Star Talers

So this fairy tale is a short and relatively obscure fairy tale by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm. The story tells the tale of a girl who looses her parents and heads off into the world on her own. Her generous nature sees that she gives away every last possession that she owns, including the clothes she is wearing (good job it isn't the middle of winter then!) to those less fortunate than herself. Anyway, her selflessness is paid off when she is rewarded for her deeds and the stars turn into giant gold coins and fall to earth. The Star Talers by Jon Milet Baker

You can read more about the tale here

Process

As with the last two, I started off trying to render the image in Illustrator and quickly gave up returning to my comfort zone in Photoshop (I will crack Illustrator one day). I think for now I am preferring the more organic results of hand paining these in Photoshop. I am trying to keep a flat style with a limited pallet but at the same time experimenting with using diffuse to get some gradient / blends, in this case with the ground and sky. I have also experimented with hatching but I am not fully convinced I like it.