Fur Tree - Process (Patreon)

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

2. Rough sketch. I make a more formal sketch to finalize the layout and poses. I used Clip Studio's 3D models and perspective rulers as references and roughed in the general shapes for the clothing and props. I used some of my own 3D models to help me layout the scene, including a saddle-type doll stand and hoop skirt frame (to get the right shape for the fur coats).

3. Final sketch. 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 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 color fill bucket, usually with the fill set to follow only the reference layer, stopping at the middle of a vector.

6. I dropped in some gift boxes and a fireplace that I had drawn earlier. While the boxes were from previous drawings, the fireplace is for an upcoming drawing; I just went ahead and drew it first so I could use it here. I also added a wallpaper pattern to the walls.

7. I used my trusty old Christmas tree lights brush, which I've used (with a few tweaks along the way) ever since my first Christmas tree picture. I like to draw it as a vector layer so I can easily tweak the placement and then reduce the size for perspective as it goes around the sides.

8. Form shading. I create a desaturate brown solid color layer (linear burn) and start painting in the basic form shading. For a painterly look on the clothing, I roughed in a very loose sense of form with an airbrush then added all the shading detail using only a watercolor brush. For the more chiseled parts, I used a different shading technique - starting with a hard brush to make something like cel shading, then using watercolor brushes to add midtones, then using the blur tool to smooth the shading out where appropriate and go back to the watercolor brush where I want sharper details.

9. Cast shadows. I make a desaturate 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. For the secondary lights, I used a pale desaturate color layer away from the light source and a white layer toward the light source, both set to screen. Then I paint with a soft airbrush or a watercolor brush (when I want it to be more textured) on opposite sides of shiny objects. The forelight is used only on the shiniest parts, mainly the decorations. When I combine it with the form shading, backlighting really makes the characters pop. I don't use any backlight on non-reflective objects. I also added an orange hard light layer to airbrush in the reflected glow of the fireplace so it will really emphasize how uncomfortably hot our Christmas tree is.

11. Shiny. For the glossiest parts, I used light watercolor brushes to paint reflections for both primary and reflected light sources, then I used a strong watercolor brush for the specular highlights (or a variable round hard brush when I want the highlight extra strong), using a thumb tool to smudge for detail. After painting all the shine, I use the cast shadow layer to make a selection and delete the shine from anywhere covered by shadow.

12. To make the fireplace seem even warmer, I made the rest of the room darker, adding another desaturate brown layer set to multiply and very softly painting it in until it is heaviest farthest away from the fire.

13. 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 method for the make-up. As you can see, I went heavier than usual on the natural blush (for heat) and much wider on the eyeliner (for sweaty runniness).

14. I added a noise layer for the decorations and a carpet texture for the floor, both set to overlay and placed above the shading for greater contrast.

15. 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.

16. 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. I also added a little color to the tips of the sissy's eyelashes to make them extra feminine.

17. For the sweat, I started with colored lines just a little bit lighter than the skin it is on and filled them with low-opacity white. Then I added some cast shadow, then secondary lights in reverse direction for the rest of the scene, then white specular highlights with a hard brush.

18. I added a yellow layer set to add glow and stamped some soft circles of light on each of the Christmas tree lights. I also copied the shape of the lightbulbs in the star, expanded the selection, blurred it, then used it to add the same glow.

19. Finally, I stamped some sparkles on the glittery decorations.