January Pin-up - Venom (Patreon)

 Hey everyone!!

 I rarely get to work with comic book characters, so it was a very nice opportunity to tackle some aesthetics I usually don't get to work with!

 This one was pretty fun to do and I experimented a bunch of new things! Particularly this is the first piece I finished entirely on SAI2!! 

 Also as I learned how to export files more efficiently (can you believe I had to stop everything and save it before???) I had the chance to take more snippets of my exploration for this piece. That said, let's begin? Today we'll have a bunch to talk about!

> Some thumbnails for the composition this time!! I admit I could explore way more but once I fix my head on something it's hard to let go!!

> So obviously I decided besides the figure, the composition would have two major elements: A skyline of a city behind, and a structure for Venom to lean on. Complex architectural structures and cityscapes are the bane of my existence, so I started thinking on solutions! I decided to use 3D and photobashing to work it out this time, I'm happy with the result tbh! Let's see how I did it~

 For the steel structure I used a model on sketch up, and took some screenshots to use it as a base. For the cityscape I grabbed a free use license picture and manipulated it to get what I want!

> I zoomed the thumbnail of choice, and did a structure pass over it. I also placed the tower where I kinda want it to be! Lately I've been trying to do the structure pass over blobs of shapes. That way anatomy turns more secondary, and I can focus more on making it look fun, not "right".

> You know I like to work my heads in detail apart LOL it's a silly habit but I kinda enjoy focusing on it like that. Did a boxy, brute shape with an angle for the hair, and from there worked his structure over the shape. I've seen Eddie's hairstyle described as a "crew cut", I looked it up and gave my twist. Love doing my version of things.....

> Started to work Venom's more goresome features here!!! Wanted to make the helmet opening. Also lots of TEEF.... I know I draw cute stuff but I love doing monstrosities too!!

> Added the GOOPY elements of the suit! Love Venom's shapeshifting shenanigans! Again, focus on shape, then finer structure.... been trying to do that lately.

> Ok I'm down with this sketch! Let's start finishing it!

> Did the background first! Using that digitally manipulated picture, I created this photobash for the cityscape. Eddie ended up taking lots of space on it so I kinda plan using it again in the future  LOL  Did an extra more colorful violet version, but I wanted to play with the black x blue theme Venom has going for him.

> Did a line over, polished details and added some texture to the steel tower!

> Wanted to see how it works with the background, and decided to render it. It's more simple compared to the character, which is the main focus of the picture!

> A test with the final sketch for eddie on it... Yeah I'm ok to start the lineart on him!

> Started doing lineart, and have hid the background to focus on it, I've got a bird brain when it's about focusing..... Started doing the head, and then you can see a line without the weight pass for comparison. I do it with bright pink, it almost looks invisible right LOL

>Now the lineart with a weight pass. It really makes things pop!

> Test with the background... Ye looking cute... but what colors should I use?!

> Time for a color sketch! I really wanted to do blue venom.....

> Flats! The emblem on his torso is a quite fun element on his design.

> Rendering the base shadows. Experimented rendering with a more texture oriented approach this time.

> Now this is also where I tried something new! Usually I leave secondary shadows to render as I apply the first hard shadows I do, but this time I decided to do it at this pre painting stage. I think I'll start doing like this now!

> As I said, I'll start try using SAI2 as my main tool now and wanted to play a bit with post production. Check out some stuff I did!

That concludes our monthly pin-up post! I'll be opening the voting for the next character on the 1st, I'm looking forward to your participation on it!