Chocolate Bunny - Process

1. First I draw a loose sketch with a large sketching brush. Using a large brush helps me focus on the general shape and pose without getting drawn into the details too soon.

2. Next I do a more detailed sketch, working out the the body, clothing, and props.

3. Inking. I use a variable-width inking brush for the characters 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 went ahead of inked the shape for the eyelashes because the brush stablization in Manga Studio makes it a lot easier than doing it in Photoshop later. I exported the inking for the character, egg, and  the lashes and the sketch for the chocolate on separate layers.

4. 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.

5. Since the chocolate is going to cover a lot of the character, I didn't want to waste time on shading the character in places that would be hidden. So chocolate first. I created three layers of solid brown with a dark brown stroke layer effect. Then I followed my sketch to paint in the chocolate. I added a dark brown layer for linework to add detail lines inside the chocolate shapes.

6. Chocolate form shading. I create a dark brown solid color layer (linear burn) and painting just the basic form shading of the chocolate with a soft airbrush.

7. Chocolate highlight. Chocolate is dull so the highlight if very soft. I sampled a color from a photo of a chocolate bunny and applied the highlight in key places on the chocolate.

8. Form shading. I create a dark brown solid color layer (linear burn) and start painting in the basic form shading for the character with a soft airbrush. 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.

9. Cast shadows. I make a new dark 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. I also added some cast shadows to the chocolate.

10. Backlight. A very desaturate pale solid color layer (screen) 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. I also added some white soft highlight to the satin.

11. Shiny. I used a solid white layer for the primary shine and painted spots and streaks using a hard variable-width brush and a soft brush for satiny highlights. For the shine on the hair, I used a variable-width brush to rough in the highlights, then used a smudge tool to streak the endpoints outward, then used an airbrush to add a general blurry glow to each group of highlights, then used an airbrush to soften then edges, then used a solid soft round brush to erase a streak or two from each section of shine. After painting all the shine, I use the cast shadow layer to make a selection and delete the shine from anywhere covered by shadow.

12. For the blush, I add in a light red layer, airbrushing just on the same area as the skin for the cheeks and other cheeks. I use the same method to add color for the eyeshadow.

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.

14. Eyelashes are done with a folder containing a solid grey layer and a solid black layer. Using the lashes I made earlier with a variable width brush, I add a few thin streaks on the grey layer mask to add depth to the lashes and soften the look with a few strokes of a soft airbrush. I drew this above all the other linework and then masked the lashes folder to clip out the part of the lashes that would be obscured by the bonnet.

15. Finally, I added a couple of gradients to the backdrop to add a little interest.