The process I use combines my love of creating work traditionally in pencil with the speed and flexibility pf painting digitally. Once all ideating and conceptualizing are finished and a final composition is decided upon, I begin to create the final piece in pencil before taking it into Adobe Photoshop for color!

 

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Step 1: Pencil

The pencil piece is usually slightly larger than the size needed for the final piece. The final pencil piece is not just line work, some shading is added for texture and depth. Mostly, I am ensuring I have the necessary textures, lines and values I want to work with once in Photoshop.

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Depending on the complexity and the size of the piece, the time needed to complete the pencil stage can range from 2-4 days, but some pieces can bring an even quicker turnaround. The pencil stage for The Prophecy, as seen below, took less than two days to complete. At this point, all the ideating and revising hard work is done, and I can cruise through the final drawing while listening to Taylor Swift or re-watching a TV show I've seen before (right now, it's ER).

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Step 2: Digital

Once the pencil stage is complete, I scan the final drawing and bring into Photoshop. After some light editing to the scanned image, I isolate the pencil work onto its own layer so I can paint underneath it. This stage does feel a bit like working on a coloring book page. I follow the direction of my color comps and ensure correct colors are used for characters and settings for continuation purposes, while I flip a black and white filter on and off occasionally to check on how the values are reading.

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​Towards the end of the painting process, I will go in and color the pencil as needed. The pencil drawing I'm working under usually stays a dark color (but not pure black), however changing the color pencil work can really add an extra dimension to the work. In The Prophecy below, the pencil work for the witch in the piece is not dark, but instead, it is made up of lighter pink and white hues which not only blends better into the colors underneath her, but separates her from the surrounding elements.

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With a last few touches of detail, and after triple checking that everything is saved, the piece is done! Woo-hoo!