AT-Summer Run, Summer Fun

Commission Prices | Facebook | Twitter | Youtube | Picarto
______________________________________________________
Art Trade for Wiccix

Holy balls this has taken a while to get to x.x So have a lot of the art trades. I still have 7 to do as well -dies- OTL.... BUT alas! I shall conquer them!

______________________________________
.:Step By Step:.


My Process:
Sketch
So I had a pose sketched out for about  a month or so? But I wasn't feeling it for the character and it felt too generic or cheesy for the kinda picture I wanted to create. So after being messaged by Wiccix regarding concerns with the trade I decided to sit down and get it completed to put their minds at ease. I wasn't sure what I wanted for this piece, cute, angry, playful, rolling over. Nothing. So upon searching google images with multiple searches related to such canine like poses to give me ideas I stumbled across an interesting one of a dog running with a quite cool camera angle. And that's the one I stuck with. The photo was unbelievably blurry due to it's small size and when I resized it I couldn't make out any details. But  the general pose is the same. Took me a while to details due to the lack of help from the photo I used so sketching this was quite long.

Lineart
I also wanted to try out some of the Sai lineart settings I've been given from various deviants. So for this piece I tried out lineart settings given to me by MangaFeline with some settings altered, apparently. I was finding it difficult to lineart before. having to tediously thicken up my lines and it taking me 10 hrs is slightly ridiculous. So with these new settings I found it a lot easier to have a consistent line weight with my work. Although I did have to taper my lines like I used to with Photoshop the work flow was a lot quicker and I'm happy with the outcome.

Colouring
One of my pet peeves with Sai atm is I find it colours terribly. They're far too sharp and it's hard to get that fluffy ness. Also the magic wond tool works horribly as well. There's always a feather around the edge of my lines. You can't edit your selection like you can in Photoshop so it rids you of that feather. So I opted to colour this in Photoshop. Which took a while since I hadn't coloured with it for a while so I forgot my technique so in all colour the character alone took me 6hrs... Oh the joys! I was really struggling for some reason. It was a mixture of fitting them all in and makeing sure they actually were fluffy and not just blocked there. I also used the ear colours for the paws because I wasn't sure what they were. There was also two nose colour types for the nose so I'd I've got the nose the wrong colour let me know and I'll change it for you Wiccix

Background
While in Photoshop I also decided to work on the background. As I was colouring the idea of the background came into mind. Originally I was just going to do a white wash type background. But I was all inspired by the really hot summers day I had on the day of working on the background so I opted for such a background for the work. I thought it was best to work on the background to give me a better idea of the lighting position before I begin to shade as well. Nothing worse than inconsistent lighting. It also gave me an excuse to practice and experiment with the brushes I have downloaded. I have load of brushes but I've yet to use them effectively. I want to be able to create backgrounds using them as quickly as possible if I'm going to restart my comic at some point. So the background was just a simple curved horizon, running picture. The pose's perspective allowed me to have that cool effect in the work. I made the clouds curve as well because I liked that as a theme XD

Shading
The artwork then returned to Sai for the shading as that's what I find hard to do in Photoshop as well as the lineart. I think I'm getting more comfortable in my Sai shading style that I've adapted. It's a mixture of my old one with more variety thrown in and I like it. Slightly different nose style highlights in this? But you can't really tell. I didn't add a gradient shading layer this time. I wasn't convinced it was necessary because the scene was quite light so there was so much bounce light and such. 

Effects
While I was in sai I decided to utilise the lineart ability it has by drawing random blades of grass behind the feet and some touch up which would be awkward to fix in Photoshop. Also added in the blurred grass in the foreground here as well. Along with the grass that the foot is stepping into as well. I then took the image back to Photoshop I blurred the grass blade and such adding depth of field. I also tried to add foreshortening with the front leg as well as blurring it? But I'm not sure how viable it is to be honest. 

____________

I love how the like back paws came out <3 they were a bloody pain in the arse though. I'm not very good at paws x.x That's why the front paw that's out stretched didn't come out too well. I couldn't see it well on the ref. Well, I couldn't see any of them really but that's the sort of angle I'm not very good at anyways. I also quite like how the eyes came out. Despite some comments regarding the eyes. I wanted da wolfy happy! I wanted a "I'll race ya!" "Follow me!" type pose and expression XD I hope I succeeded. It's quite hard for me to come up with poses with not context for the character. Because I'd hate to draw them doing something which is out of character for them to be doing. For example, Robo-ra would never be cute, like Rayra would never be growling. That type of thing.

But yush, I hope ya like it Wiccix, Thank you for being patient <3 

______________________________________
.:MoreArt:.
   
______________________________________
.:About The Art:.
Time: 22hrs

Software:
Sai-Sketch, Lineart Shading & Details
Photoshop-Char Colouring, Background & Effects

Tool: Tablet
______________________________________
.:Credit:.
Brushes:
Clouds © Dark-Zeblock
Grass © KFCemployee
Grass © Imaliea
Light Effect © zummerfish

Character © Wiccix
Artwork © 8th June 2015 Jenny2-point-0