So this was a milestone moment: A friend asked me if I take commissions. Formally, the answer is no. (Basically, I'm trying to avoid creating expectations and demand that I can't fulfill! XD) But I decided to take this one on, challenge myself, and push for a little growth. This also doubles as a quick plug for a fellow writer: Katie Salidas writes a ton of great paranormal fantasies featuring werewolves, vampires, secret agencies, and the like. One of my personal favorites is A Weapon of Magical Destruction! Speaking of weapons, Katie also knows how to wield a SWORD, and her request was to see an avatar with her own "weapon of magical destruction." In my usual minimalist style, this first piece took me about an hour:
But I wanted to push myself a little bit further and see if I could do a full pose. After all, she's gotta HOLD the sword! So I thought I'd show you a few steps to how this happens. First, there's an outline, and I used a digital brush called Peppermint to do a basic mannequin. A "stick figure," a line of action, followed by a few cylinders, and joints. In pink, I tried to flesh out a tiny bit more detail... in this case, clothes and fingers! (Ugh, hands are harrrrd.)
Step two is to add a layer, and I used the Procreate Pen to ink a slightly smoother outline! This always starts in black, and then I fill it in later. For the head, well... I cheated a little, because I'd already made a close-up version. So I pasted and then adjusted, and started adding colors in a third layer. From there, it goes kind of fast!
And once all the color is there, I look at effects! Backgrounds, making her sword all shiny, shadows, that sort of thing. :) Full body poses are still a bit of a challenge for me because I'm so used to doing these "shoulders-up" templates, but after about 2-3 hours of work, here's what I came up with for my friend!
Thank you Katie for the opportunity to practice something a little out of my comfort zone! Everyone check out her books and give her a buy/review. She's more of a tea person than a coffee person, but trust me: all your favorite creators love any contribution to their coffee, tea, or beer fund!
Happy Easter,
Jacob