Newest Work: 'Gateway to Oz' Digital Painting

I finished my latest black and white digital painting inspired by the movie Oz the Great and Powerful. I love the original Wizard of Oz movie with Judy Garland, and I enjoyed the newest film with James Franco.

For this piece I wanted to incorporate the chaos of the tornado by using dark values and small details throughout the piece (debris, dust, destruction, etc.). I also thought the black and white was perfect incorporation of the colorless opening to the film.

'Gateway to Oz' digital painting by Lauren Hodges

Overall, I'm pretty happy with the final product! I'm learning a lot of techniques from ctrlpaint.com. This site is run by Matt Kohr. He is a professional concept artist that creates some really amazing work. ctrlpaint.com has a lot of free videos that teach you the basics of digital painting. This is a great resource! I've purchased a couple of his video packages and the money is WELL worth it! I've also purchased Digital Painting Techniques Master Collection Vol. 1. This collection is like the digital painter's bible. Is filled with step by step projects from masters within the industry. I've only purchased one, but I'm well on my way to collecting the entire collection.