The priests at the temple of Yasha are by no means conventional. Oushi is a half-demon and Miya is a descendant of a sorceress. Both fight supernatural beings that interfere in the lives of ordinary humans. Many times though, it is they, themselves, who suffer from the rejection and fear of those who don’t understand their magical origins.
1. SKETCHES
In the image we wanted to show a temple in the background and the two main characters in action. It was important that they gave off attitude, strength, and energy.
2. STRUCTURE
The characters emulate typical martial arts body positions, so we shaped the curvature of their axes to get a better effect of movement.
3. VOLUME
When we have parts of a drawing that are foreshortened, as in the case of their limbs, using cylinders to represent their volumes simplifies our work and helps us improve the drawing anatomically.
4. ANATOMY
Even though these two are warriors, you should make a special effort to differentiate female bodies from those of boys. Remember: girls have curvier shapes and boys straighter ones.
5. DETAILS
The boy’s clothes follow the aesthetic lines of a typical medieval priest’s garb, but the girl’s kimono has a bolder, more modern design.
6.1. COLOR
The general range of the base colors starts with purples and blues and is complemented by browns and mustard tones.
6.2. COLOR
We applied lilac-colored shadows on a new layer in the Multiply Blend Mode at 66% opacity.
6.3. COLOR
We applied the highlights in the Linear Burn Layer Blend Mode at 27% opacity to avoid overexposing the image.
6.4. COLOR
We defined new light and shadow areas using gradients to give the illustration volume.
FINISHING TOUCHES
- We created the leaf pattern with a personalized brush and applied it on a new layer in the Overlay Blend Mode.
- We painted the final highlights and light effects on top of the image in the Linear Burn Blend Mode (Add), deactivating the line of the ray shot from the half-demon and adding Outer Glow effects in the Layer Blending Options.
Tips & tricks
- To color in an image with the base colors, we create a new layer and select the areas we want to paint using the Magic Wand Tool, activating the Contiguous and All Layers options. In this way we can color in the new layer and avoid making the mistake of coloring in the line layer.
- We can also use a similar system with the Paint Bucket Tool, activating the Contiguous and All Layers options. Even though we are in an empty layer, the program will recognize the lines that we have in the background and color in those areas.
- In general, shadows are always applied in lilac, gray, or blue tones on a new layer in the Multiply Blend Mode, calibrating the Opacity and Fill options and the level of contrast we want.
