Too Much Updo - Process (Patreon)

1. In Manga Studio, I start with 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 figures, a general sense of the shape of the hair, and a rough sketch of the environment.

2. Final sketch. Now I go back and do a more detailed sketch, working out the clothing, hair, and environment.

3. Inking. I use a variable-width inking brush for the characters and a constant-width brush for hard things (the paddle, belt buckle, etc) on vector layers. I use lots of different layers for different parts, which makes it easier to overdraw and erase as needed. For the pearls, I used a very simple brush I made to draw rows of circles. I exported the pearls as a separate layer because working on them separately makes it easier to work on the hair.

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.

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 linear burn blending for more richness. I also use a smudge tool on the hair and various creases in clothing and skin to create detail.

6. Backlight. A desaturate pale blue solid color layer (screen). When I combined it with the form shading, backlighting really makes the characters pop. 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. And again, smudge the edge of creases and hairs.

7. Cast shadows. 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. It's important to follow the curvature of the surface the shadow is falling on as this helps to empasize its shape.

8. Put them together and it's looking good!

9. Shiny. Now add in the shinies. I used a solid white layer at for basic shine on lips and breastforms (to make them look more artificial), 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. Then I use a very thin airbrush to delete some thin streaks in the middle of the highlights. Finally, I use the cast shadows to make a selection and use that to delete the parts of the highlights which are in shadow.

10. For the blush, I add in a light red layer, airbrushing just on the same area as the skin for the joints and face. I use the same technique for the eyeshadow and face white.

11. 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.

13. Now I work on the pearls, adding form shadow, backlight, and shine with the same method I used above. I put a mask on my folder of pearl layers and paint out the mask in places where the pearls are obscured by other objects.

12. Eyelashes are done with a folder containing a solid grey layer and a solid black layer. I use a variable width brush to paint in lashes on the folder mask. Then I paint in a few thin streaks on the grey layer mask to add depth to the lashes. Then I add a layer above the grey matching the color of the hair and use that to color the lashes as linework in the portion of the lashes covered by the bangs.

13. Finally, I add some blurry reflections to the mirrors and add adjustment layers to reduce the contrast, brightness, and saturation of the backdrop to focus attention on the foreground.