SiG - Day 154

Since I was too busy finishing my little project yesterday to be able to submit anything, let me explain my drawing and coloring process:

1. I first start out with a really rough draft (usually taking into account weights and such, along with gesture and proportions) to get a general sense of what I want out of the character. This isn't usually very detailed and looks very rough.
2. Then I sketch some overall armor designs. Again, this is usually very rough. You might notice some simple wire-framing going on to figure how the parts align. More hair is added.
3. The next is a cleanup job, but this is still within the drafting stage! This is to get a better sense of the specifics about the character, like their eyes and their hair. This is also the stage where I start to hammer in the details of the armor, although some elements are clearly missing...
4. Next I did the emblem designs. I consulted upon a book to be able to pull these designs off, and it wasn't an easy feat considering the instructions there were rather vague, so half of it was second guessing and learning geometry.
5. Next it's time to generate a rough color pallet, although most likely half of these colors probably won't get used in the final design, but it gives a sense of what color motif I should aim for.
6. A specific request of me to ditch the long flowy skirt. Oh noes. Good thing this is still in the drafting stage. A belt and sword were also added
7. The belt and sword details are finalized. Some suggestions about adding emblematic designs to the armor were also made, so I added them in the nick off time.
8. So begins the hard work of laying in line art. This is long, boring, and tedious task, but it's all for the better.
9. The line art is finished! Noticed how the eyes are slightly different. This was based on he requesters feedback.
10. Basic colors are slapped in, although they are mostly temporary placeholders for the actual colors to be used. This is just to check that there are no "gaps" in the coloring that would result in white spots.
11. I begin my typical shading process piecemeal, starting from the general areas like the head and the hair, along with the helmet and feathers. The eyes have been modified again to make it look more natural with the rest of the head.
12. Now this is the stage where there are last minute changes can pop up and almost ask you to overhaul the entire picture. Luckily, these parts are miniscule, or haven't been shaded and colored yet. Improvising can be one of those things that can ruin the picture you've already made or make it better. In this case, the tassets were redesigned to make them look less plaid and more of a chevron ornament (since it was too time consuming to do something as another complex emblem design).
13. And there you have it!

Just making the above gif was a learning process in itself.