Icharamos Tutorial

The rough pencils. Getting ready for inks. Still a lot of work needs to be done, but I'll take it as it goes. I will attempt to make it as precise as possible, but some of the background will have to be done in photoshop, in order to create the correct depth.

I decided to do a quick color test. It is also intended to give me a better idea of how the surroundings are going to work. In this case, I got a small bonus. See his right arm? It is not connected to his shoulder quite right. Luckily, I caught this early enough to fix it... I think. I also did a close-up of his face. I wanted to test the type of shading that would be needed, to pull of the very small details of his mask/helmet. I hope to add additional detail with the colors.

Started adding some inks. This is roughly the level of detail I'm going for. The details on the suit will have to be added in photoshop - there's no way I can draw such small details with my markers. I still hate his arms, but I'll attempt to fix them later.

I've started inking in the foreground. To me, the detail level of one thing, sort of dictates the detail level of the rest of the drawing. For instance: The Magma Scythe (right-hand weapon) ended up very detailed, and that meant that I had to keep up that level - otherwise it would look out of place. The rubble in the foreground is basically done on-the-run. I just looked around my room, and started adding random bits and pieces. I wanted to add a mug with the words "Worlds best Boss" on it, but the lettering would be too small to read. I have to sort all this stuff out in the coloring process, because right now it's just a mess (as it is intended to be). I cleaned out the background, to get a better look at the general composition.

Okay! That's the inks done - and what a nightmare is was! This is about 18 hours of work so far, from rough pencils to this. It does however give you a certain, not entirely un-Geoff Darrow-esque satisfaction. Now I would recommend anybody to take a break. Sleep on it. Let is seep in. Look it over in the morning. You'll practically be blind to your own mistakes by this point. If you really wanna torture yourself, try flipping the picture horizontally in Photoshop - that'll really bring out the errors.

Here we have the first light test. I needed a quick idea of how the light was gonna look. We also get the first real impression of depth. The lights in the power conduits are a bit exaggerated, but I really wanted to bring out the energy. Remember kids: Nothing short of detonating a nuclear device, is gonna outshine the sun - so keep that in mind, when you're doing pictures with natural daylight as a light source.

Getting real. Okay, so now we go for it. I've done all the testing I can possibly think of and I'm ready to get down to business. What you see here, is basically what I've already tested: lights and shadow and the beginning of colorizing. Now, however, I have to be more precise. Remember, the earlier drawings were just tests. At this stage I have three main concerns: The fading levels of light - background vs. foreground and do I get the distance I need? Light sources - Can I nail a mix of background lighting (natural lighting from outside), foreground lighting (whatever light sources might still be intact inside) and the light from the himself. The light from both the weapon and the suit will generate light on the corresponding surfaces? Lastly, I have to consider the different types of material involved. Polished steel reflects light in a different way than industrial rubber. I started with the mechanical parts, because the light/shadow effects would be most profound there. After that, I can tone the rest of the suit, according to the levels I give the steel.
Working with about 5000x3900 pixels pr inch, and 9 layers, my piece-a-s*** computer is seriously beginning to cough up blood. I recommend saving as often as possible, if you have an archaic rig like me - you never know when a lens flare is gonna crash your system.

Forgive the delay. I had to resize the image, because of the massive lag I have started to experience. Still working out some of the kinks. Basically, I've got most of the light leveled out here, but I still have to smoothen the transition from background to foreground. I am working on the Field Conductors right now (the wiring covering his suit). Hopefully I will have a grayscale version ready soon. As you can see, I already tested some colors (the tubing on the weapon), but unfortunately I stuck them on the wrong layer and couldn't be buggered to fix it.  

Succubus Tutorial

I am putting up this tutorial as it is coming along. I actually haven't finished it yet. I realize that this may make it a bit confusing, but i promise to rearrange it later so bear with me, folks.

Step 1:

Laying down the line. Unfortunately I didn't put this together in the traditional way. That means a lot of the basic line work is lost - I sculpted this as it progressed. I have however outlined some of the underlying base lines in step two.

Step 2:

This is the basic skeletal build for the succubus.

Step 3:

Getting some color in there. This is a very early color scheme. The drawing isn't even done yet. I prefer to have some color reference for later development. The swatches on the right are the working colors at 100%. I usually prefer to work with a 40-45% opacity on my brushes: mainly to keep the lines visible.

Step 4:

Cleaning up. Though the drawing's not actually done, I felt it was time to see what it would look like. I always feel the face is a good place to start. I added the lines with a very fine filt-tip pen, directly on top of the pencils. Now I have a feel of how the whole thing is gonna pan out. I won't do any more inking until the entire thing is done. I allowed myself to do it with the face, because I knew I didn't wanted to add anything on top or across it - the rest of the body is still being tuned in terms of details, so that will have to wait.

Step 5:

Line work. Most of the inking is done by this stage. I've screwed up a couple of times along the way, but fixing it will have to wait, till all the inking is over with. Right now, I'm gonna focus on getting the last bits and pieces right. I have a tendency to slack with the last parts, because I'm so close to being done and it's basically just background. But take your time, and consider what will support the focus of the image. Don't rush it.

Down Here - Tutorial

Step 1:

A quick draft. Getting the general placement and structure right is important. If you screw up here, it's gonna be hell to correct it later. 

Step 2:

Adding some basic light and colors. This is mostly for the sake of memory. In some cases, it's a good idea to jot down your initial vision. I wanted to stick to the original color scheme I had come up with.

Step 3:

Time to get some structure into the mix. I quickly added some general lines and references. This was all done on separate layers. It's all there to give a quick impression of the textures and materials. 

Step 4:

A whole lot of black. In this specific image, the black in incredibly dominating. I had to basically fill it up completely and then strip away the parts I wanted to brighten. I lose a lot of guide lines doing this, but I always keep them on a different layer for quick reference. 

Step 5:

Fixing the light. At this stage, I attempt to fix the light and the shadows. I had already added quite a lot of shadows, but not the ones cast by the creature. In this step, I shoved the light even further into the background. I also added more shadow on the wall to the right, where the creature is basically blocking the entire doorway. The general shadows were also increased, for the sake of some more subtle lighting later.

Step 6:

Finish. This is mostly small stuff, but it all weighs in on the final product. The light slipping through the creatures bones has been enhanced and the light reflected on the stone surfaces has also been brushed up and polished.

Though some of it seems detailed, it is actually fairly simple lines, as in the example below.