Hello, everyone. I hope everything in your life is going well.
Hey friends! 👋
I’ve been working on a new piece, and this time I wanted to bring one of my favorite swampy legends to life… SWAMP THING! 🌿👹
As always, my tools were Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop.
Step 1: Sketching the Creature ✏️
I started with a rough outline in Illustrator — just to capture the pose and proportions.
Once the structure was there, I added details like small lines, textures, and shadows to bring more personality to the character.
Step 2: Colouring the Base 🎨
Next, I blocked in the base colours.
To keep things consistent, I worked with swatches.
After filling in the main tones, I played with lighter highlights and darker shadows to give it depth and dimension.
Step 3: Background Design 🌌
Now here’s the fun part — while I was midway through, I actually got a little spark of inspiration from scrolling on Pinterest.
I saw how some artists matched their characters with glowing, moody backdrops, and thought: “Yep, I need that in my piece.”
So, I designed a background that not only fit the Swamp Thing vibe, but also made sure the lighting matched my character.
Step 4: Shadows & Glow ⚡
This step is what really brings the artwork alive.
I blended the shadows into the character, then added some glow to both the figure and the background.
The whole scene started to pop, just like those moody artworks I’d seen while scrolling.
Step 5: Final Touches 🖌️
To finish it off, I grouped the layers, made a copy (always save your original 👀), and applied some final adjustments.
With the Camera Raw filter, I pushed the colours, enhanced the lighting, and added that little extra shine to make it feel complete.
And that’s how my SWAMP THING came together — part imagination, part process, and a little nudge of inspiration from Pinterest along the way. 😅
What do you think? Did I capture that swampy vibe? 💥
The workflow is depicted in the screenshot below.
**Here are the outcomes **
Thank you for sticking with me until the end. Please provide feedback on what you think of my artwork.
I'll see you all again in another post.