Whisper Elmwood - Character sketch

Please click any of these images for a full view.

This is Anna-Lu 'Whisper' Elmwood, the main character of the trilogy of novels that I am working on, titled 'The Empress of Nareku'.

This image exists only in cyberspace - as I drew it from start to finish in PSCS3. The following images show my work process.

I start off with three layers - the background, the black line work and the red linework. I always start with a nude form, to get the anatomy and pose correct, so that the clothing, once added, falls naturally and with the shape of the body in mind.

In actuality, this image is roughly 8 inches wide by 11 inches tall. Or 2480pxls x 3508pxls.




I then lower the opacity levels on the two line layers to 50% and create a new layer, leaving it at opacity 100%. This makes it easier to ink over the rough lines. As I work, I erase the now redundant linework underneath the inking, to lessen the confusion.




As I go, I try to keep the inking clean and simple, with little embelishment - and I try to add in the details as I find them. At this stage, I start to outline where the folds in the cloth should lie, according to the shape of the body underneath them and how gravity will affect the material.

Of course - I also allow for it being a 'dynamic' pose, which requires a bit of movement in the clothing.




Once I have completed the line-work, I completely delete the two rough-sketch layers, thus removing any trace of the initial rough sketching. I now have two layers - the background and the line work. To this, I then add the details that I missed during the original inking-stage.

At this stage, I also changed her expression slightly, to make it more welcoming.





The finished image is created by adding another layer, between the background and the lines, on 'multiply', on which I add the white, using the paint-tool at opacity level 40 and building up layers of colour to hint at lighting.


Here is a close up of her face, if you want to see! ^^

So there you have it ^^

I'm not sure whether I'll colour this properly - it was a trial, to see how well I could do this using my new computer/tablet/PSCS3 system - apparently I can do it well XD

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Terrible Twins

And now for something different c.c This was created using pen and ink and is A4 size IRL.

'Terrible Twins' is an illustration for a Doujin (fan-comic) project I'm working on. The two black haired boys are Yahiko (closest) and Sanosuke Uzumaki. The girl and the boy right in the back are Toshiko and Okita Subaku.

You may or may not have heard of the Japanese Manga 'Naruto' - this doujin is set in the Naruto universe and features the offspring of the canon characters.

This image took so long to do - but I'm very pleased with it! For a start I managed a fully detailed background, featuring architecture - something I have problems doing.

I'm in the middle of digitally colouring this at the moment.

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Autumn

This was commissioned by an American client - her terms were 'a typical English setting, depicting Autumn' - so I took my friend Becca on a walk and made her pose for me at the abandoned Rail Station on our favorite walk.

This was created using pen and ink and took far too many hours to complete.

The worst part was when I went back to the area to do the last sketchwork, I discovered that the Local Council had fenced off the Station and cut down the trees! I had to complete the images from some reference photographs taken on a previous visit.

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Rear Window

This was painted during the autumn months of 2007 and is the view from my office window.
Inspiring view, eh?

I was working on the outline for my business plan at the time - and halfway through, my brain basically shut down from all the numeracy - so I shut down Word and opened Photoshop and simply painted for the next four hours.

This is the result. I'm thinking of doing a Print run.

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Here we go then!

Welp - thought I may as well do this XD

I'm a Freelance Artist, so it was only a matter of time before I created a Blog specifically for my art.

I hope you enjoy!

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