Long Ride Home - Process (Patreon)

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

2. Next, I did a rough sketch, getting the pose and tricycle roughed and deciding on perspective for the tricycle and environment.

3. Next I did a more final sketch to work out all the details. I relied heavily on perspective rulers for the tricycle.  To draw a wheel, I would use the perspective the make a box and then make a circle on a new layer and distort it to match one side of the box, then another on the other side, and so on. I wound up shifting the perspective for the environment so it doesn't technically match the tricycle but I don't think the difference is noticeable.

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 chains. 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 characters 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. For the backdrop, I used the polygonal lasso tool to rough in the ground, sidewalk, and houses. Then I made made a repeating pattern of 100 picket fence posts, then distorted it to match the perspective and added a darker edge for depth. Then I used my leaf and grass brushes to fill in solid blocks for the grass, trees, and bushes.

6. Added more detail to the background by adding a single second shade to the grass, bushes, houses, etc. I also added a little simple form shading to the mailbox.

7. Form shading. I create a dark brown 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.

8. Cast shadows. I make a new dark brown layer (and a blue one for the interior) 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.

9. Backlight. I used two desaturate solid color layers (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.

10. 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.

11. For the blush, I add in a light red layer, airbrushing just on the same area as the skin for the cheeks and other cheeks. I use the same method to add color for the eyeshadow.

12. I added a semi-transparent solid white above the blush layer, below the shading layers, for hosiery. This lets some of the blush through but tones it down, as it would be under hosiery.

13. 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 on the hardest objects to give it a contrast with softer objects.

14. 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.

15. For the drool, I used a white layer with the fill turned down just a little and add a layer effect with white inner glow set to 100%. Then I use the mask to soften the edge where it touches the skin. After, I add a new white layer to paint in the shiny highlights.

16. I added a couple of sparkle stamps.

17. Finally, I added a few text layers for sound effects, using a very simple font with a little extra tilt for each word.