Commission Process Piece (Patreon)

Simpler process walkthrough for a recent commission!

The criteria: mimic the pose from an SFM model the commissioner had created. Icon. My style. Simple enough, and the pose was sassy enough that it was fun to translate from style to style!

Simple sketch. Because there are no heavy details to the character, and I know exactly how I want the pose to turn out, there is no need for any excess sketching. I take mental notes of which parts I plan to change here (fix the part in her hair, add a little more curve to her hoof, add frills to the popcorn box to make it more exciting), and these are swiftly modified as I add in the lines.

Lines! I usually finish the eyes first and foremost, because it seems to set the tone for the rest of the piece. Added a little white edge to the topmost part of the eyeball to add some gleam, but otherwise no crazy effects that weren't outlined in black. Because this is an icon, it needs to be clear enough to be able to pick apart the whole character. Plain black lines keep things orderly, with only small line details added such as the folds in the popcorn box and subtle parts in the hair.

Character colors are added in. Simple highlights and shading still, to keep everything easy to see at a distance. This is making me hungry...

Added in a simple background - squares and streaks add a little emphasis to the mood of the picture but are not bright enough to distract. A small speech bubble is thrown in to fill some space, and later replaced with some text at the request of the commissioner.

And voila! With icon images, the best bet is to keep your style simpler and easier to see; it is handy to shrink your canvas every so often to keep yourself in check.