Sareena's Commission Process

Hello everyone! I figured I ought to kick off this blog /somehow/ , so I  decided to start off by posting a few of my older commission step by steps. What is posted here is what I remembered to save to show people at the time, haha. So some might not have exactly each step I went through to create the drawing. When something is missing I will mention it.  Bear with me, I hope to have more complete step by steps with my next paintings.

In the future, I intend on also posting studies, tutorials, concept art, etc.


Sareena's Feline Form: The Creation of "Moon Gaze"

I first start off by doing tons of mini drawings of the character called "thumbnails". I  do this proportional to the final format of the drawing as much as possible. It gives me a sense of direction and composition for the final. These drawings should not take you too long, and are not meant to look pretty at all!

This was the selected thumbnail:

Its also a good idea to add tonal values to indicate depth...i didnt do it so well here X3 (im bad, i dont follow my own rules. What a great example I am! X3)

From the Thumbnail, a rough sketch is created: 

I notice a few things are off (and fix them the best I can) and decide to refine the background even more (I fix the moon and clouds so it works better in a composition). Once I refine the sketch and I'm satisfied, I transfer it with a sepia  faber castell brand colored pencil onto arches satin finish watercolor paper. *These pencilsare waterproof (they will not wash away when you do your washes).

This is what the transfer looks like before being painted:

Before painting, I highly recommend scanning your sketch or transfer, and doing some tonal and color studies in photoshop (sadly this was the step I forgot to save to show). This way, you decide on how you want the colors and lighting to look like in advance, rather than "going in blind" on the final painting. You will see that you will have more confidence, make less mistakes and avoid having to restart your painting.


 With my color and lighting studies as a guide, I lay down my watercolor washes gradually ( I can do a more detailed tutorial on this seperately sometime, if there is enough demand.):

Once I'm satisfied with the base I decided to add some colored pencil details in the fur. I follow the form as much as possible with my strokes. I refine my edges, lighting and add whiskers with white acrylic paint (or gouache).

Finished!

Again, forgive my lack of extremely detailed explanations for now. I can make a tutorial should anyone be interested. Feel free to ask questions if you have any!