This illustration is the first piece I’ve ever created start to finish on the computer so I thought I would post some images of the stages with some notes about what I did. The piece was created using Photoshop CC and an old Wacom Intuos 3 tablet.
I started with a rough blue line sketch using the Pencil: Blue from the Frenden brush set. Surprisingly, I found working on the tablet to be much more comfortable and fluid than working on paper.
Next was the tight pencil sketch working over the blue line sketch. I used the Frenden Pencil: Sketch Soft which was comfortable to work with but I’m not entirely happy with the roughness of the line. I’ll try to tweak it on future uses to be more like the soft lead 0.5mm Pentel mechanical pencils I’m used to. On the upside, I again found the pencilling to be easier and more relaxing than working on paper.
The painting. This is the toughest part for me right now as I’m trying to figure out how to get a more “painterly” and 3-dimensional look. Besides continued frustration at not being able to get the “perfect” brush tip settings I want, I’m also finding it difficult to visualize the steps needed to achieve the final image I’m seeing in my mind. I’m hoping this will get better with practice. The layers were:
1. The neutral background color
2. The dark painting layer
3. The tight sketch layer set to 50% opacity and Multiply
4. The highlights and detail layer
A couple of things to note: 1. I’m painting on a neutral colored background rather than white (a suggestion I picked up from another illustrator’s blog) and 2. at this stage I haven’t done the final cleanup around the edges of the figures.