Disclaimer: This study is for learning purposes only.
Estimated time to complete the study: 11 hours, including finding, purchasing, and downloading new Clip Studio Assets.
My master copy Arq (@Arq_tm) / Twitter
Phase 1: Base
Zoom wayyy out!!
- Sketch
- Lineart
- Flat
All individual colors have their own layer and are alpha-locked once the coloring has been completed.
Even details like the Sclera vs. Iris are on different levels because they are different colors/materials.
- Block shade
Large blocks of shade on a multiply layer. At this stage I don’t worry about the color of the shadow. The most important part is that it is easily readable.
Zoom out of your image a lot when you are block shading.
Phase 2: Shading
- Basic Blur
- Complex blur / Soft airbrush add and erase
- Added a simple textured background
- Added texture to some of the flats - mostly the coat to give it a more woven looking texture/feel.
- Changed the color of the shading to make more sense with the color of the light
- Used the “emo” gradient shading auto action
- Added blush to skin
The alpha locked layers really came in handy here.
Phase 3: Light
- Added hair texture
- Labeled all material types and light sources (I would highly recommend doing this stage much earlier, right after adding flats.)
- Added light source #2 - a simple rim light on the right side
- Added water ambient light
Used a Add (Glow layer with a really light cyan)
- Added bounced light
The most obvious of this is the blue bounced light under her boobs from her jacket color.
- Glow for hair, skin
Phase 4: Details
- Shaded the eyes
Glow on the iris with a glow pen in blue and in red to save time with the rim light.
On the iris flat layer, I added the gold (IDK what its called) at the bottom of the eye reflecting out. This bit
- Added sunglasses flats
- Changed the lenses of the sunglasses to darken
I zoomed WAY out for this step. Nothing good comes of getting too close when doing reflections
Added texture lenses
And there all done!
I also have a second post which compiles a list of techniques I learned from this master study called How to draw Gold and 5 other techniques .