Fifi La Bride Time Lapse and Process! (Patreon)

SH: A process time lapse of the latest pinup. These are all the steps I generally go through when working on a pinup. It does change up a bit, but for the most part this is how I break it down each time.

Sketch, to inks, to flats, then shading, then textures, then lighting, then more shading and lighting, then ambiant lighting if needed (if there are multiple light sources or reflected lighting), then I do the small last few details, then color correct/tweak and she's finished. ^_^

Just cause I'm feelin chatty right now, here's a little bit more insight on how I do things. xD Hopefully there's some nuggets of info in here you can pick up from, or maybe something ya'll can relate to with the tedious process that is illustration art. xD

So first, I usually spend an hour or two browsing online for some inspiration. Usually from artists I really admire, or just randomly surfing Deviantart, google, tumblr, FA, IB, whatever I'm feelin at the time. xD Then once I round up enough ideas/reference material, I get on sketching. It really helps to have an idea in mind BEFORE sketching. xD Spending some time getting inspired first is useful for that, both to help with ideas and also to get you charged up and ready for drawing! :)

Then I start sketching and I tend to sketch very messy and very loose, doing most of the tightening up when I ink, I find it saves time...that and I have the attention span of a newt, and I tend to get bored of sketching pretty quick...sadly. ^^; Me and sketching have a sort of luv hate relationship...I'm working on changing that, but brains are silly things. xD

Inking is my favorite part, and usually doesn't take me very long, even if there is barely a legible sketch to work from...which is usually the case with me. xD Some artists hate doing the linework and generally find it to be the most tedious part, but I'm a huge fan of ink work, it's the part I've studied the closest and most of my favorite artists are inkers. xD Idk, I find it the most relaxing part of the process. Some great inkers to study from are peeps like Doxy, Erotibot, Stickysheep, Robaato and that's just peeps in the furry/anime pinup biz...I have a ton of comic book and general illustration artists I study from, inks just fascinate me for some reason. xD

Flats are flats, simple but time consuming...but necessary. xD Some people choose to do the flat colors after shading, I do it before the shading, old habit I guess. Either or is fine I feel. Just don't worry so much about what color every little thing is at this stage however (unless the flats are the final product), just as long as they're clean and seperated into layers, you can change them to any color you need later on with the hue and saturation controls. I don't know how many times I've done commissions and peeps ask me why the colors on my flats aren't exactly like in their ref sheets....to which I usually just explain and say; because the first stage of doing flats doesn't matter for the reasons stated above, and light affects color! You don't know exactly what color things are going to be, until you know what color and intensity your light sources are going to be. xD Flats are a color trap, this is why some artists don't even touch the flats until all the shading and lighting has been added first, because then they can tweak and balance the colors to adhere to the almighty light sources much more easily. xD It's the beauty of digital art, in traditional art, with real paints, yes, your flats will matter a little bit more, but not when you have color balancing tools, like with pretty much all digital art programs...sorry, got a bit ranty there for a sec. xD I mean no offense, just an occupational pet peeve I guess. xD

Coloring takes me the longest I usually find, but I've been getting much quicker with it these days. The biggest problem with me was that I found it very tedious, to many little steps that take up to much time and just like sketching, I get bored if I work on things for to long. So to help me along, I learned not to dwell on things at this stage as much as I used too, I just go go go. Just start slapping shades and lighting everywhere and refine it as I go, trying my best not to be to picky but still doing my best to make things look correct and usually after an hour or so of coloring, I get into the zone and start enjoying it a lot more. It's just that first hour that's the hard part when coloring, when the doubts kick my ass a little bit. xD Staying loose and reminding myself from time to time to not be to picky, is a good rule of thumb for the entire drawing process actually. Saves a lot of time and frustration but I think it actually helps make things look more natural as well. Sometimes the flaws are the best parts you just can't see until you take a step back from something, so don't be afraid to let some flaws shine through. ^_^

Then I always finish up with the odds and ends, small details, color adjustments. THIS is the moment to take a good look at your flats and make sure they're working properly with your light sources. Tweak whatever you need to and take your time here if needed. This is the part where I've learned and trained myself to turn my brain back on. xD For me anyway, It's so much easier to tweak things at the end when everything has come together, and you can finally see what it is your working on. xD The rest of the coloring steps leading up to this part, you don't really need as much brain power on I feel...you still need some, but like I said, don't fret over every little thing, just get it all done, THEN fix/tweak/add things. xD

So that's my process. ^_^ Hope you can find this advice useful in some way or another. Drawing is hard work for sure, but the hardest part is getting over yourself and finding ways to make the process easier and more enjoyable! Just keep on learning peeps! Catch ya next time! :)