Some time during last summer I completed an artwork for Arwen. When I asked her what she wanted me to draw for her, she said "a horse". Here is what I did:
I made a sketch on a piece of paper first, of course. I want my Pega-nicorn to dash toward some weird-looking monster.
Then I scanned the sketch to continue to work on my laptop. The software I used was Paint Tool SAI, which I found much more user-friendly, taking much less space, and being much much cheaper than Photoshop. I put in a 50% shade to pretend to be a pro (because that's what they typically do).
Then I started shading. This is the fun part where you can start seeing your idea taking on shapes. It's also quite time-consuming. Notice how I didn't have to erase the pencil lines.
Then I put in the base colors. With the shades in place, I didn't have to use different "degrees" for the colors.
Now I took care of the eyes. Characters' eyes are very important because when you look at someone you look in the eyes, right? :) So I started putting in details and reflections (for the eyes).
Now I noticed that the Pega-nicorn horse needed some darker shades so here we go, shading 2.0!
Now I did the background. With whatever was going in this picture, I visualized the "horse" protecting something from the monster's invasion. Maybe a war when everything was on fire, and the horse was the last line of defense... So here I got this:
Now since we had the background, I started adding more lights and details into the characters, especially the horse, so that it'd be more convincing that they really were there. You can see how the horsetail looks a lot better now.
Now the unicorn horn, I wanted it to be illuminating, as if it was a formidable weapon radiating hopeful rays of light. So I did.
And of course, after feeling satisfied with what I saw, I put down my signature. In orange.
So here you have it. Not too bad for someone who self-taught digital graphics and painting, I think. Arwen liked it. Do you like it? :)
Well, close enough. And here I am showing step by step how I did it.
TUTORIAL
I made a sketch on a piece of paper first, of course. I want my Pega-nicorn to dash toward some weird-looking monster.
Then I scanned the sketch to continue to work on my laptop. The software I used was Paint Tool SAI, which I found much more user-friendly, taking much less space, and being much much cheaper than Photoshop. I put in a 50% shade to pretend to be a pro (because that's what they typically do).
Then I started shading. This is the fun part where you can start seeing your idea taking on shapes. It's also quite time-consuming. Notice how I didn't have to erase the pencil lines.
Then I put in the base colors. With the shades in place, I didn't have to use different "degrees" for the colors.
Now I took care of the eyes. Characters' eyes are very important because when you look at someone you look in the eyes, right? :) So I started putting in details and reflections (for the eyes).
Now I noticed that the Pega-nicorn horse needed some darker shades so here we go, shading 2.0!
Now I did the background. With whatever was going in this picture, I visualized the "horse" protecting something from the monster's invasion. Maybe a war when everything was on fire, and the horse was the last line of defense... So here I got this:
Now since we had the background, I started adding more lights and details into the characters, especially the horse, so that it'd be more convincing that they really were there. You can see how the horsetail looks a lot better now.
Now the unicorn horn, I wanted it to be illuminating, as if it was a formidable weapon radiating hopeful rays of light. So I did.
And of course, after feeling satisfied with what I saw, I put down my signature. In orange.
So here you have it. Not too bad for someone who self-taught digital graphics and painting, I think. Arwen liked it. Do you like it? :)
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