The other day while I was working on some of my icon designs I was thinking about how I could use some of the things I have learned to create a surreal composition. The close attention to detail, lighting and scale are all things that make up a good icon, but why not use those techniques on something larger. So with a empty canvas, and an empty mind I got started in Photoshop. I wasn’t to sure what I was going to make but I had seen some images of landscapes carved out of the ground and I liked the look. I got started on the ground texture and background first, using some images from CGtextures.com. Then it came to me, San Francisco! It’s a big city that’s nearly an island already and the downtown skyline is densely packed unlike other cities like LA. I used crazy amounts of adjustment layers to get the shading, color and light just right. This was a really fun project to work on since with every detail the image became more visually exciting. The only tough part was when to say enough is enough and stop adding details.