#goodref

Each study took about 1 to 2 hours. They were done over the course of a couple of days. The goal here was to create believable surface detail with custom brushes.

You can find most of the references at wikiart. I was really happy to learn that wikiart had a collection of over 400 Levitan paintings. :D

I created all of the brushes myself and without the use of photo textures. Some of the brush tips were made with alchemy, I strongly recommend checking that program out. It was super interesting to discover new uses for brushes I had lying around since ages.

In the first two studies I used the Color Dynamics brush setting to create the subtle changes of hue and saturation for example in the snow around the river. Also I realised that it really pays off to make as many brushstrokes as possible to create an interesting surface. Keep your arm relaxed to avoid injury!

As these were all done on a single layer it was important to paint in an order that makes sense, for example background before foreground.

Working in a relatively small scale as well as not zooming in for details also speeds things up.

Critique and comments welcome!