So one of my good friends over on D.A.
Kuzuskot had a contest that started a few months back to draw his Original Character Kei da Ronin Cowgirl. Up top is my entry to the contest, and my best art piece that even I am happy to about. So I'm sure you'd like to know how this was done, well like normal, i will give you the low down on this piece. I hope you all enjoy.
Figure A:- I stared to brainstorm this idea about her fighting a robot. I mostly wanted to show the aftermath of the fight. So with these images the concepts are the same, but the poses are going to be different.
This pic has her sitting on the busted robot holding it's head right up to her face and staring. The robot's arm is close to the camera to give the perspective that she's a bit further and something took place. The sword is one of her key weapons, so i had that sticking out from the back of the robot as a slight focal point.
Figure B:- I went for a straight on approach for this look, the pose is very awkward and that left leg is all sorts of messed up. Same deal though, she's holding the head up near her but staring at us the viewer to show more of a dramatic feel i personally think.
The robot's arm is still in the front and she is still on it's body, but her sword is now near the front of the image. I did not like that idea of the sword being that close the camera as it was fighting for front spot with the robot's hand thus making the image very cluttered in front.
Figure C:- Well i decided that i wanted to her HER foot close the camera to show off her awesome boots that i redesigned as well as her total outfit.
This pose was to make her seem much more relaxed, but deadly. She's sitting on the downed robot's body, holding it's head up-high, it's arm is still close the the camera and she's got her head tilted upwards with a smirk. The street lamp in the background as added to make it kind of like a holy piece, the ray of light that shines down on her blessed soul, har har har.
Figure D:- Having liked t he last pose and thought i tried different angles with the image. A frontal view and and the three quarters view. Same deal again, holding the head and feet close the camera, but this time i wanted to do something different with the layouts.
I decided to add a border around her and the robot, but bring the street lamp out of there to act as a component that brings the image together.
Figure E:- Another idea to try and show more of the Kei redesigns in action. Went back to the idea of the fallen robot and whatnot, but this time she's closer to the camera. The idea was solid so now i need a cool pose for her and her shoes.!
Figure F:- OK so this is what i went with for the final image, a cool pose to show shoes. The robot busted up in the background. The street light that pulls it all in and some robot design heads for the one she'll be holding in her hand.
i should make note t hat the robot's head designs are from a heater that my family owns in the living room and from an Mp3 holder/player that they own. I thought they seemed pretty neat and would be cool in the final draft.
Before i show the pencils, I want to show the quick redesign of Kei's suit and sword. Below I redid the sword by trying to put a shotgun in there for something fun . The top is a hood with some stripes and a wait-belt. Some more arm bands and some converse "hooker" boots that i felt really adds some sexy, urban feel to her persona. The laces are three huge ones that split at the end to form two smaller ends to fit into the shoes.
Alright finally the pencil work (below). I don't put in allot of detail as i know I'll be adding at in during my Photo shop inking session.
So now we have the inking process, this took a huge chunk of time cause i wanted certain lines to pop more than other. So well as making sure more thinner lines still showed up and did not look like pencil cause of it's weight. As the border was changed to the "wide screen" look to give it a cinematic feel, and can't forget the street light.
Lastly the colors. I will cover this lightly as without you seeing the process, it's slightly hard to write out. I will say that my way of coloring is odd and i do lights and shadows like in my other pictures, but for this one i wanted to make sure that reflective lights on objects were there this time around. If you look at the final image, you'll notice that most things have another source of light coming off of it, too hopefully add more depth to the image and make it really shine.
Thanks again and if you have any questions, feel free to e-mail me and ask. Cheers!
Figure B:- I went for a straight on approach for this look, the pose is very awkward and that left leg is all sorts of messed up. Same deal though, she's holding the head up near her but staring at us the viewer to show more of a dramatic feel i personally think.
Figure C:- Well i decided that i wanted to her HER foot close the camera to show off her awesome boots that i redesigned as well as her total outfit.
Figure D:- Having liked t he last pose and thought i tried different angles with the image. A frontal view and and the three quarters view. Same deal again, holding the head and feet close the camera, but this time i wanted to do something different with the layouts.
Figure E:- Another idea to try and show more of the Kei redesigns in action. Went back to the idea of the fallen robot and whatnot, but this time she's closer to the camera. The idea was solid so now i need a cool pose for her and her shoes.!
Figure F:- OK so this is what i went with for the final image, a cool pose to show shoes. The robot busted up in the background. The street light that pulls it all in and some robot design heads for the one she'll be holding in her hand.
OK so above is the black and white image i used to color. Before i go any further, i should mention that for this drawing, I took a different approach to inking it. I scanned it in at 300dpi in Photoshop, then adjusted the levels of the image like normal, but once that was done, i took it into illustrator. In there i used their live trace feature to ink the image which turned out very nice.
Alright, so for coloring it's back in Photoshop and on with the cell shading style. This time, i tried to keep the colors very close to their light and darker sides. I also tried to blend in reflective colors in the mid-tone color to add that sense of 3d to the image. It does seem to make the drawing "POP" more. If you'll notice i also added in some thing taking away her panties(Ooo scary zombies. . or just frank). They look more like they are hanging than being taken away personally. So more to work on.
The image took about 6 hours to do about 8 total if you include the inking process. In the original drawing (below), i did not have a second- to-last finger drawn in. It originally was to be on the top of the fence she is leaning on, I forgot about that till i was all finished with the image. Also i wanted the word "BELT" to be on her belt buckle, but after a few tries it did not seem to fit right so i scrapped that idea and left it as is. Not half bad if i do say so myself. . and I do.
Lastly, as you can tell the nose is different in the pencil than in the inked and final version. For some reason she looked a lot better is it simplified. I like the detail but after some looking back and forth between the two, it's nice and she looks cuter i personally think. Other than that, her butts too big and body too long some folks have stated, I'll be sure to work on that more as i draw other things. Thanks again for stopping by.
So this is the finished product. It's half of the original image and with color of course. In the original (below) I Did in pencil, then it was inked and colored in PS. The colors are pretty close to what my room looks like(pink wall paper and all yes).
I went with a "movie" look for the pic with the black lines on top and bottom. I also got rid of the blanket from the chest go down as I honestly felt that the picture began to look too flat down there and slightly boring. So the end result is some subtle, cool, colors that I think fits perfect for a night time image.
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