Clothing Swarm - Process (Patreon)

1. In Manga Studio, a very rough sketch with big fat pencils. The fat pencils force me to keep the sketch loose without getting too caught up in the details. I started with just the basic naked figure, a vague sketch for the clothing. I'm going for a tentacle porn feel with the clothing so I wanted to sketch them as tentacles to start with and them make the clothing fit into those shapes.

2. Final sketch. Using the rough sketch as a reference, I drew a new sketch layer with a finer pencil. I refined the face and clothes.

3. Inking. I use a variable-width inking brush for the character and a constant-width brush for hard things (lipstick) on vector layers. I use lots of different layers for different parts, which makes it easier to overdraw and erase as needed.

4. 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 try to keep the range of colors limited for better color balance so it's mostly reds and pinks (which are always a favorite).

5. Form shading. I create a dark brown solid color layer (linear burn) and start painting in the basic form shading with a soft airbrush. Except for the hair, which gets its own dark brown layer but with color burn blending for more richness.

6. Turning off the form shading, I make a new dark 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.

7. Backlight. A bright pale blue solid color layer (screen). I turned one of the form shading layers back on, temporarily disabling the mask (shift-click on the mask), to make it easier to see where I'm painting. I used both a soft brush and a soft airbrush. When it's done right, it should look like real lighting from a different angle.

8. Combine them all and ta-dah! Looking good!

9. Shiny. Now add in the shinies. I used a solid white layer at for basic shine on lips, mask, locks, and breastforms, another solid white for shine in the eyes, and solid white set to overlay (which makes a richer shine) for the hair shine. Painting the hairshine, I use a variable width sharp brush, then go over it with an airbrush to give it a little glow.

10. 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.

11. Final character details. I add in a light red layer for blush, airbrushing just on in the same area as the skin. Blush goes on joints, palms, and face. I also added a texture pattern to the backdrop (one of my stock patterns that I made by scanning some sloppy watercolor brushwork), and some dark gradient overlays to add drama.