I’m taking a mammalian ecology class and I find the labs incredibly fun because I basically get to sketch skulls the entire time. Here’s some samples of what I did today (really poor resolution since I don’t have a scanner or good camera on me so will have to make do with my computer’s terrible cam ahh)
quick sketch of Beryl + Riley relaxing with a drink after hours
Portrait of my OC Beryl, referencing from that photo of Cykeem White I just reblogged (his facial structure is almost a perfect match for her, minus lips and hair and eyebrow thickness)
just a few practice action shots, feat. my OC Riley, Alanna, and Kel
bit of anatomy practice
Simple coloring tutorial
So since people have been asking, I’m uploading a really simple tutorial of how I color. This won’t be helpful at all as far as color selection/color theory goes (that comes intuitively with practice/observation), but hopefully it’ll help at least a few of you.
1) Gonna use a quick sketch of bby Beryl as the lineart. I just used the pen tool on Painttool SAI.
2) On a separate layer, I use the brush tool on the fine flat setting to color in the base colors for her skin + hair - leaving the eye uncolored for now
3) Added simple shading - SAI has this really excellent automatic blending. Note that I’m using purple for her skin instead of dark brown - I really dislike using just a darker version of the base color for shading because it gives the overall picture this flat dodged/burned look.
4) Colored in her eyes and added another layer of shading in the hair and shirt (highlighted her right cheek using the original base color to make it a bit more 3D). The whites of her eyes are actually a yellowish gray since actual white looks a bit too jarring in contrast to her skin tone.
5) Added highlights to her hair and erased the colors outside the lines. (Note that I basically just color everything on the same layer)
6) I use this dramatic lighting effect a lot, so I’m going to include it here. On a separate layer that I position above the lineart layer, I set my brush to white and use SAI’s watercolor brush to just lightly color slightly into the edges of the lines - good areas are where her skin meets her shirt, in the sharp lines of the hair, any corners and edges.
Hope this was informative!
atmosphere practice
practice
More sketches of Beryl. Still deciding if I want the comic to be in monotone or in color.
Concept of Riley, a major supporting character in Beryl’s story. She’s 4’11” and 90 pounds soaking wet, with a huge potty mouth and a very loud attitude to compensate for her height (she’s also Beryl’s best friend - they trained together as new recruits (as for what they do, that will be explained later ;))).
Not her official costume, just a placeholder until I decide on a period of fashion to go with. (I also don’t know what she’s doing exactly on the right)
