Kurohara Sousuke - Progress shots

Occasionally, I draw stuff that is not tengu-related. Like this here yakuza fellow - this is a step-by-step progress sequence to show how I did it.


Step One: Sketch out the basic layout - there tricky part here was making sure that he was correctly reflected in the mirror. I had to run over and look into my own bathroom mirror six times over just to get it right.

For once, I actually managed a pretty clean sketch - I usually sketch as if I've got uncontrollable spasms.


Step Two: I sketch out his tattoos on a separate layer, in case I feel the need to re-do them completely.


Step Three: I always sketch in blue, and once I start colouring, I convert everything to black - in this particular picture, I make no cleaner lineart, since I want to keep the paintery feel. The lineart layer(s) are set to "overlay", since that makes them blend better with the underlying colours.


Step Four: Overall colour scheme is important, so I block in the general areas of light and dark in the background. I pick green, because green is a nifty colour, and it fits this character and situation - it's not the nicest bathroom in the world, I imagine.



Step Five: Blocking in the colours of his skin. When painting people, I always start with the skin, for some reason. The blobs of colour on the mirror image is my palette - even though Corel Painter has a nifty palette function in the program, I've always felt more comfortable blobbing it out on the actual painting. It helps me keep the colours consistent.


Step Six: I finish blocking in the colours of his skin, and the colours of the mirror-frame and the little things in the background. I keep the walls green, because I like them that way - I was going to do this complicated thing with tiles, but I didn't feel like it.


Step Seven: The tattoo is coloured on a separate layer - set to "overlay". The design is not final, colour-wise - I can't really make up my mind - but it looks good enough for now.


Step Eight: I discovered that his nose was far too long, so I painted over it on a separate layer, and raised his mouth and painted over his eyes as well. Fixed some minor details, painting over his hair, doing the cigarette-smoke, etc., etc. Also fixed some bits with the tattoo - I'm still not entirely happy with it, but it looks good enough.


Step Nine: Final step! I add three layers - two overlay layers filled with various shades of green, since I noticed he looked a bit washed out, and to darken the mirror image, and then one layer with a paper texture that I found in the dark recesses of my texture folder. And now it's done!

It doesn't look the way it does in my head, but then again, it never does.