Luther Strode fan art

If you haven't read the incredibly cool Luther Strode comic book, you have no idea what you are missing.

I'm doing an art trade with a friend of mine. I'm doing the pencils (digital in this case) she is gonna color it. She is pretty good so I'm looking forward to the final thing.

Sketch

Fleshing it out

Final lines

Deadpool sketch

My life has been complete madness during these last weeks. Since its good bye month for me here in my hometown, visiting all the friends and family one last time before becoming a fulltime student again of course is the perfect excuse not to draw everyday as I should. I know, I know. My bad.

Just not to a total lazy-ass, here is a quick Deadpool sketch from last saturday´s artjam.

Artjam 17: Army of Me

Please listen to Army of Me (Sucker Punch Remix) while looking.

Suckerpunch!

God I loved that movie. I know it doesn't have the greatest story plot in the universe, but the visuals... man! The visuals is all I'm about, and this flick has them -like a boss! So this is my tribute to my favorite character of the movie: (and I think almost everyone else's too) Babydoll.

I really liked how it turned at the end, so I decided to share the process. I condensed one or two steps so I can make it shorter but it is essentially the same as always.

Here it goes:

1. Sketch. I covered the sketching part on my last post but here it is again.

2. Background and flats. After deciding that the fight was going to take place just like the scene in the movie, I painted a cloudy sky, then filled both characters with color for easier selection. After that, I changed the color tones and start building from there.

One thing I think I have never mentioned before is the order of the layers in Photoshop. This is important because, each artist has its own style and order of the layers. This obviously affects painting or coloring process and the final outcome of the piece. After several years and experiments, in this particular style (digital painting) this is my basic placing of the layers:

1. Artline. Mode: Normal. 


2. Color: Mode Normal. I used this layer in Multiply mode, but this distorts how the colors look and causes trouble with any layers placed below. Later on this layer is merged with the artline.

3. Background. Mode Normal. In terms of selecting and erasing, it is easier for me to have the background and the color layers separated.




3. Light Sources. You might face the challenge of not knowing where to start painting. When this happens to me, I start with one thing at the time, in this case, from top to bottom. Once you have decided where your light sources are, you can start painting by parts. First Babydoll's skirt, outlining the folds and then the whole outfit and the hair. After that I continued with the samurai's armor, trying to emulate the texture of metal as much as I can with different brushes and techniques. And at last, the spark of the clashing of katanas. I also color the artline in some places like the hair or the speed lines.

4. Bright lights and Gradient overlay. In this stage I blend the art line with the color layer and start "painting". While coloring, my color tones tend to lean more to the desaturated side. So, one trick I use is duplicate the color layer, place it on top of the original color layer and set it to Overlay Mode, which makes the colors extremely bright. This is an easy fix with the opacity bar, bringing it down a couple of notches, just as I saw fit.

I do use more than 3 layers, specially when I want a special look or effect. Playing with the layer modes can give you different outcomes, in my case I use mostly Overlay Layers and Screen layers. One last thing I like to do is try a Gradient Overlay Layer with different color settings depending on the mood I'm trying to set. Here I used a green-ish tint that serves too well with all the piece together.

This is what my final layer count is like:

Of course that this is just a way and there are infinite ways to do things. You have to find your own way, what works for you and always try to improve on your methods. It is an ongoing process.

Here are some detail shots:

That's it! I hope you guys liked it, and if you have any questions or comments they are all welcome.

For more Babydoll art

• Emily Browning on Deviant Art

For more killer Suckerpunch art, check out:

• EDSFOX's Rocket

• Martegod's Amber

• Pungang's Babydoll

Bats Sketch

Quick Batman sketch. Just to play around in Sketkchbook pro and Photoshop.

Art Jam 11: Chun-Li

Talk to the hand biatch.

This piece is special.

2 weeks ago, we decided to pay tribute to one of the toughest and hottest videogame babes ever, that is of course Chun-Li. I decided to go for a different kind of pose, something I have not done before. This is to push myself to do other things and explore new alternatives. Plus, EDSFOX dared me again to paint it, instead of color it (all digital). 

And even though I begin the sketching during the ArtJam! I wasn't quite sure of the final result. I was not happy with the first 4 sketches, and it took me almost an hour to do one that was sort of decent. So yes, I didn't finish that day, or even that week.

I finished the final art line just in time for the next session, and we did a coloring marathon during last week's ArtJam.

Overall it took me two sessions of ArtJam! to finish the piece, mostly because of the pose and the style of coloring. This has been the closest to painting that I have ever done, not just using the lines over the coloring, but integrating everything as a whole... or at least I tried. 

I'm thinking of making a Cell Shaded version of this one but I'm not sure anymore. It was a lot of fun but at the end it wore me out. 

