The Red Room

DelN · January 20

The Red Room
created in Affinity Photo using my free 'Byzantium' Gold brushes and my free 'Nature' brushes.

I think 'The Red Room' has an unsettling, gothic look. It has 78 layers. I kept most of the plant brush strokes separate in the 'Plants' folder in the Layers panel, so I could turn them on/off when I needed to. There is also a folder called 'Yellow Mist' (or is it Green?), which is a brush I like to use. It gives a really atmospheric effect. I had many layers for the window frame, which I also kept separate. Each of the circles on the windows had two or three layers, the frame itself had several layers, which I turned into a gold frame pattern. I also had a 'MASTER' layer for the window, as back-up. I had several layers of textures, which I overlaid for the wall. The mirror I found in Google. I just removed the background, then created a separate shadow to put behind it. Same for the sofa. I considered a vase of flowers in the window, but then the malignant vines took over (ha-ha!), so I deleted it. I created the texture of the red room myself, which I really like. I am fascinated by textures and patterns that you can create in Affinity Photo. The final 300dpi file is 225Mbs. I did delete several layers later., but kept many of them just in case I want to re-use them in a later project.

I enjoy creating scenes using my free 'Nature' brushes that I created for Affinity Photo. They are so versatile, and just by adding emboss and 3D layer effects gives the plants a 3D look. You can select the Nature 2024 Pt6 Trees, Branches, Leaves brush set and paint on (or simply dab) to create a plant or the leaves of a plant or select and fill the brush stroke with a colour and blur and fade it for a shadow effect on the wall. In this case, I used one or two of the brushes to create the branches of the vine, then applied an Emboss/3D layer effect to it. Then I laid down a few brush strokes to create the leaves of the malignant vine and in the foreground I painted in a fern or two and the grass, which is a plant I created myself.