Final Drawing
This is the most straightforward part, just use your model photos and any other reference material, as well as your rough sketch, an draw your final picture. I stayed pretty close to my reference photo, adjusting some proportions and accounting for camera distortion as best I could. I added the costume as I went, using my Roman/Hollywood picture from above as a rough guide and adding a couple of fantasy touches.
It’s vital to work out all the problems you can think of at this point – anatomy, costume, lighting, background – make sure it’s all drawn in to the point of being a good guide for your final painting. Surprises in the rendering phase can slow you down or even stop you completely. This process is all about building one step on another, so take the time to make your drawing into the solid foundation you’ll need later.
Scanning and file creation
OK, if you’ve done your sketch on the computer, good for you! Personally, I haven’t gotten the hang of that yet, so I do my sketches on paper and scan them in. After scanning (in Grayscale mode), I use Levels in PhotoShop to darken the darks and get rid of the worst of the smudges and light construction lines.
Next, the picture is cropped to the correct aspect ratio that you’ll need, then resize to the pixel size you want to work at. You’ll usually want to work at the same size you’ll be delivering in, or larger. Sometimes, however, if a client needs a very high-resolution piece, you may want to work at half-size at first, then size it up towards the end when you get to the final details. This can save a lot of time in some situations.
Now, change your file to RGB color, and you’re ready to begin. What? Didn’t the job spec call for a CMYK delivery? Well, yes, but it’s always best to work in RGB – there are more filters available, and the color blending is easier in RGB. As long as you are careful to stay away from colors that don’t reproduce well in CMYK, you’ll be fine.
Background
I almost always start with a background first – at least the far background “haze” of color that will be the bed for the whole picture. There are two important reasons for this.
1. By putting in the background first you won’t have to paint around the foreground elements later, which is a drag will make your background look stiff.
2. By having all the background and environmental colors in place, you achieve a more unified color effect with the foreground characters and their surroundings.
One thing you’ll need to learn is that often you’ll make some nice little bit of business in the background (a bush or tree or cloud or something) that will get covered later by a foreground element. Try not to be too sentimental about these things, and certainly don’t move your characters around to save a piece of background. You’ll be able to paint a nice cloud again, after all!
