Well Played - Process

1. In Clip Studio, I draw rough thumbnail to get the basic concept down.

2. Rough sketch. I make a more formal sketch to work out the layout, pose, and proportions. I start getting some of the details roughed out. Instead of perspective rulers, I used a symmetry ruler to layout the arcade machine.

3. Final sketch. I  sketch the fine details for the character. I use separate layers in multiple folders for the various props and the character which makes it easier to plan, especially when so many of the parts overlap. If you look closely, you can see that I draw some parts that I know will be completely hidden behind others, particularly the basic body shape, to make sure it will all make sense together. Keeping them on separate layers also makes it easier to shift the positions of individual features when final details on foreground features might change the layout needs. With the backdrop,

4. Inking. I scale the canvas up to four times the size and 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. Planning for the line coloring later, I try to use a different vector layer for each part that would be differently colored as linework such as one for skin, one for hair, one for everything that will have black linework, etc. I'm also using different folders for the linework for the dancer versus everything else so I can color them separately. The tickets are a special case. I built one ticket, over-sized, copied it into a long chain of tickets, then rasterized the whole chain. Then I used mesh distortion to place the tickets into multiple layers of curving ticket scrolls. Then I went in and carefully erased the inverted text from the backs of the tickets and re-emphasized the linework along the edges where needed.

5. Color blocking. I set the folder containing all the different inked vector layers as the reference layer. Then I made new raster layers underneath and started filling in the flat colors. Sometimes I used a round pen, sometimes the collor fill bucket, usually with the fill set to follow only the reference layer, stopping at the middle of a vector.

6. Color detailing. On a separate layer above the main color layer, I went in and painted the unlined details for the colors. Adding stripes to the jacket, polka-dots to the hair bow, a leopard pattern to the panties, and so on. Keeping these details separate from the main color layer lets me continue to use the main color layer for magic wand selections when I want to work on the shading for each object.

7. Form shading. I create a dark violet 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 set to clear to paint away the shading, painting with light. For the hair, I used color burn for richer shading and start with a general, soft airbrush for the overall shape, then used a variable-width soft airbrush to smudge detail into the shadows, picking up the shape of the hairs. I also added a pale yellow layer set to screen to airbrush in some soft highlights in key places.

8. 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. Some parts, where the shadows need to transition from sharper to blurrier, reflecting the growing distance between the object casting the shadow and the surface receiving the shadow, I painted using one consistent hardness and then used the blur tool to soften the shadow selectively.

9. Backlight. On a new fill layer set to screen, I used a desaturate solid color painted with a soft airbrush in the mask. When I combine it with the form shading, backlighting really makes the characters pop. I don't use any backlight on non-reflective objects. For some objects, I only use a backlight on shadowed side. For the most reflective objects, I add a forelight on the primary light side as well. On the hair, I used the fingertip tool to streak in the shape of the hairs.

10. Shiny. I used fill layers of white (set to screen) and paint spots and streaks using a hard variable-width brush. For the satin, I also added a layer set to overlay and airbrush in white to add colorful glistening highlights. For hair shine, I used another raster layer set to overlay and painted thin strokes with a variable-width brush, then use an airbrush to add a soft glow to groups of streaks, then use a clear 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. After painting all the shine, I use the cast shadow layer to make a selection and delete the shine from anywhere covered by shadow.

11. Making a selection matching the shape of each arcade arrow, I sprayed in a scattering of blurry spots, then applied heavy motion blur in one direction to make streaks of color moving straight up from each arrow. Then I use distortion to reshape the streaks to angle outward above each arrow. I set the streaks layers to Add (glow) blending. I made two additional color fill layers with the same colors, also set to Add (glow), and airbrushed in a glow onto the legs of the dancer, masking to just the shape of dancer, to create a reflected light effect.

12. For the natural blush, I add in a raster layer and airbrush red just on the skin for the cheeks and places where bone is near the surface of the skin. I used the same method to draw the make-up, such as the eyeshadow and heavy blush (applied with multiply) and a few painted-on shapes on the cheeks (applied without blending). Finally, I added a scattering of faint white speckles to give the make-up a glittery look.

13. Colored linework. Since the linework is still all vectors in Clip Studio, I simply selected the vectors and changed their color to whatever colored linework I needed, sampling from each section and then shifting the color to be more saturate and dark, more or less depending on how hard or soft I want each thing to feel. The hardest things I keep black. Then I rasterized and locked the pixel transparency for each section of colored linework. Next I changed the color of parts of each line for sections that have color detail changes, like the stripes on the jacket. Then I airbushed in the cast shadow color with multiply blending for parts of the linework in shadowed areas. Finally, I erased bits of the linework that crossed over other parts that should appear in front.

14. I added a brushed metal texture to the metal surface of arcade machine, using distortion to match the perspective.

15. Eyelashes are done with a simple raster layer painted with a black variable-width pen. Then I lock the pixel transparency for that layer and use a soft pen to paint in grey streaks for texture and then soften the look with a few strokes of a black soft airbrush. Then I airbushed in a pinkish color, using color blend mode, to give the lashes a colorful style.

16. I color filled and form shaded each of the six plushies individually, painting them all in blue with blue linework, then I collapsed them individually and started copying, rotating, and scaling them into a big pile behind the dancer. Once I had a nice pile, I used a brush set to change Color blend mode to selectively recolor individual plushies in several different colors.

17. For the backdrop, I sprayed a variety of thick smudges, sparkles, and some arrow brushes I made specially. I added extra white airbrush spatter around the character to keep him from getting lost in the business of the backdrop.

18. Finally, I added simple shading to the piece of paper, then made some text layers and a painted kiss mark, rasterized them, and used distortion to match them to the perspective of the paper surface.