Process Blurb (Patreon)

A few of you guys had been asking me privately for advice and to know what my process is generally like. Here is a rough outline that I hope is helpful! It's really not much different than any other digital artist you can find or learn from on socials or youtube. I don't think my process is very great but it works for me, so it's important to find what works for you.

Gesture: I typically develop the gestalt of what I intend to draw. So this is using roughly the Michael Hampton method of gesture, which involves S and C curves, wrapping lines to define form, etc. I strongly urge anyone getting into art to look into Michael Hampton, his books, his youtube page. I understand those who seek to draw anime may look at it and think it's too western for your intent, but you should always take from what you wish to learn and simply discard what doesn't apply. The goal here is to get the essence of the drawing, which was to have Noise from Nikke singing in a flashy Easter ensemble.

Rough Sketch: following through on the idea. So this is where the look and the intent of what you're drawing comes into play. This is where you grab your fashion references and character references so you can best put together what the final product is going to eventually look like. The rough stage is for experimentation, for mistakes, for exploration, so do not feel pressured to be perfect. You want to use tools and brushes that keep pen pressure sensitivity in mind. You do not want hard ink lines here.

Lineart: This is where you place ink on your intent. I don't always do a lineart stage. Even in commissions I don't typically and opt for a refined sketch instead of hard lineart as it's generally very time consuming and the point is to show the commission customer in question where you're going as it pertains to the final render--that aside, this is where you stand on what the overall image should look like going into the final render. Remember that lines are not all unified at the same opaqueness and opacity, you should pay attention to line weight (where shadows will generally meet in crevices and places where light won't hit. You can arguably use the same pen pressure sensitive tools or an ink brush that is flexible with line weight and size.

Flat Color/Underpainting: Speaking of light, this is where you generally figure out where to solidify your light source. Vetted artists I feel make a habit of finding the light source earlier, usually around the rough sketch stage, but the flat color phase is much like the rough sketch where you're experimenting, building and solidifying the overall look of your piece. This is the hard work where the finish should be made the least intensive and time consuming with all the building blocks set in place before it. For flats, there's a myriad ways they can be approached. Some like to grey fill under their lineart and section off each area (body, hair, clothes, etc.) with one solidified color. Others (me) use the opportunity to essentially build an underpainting so you have a general guideline to follow for the overpainting/final render. For palettes, try not to get too caught up on these. Be liberal with how you go about your palettes. Use things like adobe color or pinterest, etc. and find references that match your goals if you truly don't have a palette in mind. If you do have a palette in mind, based on however you initially visualized what you wanted your drawing to be to begin with (again me I do this), construct the palette for later use. I use Coolrus and it has a Mixer and Color History Tool that's good for this. Spot test your colors as you choose them on your flat layer as well. (This is also the time in which you can have a seperate layer under your character layer for backgrounds)

Render/Overpainting: The big pay off. For this I'm usually spending time refining and smoothing out what I created in my underpainting. I'm a destructive artist, so at this point (and I don't advise doing this without at least saving a seperate version of your document or making copies) I tend to flatten my workable layers so I have no issues with smoothing or warping and changing proportions, etc. I'm a pretty messy artist so I don't think it's best to ask me much about final renders lol I still am working on refining this step after all this time.

There you have it. I generally did not think many would find knowing my process very interesting. I find it pretty boring and by the numbers and think there are plenty of other artists out there with more detailed and pertinent information for any of you burgeoning artists. I hope this was helpful to you and good luck!