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Description
I thought it would be nice to share another glimpse into my process, and fittingly, just like before, I'm going to show you with Nathanomir 's Aura Lockhaven.

I didn't think to scan the pencil work, but that part of my technique hasn't changed since last time: Aura Step by Step . What has changed over the last year is the amount of time I spend doing post-work in GIMP to give my drawings some extra pazazz.
I hope you'll agree from looking at the difference that it's worth that extra time.

1. This is it with just all the pen work completed. Including my use of coloured fine-writer pens. The red shading really helps add some strength to the later colouring. I also pick out certain things, like the eyes, lips and any jewels, to make them really stand out. As you can see, my brown pen gets a lot of work. It's always useful for hair, wood effects, and the shading on gold etc.

2. Taken straight from the page with the coloured pencils added. (Note: This was coloured late at night, in electric lighting...which is never ideal) Once upon a time, this would have been a finished image, and I would have posted it like this. Now, though, it's merely the ground work for the real colouring to begin.

3. With post-work, using various tools in GIMP. I generally select a colour, turn the brush opacity down to about 15, and use that to smooth out an area. Also a few other things, like lightness and contrast. This is something that I just gradually started doing more and more of. There isn't an image in my gallery where I suddenly started doing it. It just evolved over the course of the year.

4. Figure painstakingly trimmed round (my least favourite part) and placed on a background. I usually lower the contrast on the background, so that it fits better the look of my drawing, and I often use a bit of blur on the far distance, to add more depth, and make it so that the figure is the main focus. Add in a little darkening around the feet, to better look like she's stood there.
And lastly a few overlapping gradient flares to form Aura's magic effect.

I hope you found this an interesting look into my process

Description
I thought it would be nice to share another glimpse into my process, and fittingly, just like before, I'm going to show you with Nathanomir 's Aura Lockhaven.

I didn't think to scan the pencil work, but that part of my technique hasn't changed since last time: Aura Step by Step . What has changed over the last year is the amount of time I spend doing post-work in GIMP to give my drawings some extra pazazz.
I hope you'll agree from looking at the difference that it's worth that extra time.

1. This is it with just all the pen work completed. Including my use of coloured fine-writer pens. The red shading really helps add some strength to the later colouring. I also pick out certain things, like the eyes, lips and any jewels, to make them really stand out. As you can see, my brown pen gets a lot of work. It's always useful for hair, wood effects, and the shading on gold etc.

2. Taken straight from the page with the coloured pencils added. (Note: This was coloured late at night, in electric lighting...which is never ideal) Once upon a time, this would have been a finished image, and I would have posted it like this. Now, though, it's merely the ground work for the real colouring to begin.

3. With post-work, using various tools in GIMP. I generally select a colour, turn the brush opacity down to about 15, and use that to smooth out an area. Also a few other things, like lightness and contrast. This is something that I just gradually started doing more and more of. There isn't an image in my gallery where I suddenly started doing it. It just evolved over the course of the year.

4. Figure painstakingly trimmed round (my least favourite part) and placed on a background. I usually lower the contrast on the background, so that it fits better the look of my drawing, and I often use a bit of blur on the far distance, to add more depth, and make it so that the figure is the main focus. Add in a little darkening around the feet, to better look like she's stood there.
And lastly a few overlapping gradient flares to form Aura's magic effect.

I hope you found this an interesting look into my process