Step 3: Background Detail Sketch

For the sky, I went through my extensive photos of different sky and cloud patterns to get color references. The sky for the most part was designed from imagination however. For the land I rifled through tons of National Geographic shots until I found an interesting island and water design. This was redesigned for interest, however. I put the horizon at an angle to give some dynamic tension and to continue the flow of upper cloud patterns and to counter the plane wing angles.