My Process - Volume 2 (and some new art pieces)

Welcome to Volume 2 of the "My Process" series. Last time I talked about the tools that I use and some of the very basics about how I start a drawing. For in depth talk about those things check out my Volume 1 of this series. However, to give a little recap, I talked about the tools I use and the very basics of how I start a drawing. Because I like to draw characters, that's where I start and give them shape using simple shapes. 

So now that I have simple shapes laid down in simple poses, Let talk about the next part of the process; we're gonna add detail on top of these shapes using layers. 

Layers are something that is distinct to digital art. It is one of the main reasons why a lot of artists choose digital as their medium of choice. The vast majority of digital art programs have layers in some form or another. They allow artists to manipulate one aspect of the piece without directly affecting the other aspects. An example of this would be having the line art on one layer, while having the color or inking on another layer. This allows you to erase or manipulate the color without affecting the line art. Let me show you what I mean. 

Layers

Once again, I'll be using ProCreate as my go-to example. However, layers are a part of almost all digital art tools out there. From Photoshop to Clips Studio Pro, whatever you use should have its own version of layers. 

The red arrow is pointing at the layer controls.

​For ProCreate, one can find the layer controls in the top right corner of the screen. I think the symbol of two squares with one on top the other is a great representation of layers as a concept. 

​But now let's talk about the usage of these layers. If you were to observe someone drawing on paper, they would have to draw the basic shapes super lightly. With layers, I can draw my basic shapes as dark and as heavy handed as I want. 

​Once these shapes are laid down I can add a new layer on top and trace my work, but with more detail. I can also make the original layer more transparent so I can see my new lines easier. 

As you can see here I am still keeping the shapes and the line work very crude and simple. My goal here is to continue to add elements so I can start "seeing" what's working and what is not. 

Here, I am closing the shapes up. I'm adding some more distinct elements and giving the basic shapes a little more form. At this point, I will create another layer and continue. 

Now we are starting to really see this figure take shape and become a little more than just square, circles, and triangle. This is where I start adding anatomy and muscle structure as well as making some changes to how things are angled to make it make a little more sense visually. 

At this point, I merge my layers together. This is an option in most digital art apps. I add a new layer and start really getting specific with my details. 

I trace over my previous work refining and adding details. This example is fairly simple when it comes to details (Miles Morales or Peter Parker's spider outfits are quite a bit more busy that Gwen's). 

Reaching this point, I am ready to move on to the next step of my process which is go over my current sketch one more time with pencil. This allows my brain to make things more "permanent". I will go over that in Volume 3 of this series. 

The goal here is to keep things super simple and refine as you go. There is no limit to how many layers you can create. If you are just starting out and have a long road of practice ahead of you, this gives you a chance to revisit old sketches and continue to refine. You can keep sketching on top and on top and on top for as long as you like. 

So far, we are just getting started. Soon, I will release the next part of the process which is the final pencil sketch as well as Inking the drawing. Until then I hope you enjoyed how Ghost-Spider here took shape. It's just one of the few new art pieces I created these last two weeks. Speaking of which...

New Art!

Two pieces are part of my original character designs. I have been working more in putting them in an environment vs just standing in a negative space. I am loving the results. Though I am currently working on figuring out a consistent workflow for environments like I have with character art. 

My second two are, of course, in celebration of the new Spider-Verse movie coming out. I love drawing Ghost-Spider (Spider-Gwen) so much. She has a dancer-like quality to all of her movements. Each piece has been added to my portfolio pages. Just give any of the pieces a click and it should take you to my art pages. Anyway, I hope you have enjoyed this look into my process. Talk to you soon!