Self-Portrait: Step 5 "Color"

Like I said before, the greyscale doesn't take too long. I wish the same could be said about color. Fortunately, in this case, I'm leaving the black lines to define the image, so I don't have to paint as tightly as I would if I used oils or acrylics. I've put in several hours of computer time and I still have a ways to go, particularly in getting the proper levels of ruddiness in my face. I pulled up the photo to compare images and I can see how beige I've been painting. If I make some dramatic leaps forward, I'll add more images; if not, I can turn this in for the poster and feel pretty good about it.

Self-Portrait: Step 4 "Value Study"

I don't always do this, even though I should. A grayscale image of a piece can help define things that the ink lines would make too obvious. Also, for something like the background, I'd have to do a lot of texturing if I left it as an ink drawing. Here, I can just fill it with a gray and see if that pushes the background back and allows the important element to come forward. It doesn't take very long in Photoshop, so it's worth doing.

Self-Portrait: Step 3 "Inks"

After a late night and a lot of cross-hatching, I'm at the (mostly) finished ink stage. I used my photo reference even more here than I did for the pencils. The pens are Pigma Microns, size 01 and 03. Usually, I'd add a thick outline around the contours with an 08, but I didn't this time. It makes it a little less of a cartoon.
There are a few things I will go back into before I start coloring. I need to add wings to the Dragon, add more shading on his jacket, and do a little more to my arms. Also, my brother wants me to have something drawn in front of me. Maybe that's where the bear character comes in.

Self-Portrait: Step 2 "Pencils"

The next part is really gathering reference for the illustration and I'll add the photograph to this posting later. Right now, we're looking at the finished pencil stage. I use a cheapo mechanical pencil most of the time and I drew this on Crescent watercolor board. The size is 9" X 12". I still haven't decided whether to paint with watercolors or go digital, but I've got time to think about it. Notice how I've enlarged my head compared to the thumbnail. Because of that, I lost the room for more dragons and I didn't want to cover up more of my face with a bear, so it's now a two-shot.

Self-Portrait: Step 1 "Thumbnails"

I'm actually re-doing this post. I thought that if I wanted to show what my process is for an entire project, I may as well start with the thumbnail drawing. The assignment is a self-portrait that would appear on the Ringling College Senior Illustration Show poster. My idea is that I would have mixed up versions of the characters I've been working on lately, dragons, knights, bears, and pirates.