Art Prehistoria #2: Megalosaur Background

Megalosaur in the Jungle by Peter Bond

Created for the palaeoart-themed Boneyard Carnival #21 hosted by ringleader The Flying Trilobite. The piece will be used in an upcoming post on The Tyrannosaur Chronicles.




Last Art Prehistoria, I detailed the process of drawing and painting a dinosaur (a megalosaur in this case!) This post will illustrate the step-by-step process of adding a photographic background to your painting.

Step 1: This is the finished dinosaur painting that I digitized by taking a photograph of it and uploading it onto my laptop. He's cool, but he is missing a home!


Step 2: Using Photoshop, erase everything around the actual painting. I am absolutely in love with the Magic Wand Tool!


Step 3: Find a suitable picture of the dinosaur's home online. Choose a high-res image - I used Google Image Search set on extra large images. Save the photo and open it in Photoshop.


Step 4: Copy the cut-out dinosaur and then paste it onto a layer on the jungle picture. Move and resize (using Free Transform under Edit) the megalosaur until you are happy with his position.


Step 5: Using the Lasso Tool, cut out some ferns and bushes that will be in front of the dinosaur. Copy and paste them as a new layer. The dark splotches are shading lines to make the beast look like he is actually in a jungle.


Step 6: Put all the pieces together and add a slight shadow under the dinosaur. Now, the mysterious megalosaur roams his realm in all it's glory...


...A second background could be created as well:

Megalosaur on a Riverbank by Peter Bond

Which one do you think is better?