Not a Kissing Booth - Process

1. I start with a thumbnail to get the basic concept down.

2. Next, a more formal sketch to work out the layout, pose, and proportions. I used perspective rulers to rough in the pedestal and booth.

3. Final sketch. I sketch the character in full detail.

4. Inking. I use a variable-width inking brush for the character and a constant-width brush for hard things on vector layers. I use lots of different layers for different parts, which makes it easier to overdraw and erase as needed. I also made a few simple tube brushes for the tubing since that's much easier than drawing two consistently even lines. For the petticoat and laces, I used my own custom brushes.

5. In Photoshop, I convert the imported lines to a folder with a mask and put a solid black layer in the folder. (CTRL-click RGB in the Channels tab, invert the selection, create a mask from the selection.) This will come in handy later when I color the linework. Then I create another folder and start creating the basic color blocking. I like to do all my color blocking by making a folder and then filling it with different solid color layers for each section of color, whch makes it easy to change a color later. This is a very fussy way to do it and it's probably much simpler to just fill a single raster layer with flat colors.

6. Form shading. I create a dark brown solid color layer (linear burn) and start painting in the basic form shading with a soft airbrush. I always start with shading at full and then use the airbush to paint away the shading, painting with light. For the hair, I used color burn for richer shading and I used a variable-width soft airbrush to smudge detail into the shadows, picking up the shape of the hairs.

7. Cast shadows. I make a new brown layer set to multiply and start painting in the cast shadows with soft brush, using a smaller brush in places where the object casting the shadow is closer to the thing the shadow is on.

8. Backlight. I used a desaturate solid color layers (screen blend mode) painted with a soft airbrush. When I combine it with the form shading, backlighting really makes the characters pop. I don't use any backlight on non-reflective objects. The most reflective surfaces get a second white edge light on the primary lighting side.

9. Shiny. I used a solid white layer for the primary shine and painted spots and streaks using a hard variable-width brush. After painting all the shine, I use the cast shadow layer to make a selection and delete the shine from anywhere covered by shadow. For the shine on the hair, I started with thin strokes with a variable-width brush, then use a smude tool to add detail and softness to the tips, then use an airbrush to add a soft glow to groups of streaks, then use an airbrush to fade the tops and bottoms of streak groups, and finally use a soft round brush to erase a few streaks in the middle of each group.

10. For the blush, I add in a light red layer, airbrushing just on the same area as the skin for the cheeks and places where bone is near the surface of the skin.

11. For the hosiery, I added semi-transparent layers, above the blush layer but below the shading. I used mesh distortion to match a pattern of hearts onto the legs.

12. I added a greyscale noise pattern to the dress, set to overlay, above the shading, to give it a velvet look. I also added a grungy texture and some signage to the surfaces of the booth, using distortion to match the perspective.

13. Colored linework. Going back to the linework folder, I started adding new solid color layers, using the mask to paint the color of the linework. Since the new layers are inside a folder with a mask defining the linework, I don't have to be very precise when coloring the lines. I always add new color layers below the ones I already did so that I can be sloppy in the areas that are already covered by colored linework. I like to keep using black lines on the hardest objects to give it a contrast with softer objects.

14. Finally, I added a couple of simple gradients to the backdrop, adjusting the curve of the gradient to create a sense of floor and space, then added a fun pattern of hearts in black and white, set to soft light blend mode so that they pick up the color of the gradient.