Show the Process

[Leyelle]

[ArtGremlin]

So first I start with a sketch (usually with a big rough brush so I can’t try to make the sketch look perfect) I’d give an example of a sketch, but I always erase them as I go bc it’s satisfying 🥲 then boom, line art

Don’t ask how I make it look this good. Idk. I suddenly turned into an anime artist? (That’s not how I normally draw eyes. They’re just specific to this character)
Then flats- oh nvm I don’t have any bc I rendered on the flats layer. Looks like it’s rendering time already

But we aint done

But we still aint done. It’s effects time.

My process tends to change at least once a month, but I really enjoyed this one. (Even the line art, which I usually don’t care for.)
Character is my oc Agent Lime, who I don’t draw as often as I wish I did.

[ThunderChicken]

Rough sketch, usually done in some god-awful colour that will contrast with inks. If it's a really technical drawing with lots of characters I will do each character in a different colour, but where this is a simple one the blue will do:

Then basic inks and the sketch layer is made invisible:

Basic colours:

Shaded colours (this is a whole process in itself, and I'm fairly certain I do it in the most difficult way imaginable - some day I might do a sequence showing my colouring):

Basic background laid out (I think I enjoy backgrounds more than the main subject):

Some detail added to the background. This is done in several layers. In the layer above you can see the transparent squares. I add colour and texture to a new layer underneath this one, which only shows up in the transparent squares:

Next I merge those layers and then make the opposite squares transparent and do another "underneath" layer. This is a parquet floor, so I made it look like two different types of wood with their grains perpendicular to each other:


Some more background details are added, and the same transparency method is used for each individual texture/colour:

...Until finally, the image is finished:

[Leyelle]

Very anime. Pretty cool

[justincarbunkle]

Blank Canvas + Layer Template I use for every Free Falling page.

Storyboard. Sketch and Text.

Line Work. Characters first, then bg, then speech bubbles.

Flat Coloring

Details (shading, room lighting, gradients, textures)

[Shanny8]

I'll do rough pencils in blue, to establish what I want to do as well as make sure the [rendition of the] pose is to my liking...I'll then do a second stage of pencils in red- cementing the look, but still staying loose enough because I don't care to do "detail" detail coz it takes energy away from me when inking...

Once that's done, I go to inks- inks are definitely detail and I put a lot of my energy into the process...in the case of this piece, a lot of the logo stuffs were imported in and I had already converted them to color- which is the reason why they're not spotted in the inks...

Then I move to the colors stage, where not only do I color, but I'll figure out which direction I'm bringing my light source from, and other effects:

Lastly, I'll concentrate on the background color elements- in my OC pieces like these, I try to keep the background colors & scheme simple...I always use a grainy like texture layer to allow the figure to "pop" out; with this piece, I used the grainy texture layers and other effects layers to dial down the vivid blue and pink layers...it also adds the desired "mood" that I wanted the piece to invoke.

[kyupol]

[wolflu66]

My line art usually isn't very detailed. I first sketch out a rough draft, generally decide on the overall color scheme, then start painting directly, adjusting and refining details as I go.

[vapidink]

This is one I did a while ago for someone else as an Inksgiving reward, but I start with a messy sketch. Messiness varies, lol.

Then I do linework

Then flats and gradients

Rendering time!

And then I do the background and final effects and details.

And that's it unless I'm doing a digital painting. For those I just block out the shapes in whatever colors I'm using and then refine it like this