Succubus Trainee - Process (Patreon)

1. I start with a thumbnail to get the basic concept down.

2. Next, a more formal sketch to work out the layout, pose, and proportions.

3. Final sketch. I sketch the characters in full detail.

4. Inking. I use a variable-width inking brush for the character and a constant-width brush for hard things on vector layers. I use lots of different layers for different parts, which makes it easier to overdraw and erase as needed. I also went ahead and 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 also designed the lines for a summoning circle, using a five-sided symmetry ruler.

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. Using a Theban font, I added various funny phrases around the circle, curving the text to match the shape.

7. After collapsing a copy of the layers for the circle down to one layer, I used perspective distortion to squash the circle to look as if it is drawn on the ground. I also added an outer glow layer effect in the same color.

8. Form shading. Since this picture will be lit from below, I flipped the canavs upside-down to make it easier to visualize the shading. Next, I created a dark brown solid color layer (linear burn) and start painting in the basic form shading with a soft airbrush. I always start with shading at full and then use the airbush to paint away the shading, painting with light. For the hair, I used color burn for richer shading and start with a general, soft airbrush for the overall shape, then 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 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 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.

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.

12. Now that the shading is done, I flipped the picture rightside-up again. For the blush, I add in a light purple layer, airbrushing just on the same area as the skin for the cheeks and places where bone is near the surface of the skin. I use the same approach for the make-up.

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. To create the magic flare, I went back to copy of the flat summoning circle and applied heavy motion blur, straight up and down, multiple times to get lots of stretch. Then I used perspective distortion to make it flare and sized it to match the sides of the circle. Then I used a soft eraser to remove the motion blur from below the circle.

16. For the mystic flames, I made a simple solid color layer and painted in the shape with a variable-width hard round brush. Then I set the fill to zero and add a layer effect for inner glow and outer glow in light blue set to screen mode.

17. For the backdrop, I made a smoky, foggy pattern to fill the whole area, set to multiply. Then I added a gradient layer of black to transparent, heaviest the bottom and a second gradient layer of green to transparent, heaviest the top so the fog would fade out.

18. Finally, I added some simple black cloaked figure silhouettes to the background, applying a little gaussian blur to make them fade back.