I'm really happy with how this one turned out, it was rough trying to get the caramel to look like actual caramel, especially in the stalactite drips. Having the cool, blue cave opening create rim lighting on the sides of the nut character really brings the piece together and I got to use some fun reference to give it the Indiana Jones tribute feel they wanted.
Here are some shots of the process:
The two main options I came up with for the composition
Started right in with the painting on top of the option the client liked best. They had an image file for the character and jar that they wanted me to use, so that made things easier. Mostly just tried to get the colors and values in place.
Client wanted more and more caramel stacks
Looked up tons of caramel reference and toned back the blue light in the background to make the foreground pop more. Honestly, most of the time was spent on all those freaking cubes.
A few more finishing touches with lighting and the sparkles of salt on the caramel
