Puddle
The initial idea was a puddle with an inverted world in the puddle, with a creature coming out of the puddle and attempting to latch onto a person "above ground". While sketching out the comp. thumbs, the idea changed into a library setting, with a mystery sleuth vibe rather than horror.
color 9 - continued foreground elements fix, as well as changed the decorative element around the doorway.
composition thumbs; the idea went from a puddle to a library
initial sketch
color studies, or really playing with color and lighting options
color 1 - flat (local) colors, excluding the characters, who I've just blocked in one color for silhouette purposes.
color 2 - throwing in some photo textures for the books to speed up the process.
color 2.1 - reorganizing the bookcases' perspective and working up the lights and decor
color 3 - working up foreground elements, character flats, back wall and adding in a walkway.
color 4 - decided to drop in the lighting to see how things read so far. Lots of airbrushing to get the areas affected by light in. Afterwards, cleanup, and some minor detailing.
color 5 - more lighting edits. Mainly worked on cleaning up the light forms around the bottom half, and adding in some backlight for better lighting on the characters. I tried a similar method to how film/tv light their settings and locations.
color 6 - fixing texture , starting with the bookcases' wood. Also started fixing the uniformity of the lamps.
color 7 - more texture indication, and finishing up the lamp fixes I started earlier. Also worked up the pond reflection and details.
color 8 - fixing foreground elements. Turned off the shadow layer for personal ease.