Process
A look behind the scenes at how my illustrations come to life from rough sketch to finished piece.
Sketching
Every piece starts with a rough sketch. Sometimes it's in pencil. Sometimes it's digital. Most of the time it's a lot of lose sketches focused on gesture and composition. Creating thumbnails is useful in this early stage for idea generation. This is the most experimental stage — nothing is precious yet and anything can change.
Linework
Once I clean up and finalize the sketch, I move into linework in Clip Studio EX. I use varying line weights to add depth and visual interest. I often experiment a lot with different types of brushes with different textures. I use specific brushes to achieve a specific vibe to an illustration. Rough, chalky brushes tend to be more fun than solid harsh lines.
Color & Rendering
Flat colors come first to establish the overall palette, then I build up light and shadow in layers. I work in multiply and overlay blend modes heavily during this stage to keep colors rich and cohesive, but lately I have been working on reliying less on blending modes and using more "hand picked" colors for my lights and shadows.
Eyes are my favorite part to render.
Tools
- Clip Studio EX — illustration and animation
- XP-Pen Artist Pro 16 Gen 2 — drawing tablet
- Work Louder Creator Macro — shortcut macropad
- Affinity Suite — graphic design and layout