This was the very beginning of the background being added. It was pretty rough, aside from the cherry tree. I used this photo as reference for the tree, but I obviously simplified it a fair bit. The rest of the background was mostly blocking in basic shapes and colours.

I decided I wanted to have a sunset in the background at this point, but it didn't really come together until the next step (which is temporarily up as a TWC incentive, if you would like to compare). I also fixed the colours for the grass, sky, and lake in the next step to make them more natural. I found it helpful to take a quick look at some photos of sunsets to plan how I would include the sun and how to better use a gradient for the coloured sky. But in this step, the sky wasn't quite working. I had been experimenting with both linear and radial gradients, but I decided it was best to step away for a bit after I got to this point as it's always helpful to look at a real sky when trying to emulate it in an illustration.

I hope you're enjoying the progress posts on this piece. I'm still deciding how to finish up, but I think the next step is very close. You can expect to see the end result soon :)

Previously:
Shading
Flat Colour
Vector Line Work
Pencil Sketch

Labels: art, green corner, illustration, vector, work in progress

Two progress images this time, but there isn't a huge difference between them so I'm sharing them together.
The bottom image here is the final shading for the figures, aside from some minor changes that I made later. I used a little feathering for some of the shading and shine details on Alshina's dress and Koru's tie.

I started editing Koru's proportions here, to make sure they were correct. I made some minor changes later, but here I was trying to fix his height as I initially made his legs too long. I've worked out his final height to be about 6' 4", while Alshina is 5' 8". He's a little taller than I was originally planning, but I think it will help add some more variety, as most of the characters are pretty tall.

Previously:
Flat Colour
Vector Line Work
Pencil Sketch

Labels: art, green corner, illustration, vector, work in progress

Further progress on the Valentine's Day special for Green Corner, the flat colour this time. Most of the colour scheme was set at this point for the figures. Shading and shine was added in the next step.

As I mentioned previously, I found that colouring the line work in this step also helped to soften details, particularly the eyes.


Previously:
Vector Line Work
Pencil Sketch

Labels: art, green corner, vector, work in progress

Here's the initial digital line work for the upcoming Valentine's Day special for Green Corner. Alshina and Koru are featured in this one, in human form. I tried a different style for the eyes this time, but it's a little difficult to see how well it works at this stage. I coloured the lines when I did the flat colour, which helps soften things a fair bit, but I may adjust things further as I do the shading. Mostly, I don't want it to look like Koru is wearing eyeliner. But I like the way Alshina's eyes turned out, so it's something I may try again in the future.

Hope you enjoy the sneak peek :)

In case you missed it or would like to compare, the pencil sketch for this was shared earlier, in this post.

Labels: art, green corner, work in progress

I started this sketch recently, on the 16th. The characters are Alshina and Koru, from my comic series, Green Corner. You may recognize them from a previous special, Valentine Kiss.

I made some small changes last night to Koru's clothing (the shirt collar and tie), but otherwise it's pretty much the same as when I started it. I'm still not completely sure about the way that Koru is holding Alshina's hand, as I want it to be a little softer and gentler, but that's something I can work on during the digital version.

I haven't fully decided on the background yet, but I'm thinking of making this illustration set outdoors with some trees. Cherry could be nice, or something unique to the fantasy world of Green Corner.

I did other sketches to try out more ideas with couples for a Valentine's Day special, but I think this one has the most promise. I actually had an idea something like this a couple years ago, but couldn't draw it out well enough then. It's nice to be able to tell how much I've progressed by being able to draw more complicated scenes. I will still have to make some adjustments to this, mostly to make sure that their relative heights are correct and refine some details.

I hope you like the sketch so far. I did this on scrap paper, so the type from the other side made some shadows when I darkened the scan. I hope you can see the idea clearly enough despite that, but there will be more detail in the digital version, of course.

Labels: art, green corner, sketches

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season! In case you haven't seen my "Holiday Girls" illustration yet, here's the progress for my 2009 winter holiday special for Green Corner. (or feel free to skip to the end to see the final)

Labels: art, green corner, illustration, vector

This illustration features four animals having a tea party: a monkey, a bird, a rat/mouse, and a cat. It's a kid-friendly piece this time, because I had an idea that I couldn't help drawing. I hope you enjoy it.

Scroll down to see the progress from start to finish.


There were some obvious mistakes with the pencil sketch, but I focused on getting the concept down as I could easily fix a lot of the problems digitally. I didn't want to spend too much time fixing some of the things in the pencil sketch that are really easy to draw digitally, as it's more efficient for me to just have the idea for simple objects roughed in and finish them later (especially the tray of snacks). If I were to finish this traditionally, I would have done at least one more version that was tighter. When I finish digitally though, my sketches can be rougher.


Just the monkey and the rat, so far. With some of the scenery started.


Flat colour for all of the characters and more of the objects added.



You can see the detail of the dinnerware and snacks better here. The sugar cubes and most of the cheese slices are 3D objects. the crackers were placed using blends. And the steam from the tea uses the feather effect. I hope that's enough tricks for now, but if you have questions, I can do some more mini-tutorials on how I put some of these things together.

Labels: art, illustration, sketches, vector