Make Our New Dolly Feel Welcome: Process (Patreon)

1. The basic sketch. First I sketched in a face, nice and big. Then I used Manga Studio's perspective rulers to help me draw the shelves. Next I sketch in each the basic character poses. I sketched each pose on a separate layer so that I could more easily shift them around to match the scale.

2. Next I sketched the details - hair, clothing, and accessories. This took a long time and a lot of research to find a good variety of fancy dolly outfits.

3. Inking took all day. I used thicker lines on the shelves and giant to emphasize the size difference.

4. Color blocking. Here I put in the basic color blocking. Each character wears an outfit with a particular central color so that each character is more distinct from other characters. I tried to have variety in the colors but kept them in the same general range of red to blue.

5. Rough shading. Next I experimented with the shading in a rough sketch. This was very helpful since it let me play around with how low the shadow of the upper shelf would fall. At first, I had it fall higher up so that it didn't actually shadow the characters at all but I changed it because having it intersect the characters helped make them feel more enclosed by the shelving, which is good for a "trapped" feeling.

6. Form Shading. Now I drew the shading for real. First I went ahead and put a quick cast shadow on the wall and shelf, to help me remember where the light source is. I always do the shading on its own layer. I created a solid color layer, set to Linear Burn and I shade by painting in the mask. Since I wanted this piece to be very shadowy, I created the form shading layer starting with everything fully shaded and then I painted black onto the mask where I wanted the shading NOT to be. This is called "painting with light" and it can be a very useful technique, especially with round or deeply shadows subjects. I also changed the color of the shelf to help bring the picture together and make the characters less dominated by the background.

7. Cast Shadows. Since nothing is shiny inside a cast shadow, it was important to determine the cast shadows before painting in any shininess. I started by painting in the shadow cast by the upper shelf onto the characters since I didn't want to waste time painting small object cast shadows that would just get blotted out by the larger shadow anyway. Given the irregularity of the shapes, the shelf shadow takes a very irregular path across the characters. It's important to really follow the shape with such a shadow since it helps to emphasize the shape of the characters and make them feel like they really have depth and form. The same is true for smaller cast shadows, such as the shadow cast by the rightmost dolly's arm as it falls onto the curve of her skirt.

8. Back lighting. Just a little backlighting on everything to give it more roundness. Here the backlighting is reflected light coming off the wall and shelf so it is the same color as the wall and shelf.

9. Shinies. Next I drew in the shiny parts on the eyes, hair, lips, and accessories. Most of the shine was a simple white layer with no blend mode but the hair needs a separate layer from other shinies so it can use the Overlay blend mode for richness. Note that there are no shiny parts in the areas covered by cast shadow because shininess is a reflection of the primary light source which would be blocked by the shelf.

10. Colored linework. I only colored the linework for flesh and hair. (Coloring everything would take forever.) Since the cast shadow is so deep, I make the linework stay colored but turn darker inside the shaded area.

11. Final detail. Then it was just adding in the final details. A white crinoline under the new dolly's skirts. Some light blush on all the characters faces, elbows, knees, and hands (just the knuckles and palms). Drawing in the eyelashes. And adding a very sparkles for dramatic effect.