How did Abesalom Kavelashvili bring such a detailed composition to life, using stock photos, sketches and his own photography?
I came up with the concrete idea, started to make sketches for it, at first on paper, and then when I got the desired effect, I imported it into Photoshop and started to work on the composition with the Lasso in addition to several brushes.
Good compositions need the right photos. I found stock photos and started cutting and importing them. I shot a few photos myself, and began to create the main island, followed by other blurred islands in order to show depth.
The lighting must be even, so a lot of the lighting was tweaked at the end. I added electric lights using soft brushes and blend modes. I wanted the artwork to be interesting, so I added subtle details before working on highlights and shadows.