Pirouette - Process (Patreon)

1. In Clip Studio, I draw rough thumbnail to get the basic concept down.

2. Rough sketch. I make a formal sketch to work out the layout, pose, and proportions. I start getting some of the details roughed out. I used a symmetry ruler for the music box.

3. Final sketch. I  sketch the fine details for the character. I use separate layers in multiple folders for the various props and the character which makes it easier to plan, especially when so many of the parts overlap. If you look closely, you can see that I draw some parts that I know will be completely hidden behind others, particularly the basic body shape, to make sure it will all make sense together. Keeping them on separate layers also makes it easier to shift the positions of individual features when final details on foreground features might change the layout needs.

4. Inking. I scale the canvas up to four times the size and 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. Planning for the line coloring later, I try to use a different vector layer for each part that would be differently colored as linework such as one each for the character's skin, one for everything that will have black linework, etc.

5. Color blocking. I set the folder containing all the different inked vector layers as the reference layer. Then I made new raster layers underneath and started filling in the flat colors. Sometimes I used a round pen, sometimes the collor fill bucket, usually with the fill set to follow only the reference layer, stopping at the middle of a vector.

6. Form shading. I create a dark blue 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 set to clear to paint away the shading, painting with light. For the hair, I used color burn for richer shading and start with a pointy airbrush to stroke in the curve of the hair in waving crescents, then go back with a soft airbrush for to soften locks of hair in the middle. I also added a pale blue layer set to screen to airbrush in some soft highlights in key places.

7. For the chain and laces, I used my own pre-drawn brushes, treating these parts as a separate set above everything else. I filled the color and shaded them using the same method and shade color as above. The linework on the laces is already precolored since I used a two-color brush and planned the linework color in advance.

8. Cast shadows. I make a new blue 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. (To be honest, the shadow below the tutu really should fall further down but I wanted the bulge to be partially out of shadow to draw attention.)

9. Backlight. On a new fill layer set to screen, I used a desaturate solid color painted with a soft airbrush in the mask. When I combine it with the form shading, backlighting really makes the characters pop. I don't use any backlight on non-reflective objects. For some objects, I only use a backlight on shadowed side. For the most reflective objects, I add a forelight on the primary light side as well. On the hair, I used the fingertip tool to streak in the shape of the hairs.

10. Shiny. I used a solid white layer for the primary shine and painted spots and streaks using a hard variable-width brush. 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. After painting all the shine, I use the cast shadow layer to make a selection and delete the shine from anywhere covered by shadow.

11. For the sequins, I used a simple sequin texture pattern, set to overlay, above all of the shading.

12. For the natural blush, I add in a raster layer and airbrush red just on the skin for the cheeks and places where bone is near the surface of the skin. I used the same approach for make-up.  I also brushed on a scattering of white specks, then softened the edges with an airbrush eraser to give the make-up a glittery effect.

13. Colored linework. Since the linework is still all vectors in Clip Studio, I simply selected the vectors and changed their color to whatever colored linework I needed, sampling from each section and then shifting the color to be more saturate and dark, more or less depending on how hard or soft I want each thing to feel. The hardest things I keep black. Then I collapsed all of the linework into raster layers, locked the pixel transparency, and used an eraser to fix up any places where different color linework crossed over each other or a multiply brush where the shadows were deep enough to require darker linework.

14. Eyelashes are done with a simple raster layer painted with a black variable-width pen. Then I lock the pixel transparency for that layer and use a soft pen to paint in grey streaks for texture and then soften the look with a few strokes of a black soft airbrush. Then I tinted the tips of the sissy's eyelashes with color to make them extra fancy.

15. I added some simple spotlights to the backdrop.

16. I added a smattering of sparkles to the sequins and jewelry.