13 Depicting the aurora above the battlefield

Feedback from ImagineFX is to lift the main area out of shadow by painting an aurora – those heavenly natural light shows. To give it a realistic shape I need to depict its most noticeable features. It has a smooth gradient between the top and bottom areas, and a more irregular horizontal gradient; there are areas where the aurora is less dense. I use a custom brush to paint this: I increase Spacing in the Brush Settings and decrease Flow, which gives nice, smooth brush strokes – just the effect I’m after!

May 2014