As an artist, Allison Perry says she’s done a little bit of everything, from tech to games to animation, where she got her start doing freelance work like character, prop, and background design before getting her first full-time Union job as a Visual Development Artist in 2019. Most recently, she’s worked as a Visual Development Artist, Background Paint Lead, and Art Director for Netflix. To get herself excited to paint, she follows photographers on social media. While collecting references, she came across an image of Bled Castle in Slovenia. She was immediately drawn to the lighting.
Using Photoshop, Perry says, “I built up layers of space from front to back, selecting simple shapes with the Marquee and Polygonal Lasso tools and then using a scatter brush effect with color variation within those selections.” After copying and pasting the elements she wanted to reflect into the water, she mirrored them vertically, set them to “lighten” mode, and motion-blurred them vertically. “Lastly, I added a bit of atmospheric perspective with a big, soft brush.”
“I really liked the contrast of the light blue/slate colors with the pink/salmon colors, and how they became more subtle as they receded into space,” she says, adding, “I can never pass up a good reflection—they’re so satisfying to paint!”
