is a generally blurry-looking piece anyway, so the quality of the photo is not as bad as it seems to be!):

Evaluation

My work with chalk pastels is a piece where I have experimented.  Having rarely used chalk pastels before, and certainly not to this depth of detail, using this medium was an experiment in itself.  I combined processes by doing a rough pencil sketch before applying the chalk pastels, and even took some risks during the course of making the piece.  These included doing the lighter colours of each object before the main colour or darker colour, which was a risk because having little experience with the medium, I was not sure if this was the best procedure; however, I quickly discovered that I had made what I felt was a very good decision, as it created the effect that I wanted.  Another risk I took was the addition of rain to the piece, which despite being present in the screenshot I was referencing, I had not actually planned to include.  I was not sure how to go about it so I took a chance and used a white chalk pastel to create recurring lines for lashing rain.  Not only was I pleased with the outcome, but it influenced my decision to include rain in my final piece. 

Limitations I uncovered during the making of this piece included the discovery that chalk pastels are a messy medium; I found myself afraid of accidentally rubbing off what I had already done because if I accidentally pressed my hand into the chalk pastel I had previously applied while I applied more onto the piece, sometimes it would come off onto my hand, so I had to be careful in that respect.