Dr. Mrs. Frankenstein - Process (Patreon)

#2: Refined sketch

#3: Inking! I exported the ink to lots of different layers.

#4: The backdrop. This is mostly simple gradients plus a bolt of lightning, which I drew with the help of verticalfish's tutorial.

#5: Color blocking

#6: Shading. I decided to try something a little different with the shading. I combined the form shading and the cast shading into one layer, making the cast shadows simply a cut out of the light in the form shading. It makes more sense that way since the cast shadows are cast by the same light source as the primary form shading. This shading was done with a dark blue layer in color burn mode. I painted the light as if it is coming from below, for a dramatic, spooky effect.

#7: Backlight. I turned off the form shading and painted the backlight (from the lightning) entirely separately. I didn't want to be influenced by the primary light. I wanted to see how they would combine if I did them independently. It's a bright pale purple.

#8: Turn on both layers and they combine really nicely!

#9: Shine and shadow. I added shine to hair, eyes, and shiny things. I also added a little deeper shadow inside the doctor's mouth.

#10: Stitches and colored linework. I did the usual coloring of the linework, using darker, more saturate colors of the darkest parts of each area when selecting a color. For the stitching, I made a solid color layer, put a bevel layer effect on it, and just brushed the stitches on with a hard variable width brush.

#11: Veil and blush. For the veil, I used the same method I used on the Bridal Boudoir picture - multiple semi-transparent solid white layers and very careful masking.

#12: BRAINS! The glass and liquid are just more semi-transparent solid color layers with a little highlighting and shine added. The brain is painted with the same shading techniques I used for the main scene. (I considered labeling the empty jar as "Albert Normal", a pun on a pun from "Young Frankenstein" but decided this way would make a more obvious storyline.)

#13: Turn the backdrop back on and it's done!