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1. Roughs-Of course, we start with the initial scribble. I do this on any paper, any where, whenever the idea hits and I happen to have paper and pencil ready. It doesn't need to be fully fleshed out but enough that by the time I get home to scan it in, I'll still have some idea what the heck the idea was.
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2. Tights-Here I refine the image more. Sometimes there will be a stage between this and that really rough sketch above. But time was of the essence and I had a pretty good idea of the direction I wanted this to take.
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3. Light source study-I threw these tones in to give myself a rough idea of the light source. I laid a flat tone of brown in another layer and dropped the opacity down. Then I used the eraser to act as the light source and erased where the light was touching and generating from.
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4. I start laying in some base tonal colors for the background. If I had more time I would have layed in base tones on every character as well. But time was short and I had a good idea of what colors the costumes and whatnot were going to be.
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5. At this stage I start painting in the characters from the background to the foreground. You can really do this in any order that you like.
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6. Moving more and more forward. It's the fairies turn!!
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7. You'd think I was done at this stage, but with a break and a return to the image I realize how very, very GREEN everything is looking! Must correct that!
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8. I use curves, levels and adjustment layers to pull out the green and boost my colors from being so murky. (Layer/Adjustment Layer/Curves-Levels) Curves to remove the Green and Levels to brighten my lights and remove murkiness. Isn't Photoshop great!!! Now I have a finished image ready to be added to our mailer in time for Halloween!
Let me know if you have any questions!!