Daeva-kun’s Drawing Tutorial

I thought that it would be nice to share with you some kind of drawing tutorial :D It’s mostly a step-by-step making of more than a real tutorial, but I tried to add some tips while showing the various steps… I hope you’ll find it interesting ^_^

Lord Truhan gave me a set of references pics to use for the poses, so I just had to arrange them in the sheet, trying to make them look nice.

Arranging poses could be quite bothering XD At first I wanted to set the sheet in a vertical position, then, realizing that the other figures were too covered by the main figure I decided to set the sheet horizontally. It’s quite lame, but at least I can give enough space to every figure.

I’ll focus on the main picture for this kinda tutorial. This is the reference pic  I’m using

Ok, stop drooling– CLOSE IT AND KEEP READING >_> !!!

Sketching the main “blocks” is vital. Head, the torso, and then legs and arms. Personally I think that the torso is the most important part of the human body, and also the most difficult.

Pay extra attentions to the conjuctions, or where the various parts of the body merge: neck, shoulders, hips.  They could be really expressive and they’re vital for the accuracy of the anatomy. Double check them constantly as you keep drawing.

As you add more details, start wondering about the light source.

Light and shadows are what make the pic looking 3D.

Using a picture as a reference could be tricky ’cause they overuse artificial light and artificial light is weird, making a proper rendition difficult.

Plus, his asshole has his body all smeared in oil, making the understanding of light even more complicated >_>;

Keep adding details, adding or editing stuff according to your needs.

As a photo is easy to accept as real since its medium, a drawing is more difficult to look real. Maybe your model has a muscle bigger than another, or the tricky light effects don’t show some details, making an irregular surface looking smooth.

An artist doesn’t have to simply copy reality. Cameras and copiers can do that.

An artist’s duty is making reality acceptable; if not for the watchers, at least for himself.

This is a full shot of the finished body.

By looking at it you can spot some errors. I guess that I’ll fix them later.

Sometimes taking pics of your drawings and glaring at them is a good exercise: cameras don’t lie (also if they distort perspective awfully XD) so you can look at your work critically.

Drawing well just means having a good sight.

In the end, add the head’s details. –Well, you don’t have to do it exactly at the end. You can do it at the beginning, or in the middle, or whenever you want.

But since the face is the most expressive part of the body I usually keep it for last: maybe you draw a perfect face and then you add the body, then realize that a set of muscles is wrong. It’s more difficult to focus on that set of muscles if you have your character looking at you…

Drawing faces gives a sense of completeness, so, in my opinion, it is always preferable to do in the end.
Please, note that when I say “face” I don’t mean “head”.

The head is the first thing that you have to sketch, ALWAYS.

Having the head’s size as a reference is of great help to develop your figure properly.

Now’s it’s time I’m explaining you how to ink it. I’m not particularly good at inking (and I hate it >_>), but I have some tips that you may find interesting :3

So, we have our pencil pic, ready to be inked.

A common error (but it’s not really an “error”, just a thing related to style) is inking all the parts you already outlined in pencil…

…If you wanna give a sense of softeness and “reality” don’t ink every single detail, expecially when dealing with a human body.

Emphasize only the most important lines, those you know will be more visible and darker in reality, those that really suggest the volume of the figure.

This is the finished inked boy.

Now we’re going to explore the last and most dreaded step : Coloring

This isn’t meant to be the ultimate tutorial about CG coloring but it shows how do I get certain results and obviously you can use it as a reference to develop your own style.

For this tutorial I’m going to use ADOBE Photoshop 7.0.

Every program that supports layers and multiplying would do, but I personally prefer Photoshop ’cause its brushes are really pretty and easy to use and edit.

Ok, so we have our freshly inked and scanned pic.

The first thing I like to do is adding some contrast, to make the inked lines darker and more defined.

Path: Image > Adjustments > Brightness/Contrast; I just settled “Contrast” on +10 here.

Once I’m done I start with the most bothering part– Cleaning the lineart.

Mostly from the terrible things that lie on the glass of my scanner, then some extra pencil parts, the render of the sheet’s borders… Stuff like this.

I use a simple Brush tool for it :3

Once the picture is properly clean I like to set the pic in greyscale mode to delete all the weird little colors hiding in the scan.

It may seem a weird thing, but it’s useful, expecially when dealing with big sized pics.

So, Image > Method > Greyscale.

Once you’re done, switch to a color method; I used CMYK here, ’cause since it’s a commission it’s probably going to be printed ^_^

Image > Method > CMYK Color.

I like to have my linearts colored.

So Image > Adjustments > Variations, and I play with it until I get a pretty nuance of color ^^

Once we’re done with the image preparation we can start working on the real coloring.

Create a new layer via Layer/New/Layer.., select Multiply in the new layer’s option window and press Ok.

Now, select a color from the Tool Palette on the left, grab the Fill tool, set its Tolerance to 60 and start filling the pic with the chosen colors.

Some people like to have layers for every part of the pic; so, a layer for the background, one of Baki’s body, another for Gohan’s… Personally I like having everything on the same layer to keep it simpler.

Once you’re done, if the filling is not perfect, you’ll have to fix it with some Brush strokes.

On this same layer I also use to add the light/shiny effect of the characters’ hair with some extra strokes of Brush.

Now, let’s add the shadows.

Create another “multiplied” layer, grab your Brush and a select a color and start sketching the shadowed parts on your pic.

Get closer by the window’s Navigator and fix the borders of the shadows via Brush and Eraser until you’re satisfied.

Once I’m done with the shadows, I like erasing them a little more with a softer and bigger Eraser, just to add more softness to the charoscuro…

If you delete too much, tage the Brush back and add more shadows where wanted.

As a finishing touch, I create another multiplied level and I add some extra shadows with the Brush. Not many, just a bit to give some extra volume and expressiveness to some parts, like the eyes, neck of collarbones.

Again, fix them with Eraser and Brush and we’re finally done ^_^

And that’s it ^_^

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