Check out EDSFOX's version of Chun-Li. It kicks ass! 

Hope you like it.

Art Jam 10: Monster

Monster done in the last Art Jam!

When talking about what we were gonna do, we decided to go for a monster. And lately I've been playing Shadow of the Colossus on the old PS2 (in case you don't know it is a killer game!) so I was kind of inspired on doing something with hair and stone. I tried to keep it as rough as possible, not minding much on the details or something that appeared to be noodled a lot.  This is what came out.

Check out EDSFOX's and Luis Larm, and Adan Flores monsters, everyone has a different style, which is great!

And here is a picture of that day. Edsfox on the left and me on the right, courtesy of Adan Flores .

The Legend of Zelda Tribute

By Odin, at last it is finished.

This is the longest I have ever worked on a piece, not because of the size of it, because I didn't do it in one sitting but over the course of 3 months, a few hours at the time. Also, I needed it finished it cuz' I want to include it in my portfolio for a special project that is in the making. This is it, I will explain this step by step. Don't think of this as a tutorial, but more like a general description of the whole process.

1. Sketch

Being a tribute to one of my favorite games  I wanted to do something that felt complete, I mean with full characters and a decent background in some sort of surprise battle. I also wanted to do a mix up of two of the Zelda games, (Twilight Princess and Wind Waker) so I chose the Lost Woods as the scenery, Link for the first game and Ganon for the second game (my favorite versions of both of them).

2. Tighter Lines

Once the characters and the background have been placed, I started to tight up the lines of the sketch. Doing digital art gives you the advantage of working really fast and to be able to correct things more easily. I concentrated myself on the details such as clothing and the faces first, then I moved to the trees and the rest of the forest. I used reference shots for Link's Shield engravings and his uniform, as well as for Ganon's outfit. I did took the liberty of putting some medieval boots on him.

3. Inks

Then it comes the inking stage. Here I just winged it, trying not to put much thought on perfection or something really squeaky clean. This was all done on Sketchbook Pro so I took the opportunity to experiment with some of the pencil bushes, giving them the appearance of inking brushes with a lot of texture, specially on the shadows of the tree branches. I just tried to have fun with the whole thing.

A couple of detail shots

Now, on to Photoshop CS5. This is where it gets fun!

4. Color I: Flats

  

 This stage is kind of new to me, and I learned it thanks to the fabulous Art Jams that I have been rocking with my buddies EDSFOX and Martegod. Flattening is just creating massive blocking of colors separating all the parts of the illustration. This is the part of the process that tends to be a little bit tedious for me. But, that being said, it is extremely helpful later on. I keep this on a separate layer just below the coloring layer. I used bright and contrasting colors so when I use Photoshop's Magic Wand (Shortcut W ) I don't have a hard time selecting the chunks of color. The fact that you are able to select anything on another layer is just ridiculously time saving speeding things up, boosting your productivity to the maximum.

5. Color II: Base color

Using the flats as my base, I separated each of the base colors I will use for each part. Some of them changed a bit during the process, but you get the idea.

6. Color III: Light Source

I used a visual map for the illustration, pointing out which parts I want to bring out more, maybe with a lot of detail or with a specific kind of light.

With my base color and my visual map ready, I state my sources of light so I can start to color accordingly.

Again this is just a guide. Things may change as I move along.

7. Color IV: Wrapping it up

I focused on the two characters using the beam of light as the main source, I wanted it to kind of reflect on everything around Ganon. I used this as the premise of the illumination and color placement of the illustration. The ambient blue on the background is just to give some contrast and depth to the piece.

8. Sweeting things up.

For the finishing touches, a couple of Hard light tricks and Screen glows here and there, just to sweet things up.

I could describe my whole coloring process as kind of a mood setting using color theory, the message you want to communicate and my gut feeling. You have to know when to stop, and strangely, one nows when it is ready. I admit I have to study more color theory so the jobs can get better, but as with everything, it is a matter of watch and learn.

That's it! Again, it was a tough one but I had a lot of fun doing it all the way.

I hope I don't disappoint all you Legend of Zelda fans everywhere. If this serves you in some way my mission is accomplished. And as always, all comments and critics are welcome.

Digital Art Process : Nadia Color

Continuing with the Digital Art Process Series of posts, here is the third and final state:

The Color Process. Part 1 and 2.

 

Done in Photoshop CS5. 

The only part that I didn't record was the flattening of the colors. This is where you just put a flat color or colors on the art just to have a base on where to start coloring. I'm not saying that this stage is a waste of time, it's just that for the sake of the video not being an hour long I cut this part out.

I hope this series has helped you in some sort of way. Please feel free to ask or comment anything. I will be looking forward to it.