This is one the most achieved layout with “pictural rendering”. By this I mean a computer generated image that is rich enough to convey a story, whereas the amount of details doesn’t trap the eyes.

There is a technical breakthrough (re?)discovered by painters of the Renaissance, known as sfumato, where color is blended and overlaid to create atmospheric depth and volume.

I tried to re-use this technique, with the tools of today’s CG softwares. The compositing steps below speaks for themselves.

On a technical point of view : depth of field, color corrections and camera-mapped textures help me to keep mystery without loosing readability, hide the details that are not needed to understanding and bring matter and texture to strengthen a certain mood.