Hitchhiker - Process (Patreon)

1. I started with a rough thumbnail, just to get the concept down.

2. Next, I did a rough sketch to finalize the proportions, layout, and the rough design for the clothing.

3. For the final sketch, I worked out all the details of the clothing, hair, and props.

4. Inking. I use a variable-width inking brush for the character and a constant-width brush for hard things on vector layers. I used my own brushes for the edge of the pettcoat. I use lots of different layers for different parts, which makes it easier to overdraw and erase as needed. I also went ahead of inked the shape for the eyelashes because the brush stablization in Manga Studio makes it a lot easier than doing it in Photoshop later. I exported the inking for the character and eyelashes on separate layers.

5. In Photoshop, I convert the imported lines to a folder with a mask and put a solid black layer in the folder. (CTRL-click RGB in the Channels tab, invert the selection, create a mask from the selection.) This will come in handy later when I color the linework. Then I create another folder and start creating the basic color blocking. I like to do all my color blocking by making a folder and then filling it with different solid color layers for each section of color, whch makes it easy to change a color later. This is a very fussy way to do it and it's probably much simpler to just fill a single raster layer with flat colors.

6. I painted the backdrop mostly using simple solid blocks of color. Then I laid in the road as a big grey rectangle with a stripe, applied a grunge texture, then used distortion to match the perspective. I used a simple grass brush to dab in the grass in a few different shades of green. Finally, I added a soft golden glow the distant edge of the ground in the general area of the sunset.

7. Making a copy of the backdrop (no including the sky), I applied a guassian blur and then used a non-blurred version with a gradient mask to make the environment fade between crisp and blurred as it gets more distant, creating a focal depth effect.

8. Form shading. I create a dark blue solid color layer (linear burn) and start painting in the basic form shading with a soft airbrush. For the hair, I used color burn for richer shading and I used a variable-width soft airbrush to smudge detail into the shadows, picking up the shape of the hairs.

9. Cast shadows. I make a new dark brown layer set to multiply and start painting in the cast shadows with soft brush, using a smaller brush in places where the object casting the shadow is closer to the thing the shadow is on.

10. Backlight. I used a desaturate solid color layer (screen blend mode) painted with a soft airbrush. When I combine it with the form shading, backlighting really makes the characters pop. I don't use any backlight on non-reflective objects. I went extra heavy on the backlight since I want the backlight to be stronger than the forelight.

11. Shiny. I used a solid white layer for the primary shine and painted spots and streaks using a hard variable-width brush. After painting all the shine, I use the cast shadow layer to make a selection and delete the shine from anywhere covered by shadow. For the shine on the hair, I started with thin strokes with a variable-width brush, then use a smude tool to add detail and softness to the tips, then use an airbrush to add a soft glow to groups of streaks, then use an airbrush to fade the tops and bottoms of streak groups, and finally use a soft round brush to erase a few streaks in the middle of each group. For the shine on the latex, I added a glow layer effect using a falloff with a wavy, rising path to create a second soft halo around the main shine.

12. For the blush, I add in a light red layer, airbrushing just on the same area as the skin for the cheeks and other places on the body, mainly places where bone is closest to the surface of the skin.

13. To create a more sunset lighting effect, I added a semi-transparent hue/saturation adjustment layer to make the character more yellow, in the same hue as the sunset.

14. Colored linework. Going back to the linework folder, I started adding new solid color layers, using the mask to paint the color of the linework. Since the new layers are inside a folder with a mask defining the linework, I don't have to be very precise when coloring the lines. I always add new color layers below the ones I already did so that I can be sloppy in the areas that are already covered by colored linework. I like to keep using black lines (or very close to black) on the hardest objects to give it a contrast with softer objects.

15. Laces. I drew some grey doughnut circles onto a new layer for the grommets, then applied a bevel and outer glow (black, multiply). Then I did the same thing with a simple round brush on a new layer for the laces, using folder masks to hide the laces where the go behind other objects.

16. Eyelashes are done with a folder containing a solid grey layer and a solid black layer. Using the lashes I made earlier with a variable width brush, I add a few thin streaks on the grey layer mask to add depth to the lashes and soften the look with a few strokes of a soft airbrush.

17. To add an edge glow, I made a copy of the backlight layer, expanded the edge out a bit, applied a gaussian blur, then set it to pin light.

18. For a god rays effects, I dabbed the same color in clusters around the edge of the character, then used radial blur over and over to turn it into long streaks. Then I added a layer mask and erased the streaks from in front of the character so they would appear to be coming from behind.