Reflection - 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 a very rough sketch of the characters and roughed in a general sense of the mirrors.

2. Final sketch. Now I go back and do a more detailed sketch, working out the bodies, clothing, hair, and props. I used a perspective ruler for the main lines on the mirrors. Those blue lines are a technique for getting the size of receding sections correct in perspective. You start with two lines, the top and bottom, receding to a point. Then you add two vertical lines to choose the width for a single section. Then you add an angled midline at the exact middle between the top and bottom. Now draw a line starting from the top-near corner of the first section and going straight through the point where there far vertical line meets the midline, continuing until you meet the bottom line. That gives you the correct point for the next vertical line. Then you just repeat the steps in the next section and so on.

3. I was planning to crop this down all a long but, with the reflections and perspective, it was easier to sketch everything in beyond my planned borders.

4. Inking. I use a variable-width inking brush for the characters and a constant-width brush for hard things (the 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 rope, I used the rope brush I made from my own linework a while back. I also went ahead of inked the shape for the eyelashes because the brush stablization in Manga Studio makes it a lot easier than doing it in Photoshop later. I export the inks in three layers.

5. 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.

6. 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.

7. Backlight. A desaturate pale purple solid color layer (screen). When I combined it with the form shading, backlighting really makes the characters pop. I used both a soft brush (for the shiniest parts like the buckle and lips) and a soft airbrush (for everything else). I don't use any backlight on non-reflective objects like the flowers and border. When it's done right, it should look like real lighting from a different angle. And again, smudge the edge of creases and hairs.

8. 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.

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

10. Shiny. 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.

11. The poster gets a quickie paint job with a watercolor brush (because I want it to look less realistic than the rest of the picture) and then I add some text and distort it to match the angle of the poster. I also add a simple grungy texture, also distorted, to make it look more watercolor and papery.

12. 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 but I also add a grey noise texture in overlay to make it look glittery.

13. 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. Everything soft gets colored linework.

14. Eyelashes are done with a folder containing a solid grey layer and a solid black layer. Using the lashes I made earlier with a variable width brush, I add a few thin streaks on the grey layer mask to add depth to the lashes and soften the look with a few strokes of a soft airbrush. For the sweatbead, I used a white layer with the fill turned down just a little and add a layer effect with white inner glow set to 100%. Then I use a variable width brush in the mask to soften the edge where it touches skin. After, I add a new white layer to paint in the shiny highlights.

15. To make the mirror look more separated, I added adjustment layers to lower that saturation and darken the image a little. I applied the same adjustments to the color of the linework in the mirror. Then I added a couple of white shiny streaks to the mirror to make it look glassy.

16. I added another grungy texture in perspective to the surface of the make-up table for a little more realism. Adding grungy texture here and there always makes a picture looks more convincing.

17. Finally, I added some gradient to the backdrop, to draw attention to the foreground. Then I dropped in a few sparkles and I'm done!