The making of..

So, you would like to know how these images are made?

Alright, let's take it step by step and see how dear old Sephiroth was made. ^_^

Now remember, this is by no means a tutorial!!

The internet is bulging with really great tutorials, so you hardly need me to help you (not with my crappy technique anyway lol!), I just wanted to show you how I make these images.

Step 1, The easiest one!: Get a clean, sparkly white piece of paper:

Step 1: nice and clear...this is the easiest step! ^_^

I start with a nice clean piece of paper, my chewed up Caran d'Ache pencil and my ever so valuable eraser. Usually I plop down behind my desk, but when the weather is nice and sunny I love to sit on my balcony and draw.

Step 2, The obvious step!: Make a rough sketch

Step 2: rough doodle (crappy picture..sorry 'bout that)

Whenever I start a drawing I already have a pretty good idea of what I want that drawing to look like. The rough sketch is done pretty quickly, most of the time I draw these sketches in about an hour.

At this point I look at whatever it is I'm drawing and truly wonder if it's ever going to become something (anything) at all.. >_<

Step 3, The fun one!: cleaning up the rough

Step 3: Sephiroth - sketch

After I'm satisfied with the rough sketch it's time to turn it into a more real drawing by making a cleaned up version. Add more detail and do some corrections. At this point I decide where I put the shading on the hair, clothes and face of the character.

Step 4, The even more fun one!: The finished sketch:

Step 4: The finished sketch

The finished sketch. Actually, I do not need al this detail for the CG that I'm going to make out of it, but I hate to be a lazy fuck. I also have fun making these drawings and it is good practice. Besides that, it's just plain pretty to add shading and detail ^_^

Step 5, The bleg, I don't wanna do his crap >_< one!: Inking and scanning:

Step 5: Inking and scanning (line art)

After completing the final drawing, I make an inked version of the sketch. It doesn't matter if the lines are wobbly or not that straight, this pencil is used for scanning purposes only anyway and is what I use to colour it in on the computer. Corrections will be made plenty.

If you want to be silly I guess you can call this the cleaned up douga, but I'll just call it the Line Art.

Step 6, The necessary one!: Background

Step 6: homemade welfare photoshop background

The background is really important for the appearance of your image. I chose to make a 'lifestream' looking one in Photoshop. Just experiment a little with the different filters available. "Clouds", "Difference Clouds" and "Polar change" helped me in creating this blurry image.

Step 7: The determining one!: rough colouring

Step 7: choosing your colours

This is an important step. Choosing the colours isn't easy. Of course, when creating fan art (like this) you already know the basic colours you need, but when creating something original, colours are very important. Just play around with different colours and fill the large area's. Don't be afraid to try out some outrageous colour combinations either, it's fun!

I'll let you in on a little secret; I always let the background colours come back in the main image somewhere ^_~

Step 8: The intensive one!: shading and detail

Step 8: lots of work ahead

After choosing your initial colours and filling the large area's with it, it's time to start adding shadows (always use the same colour, but darkened down a few steps), straightening the outlines, adding detail and making corrections. Working with layers is the key. ^_^

Colouring is a time consuming business. Everyone who ever scanned a self made drawing or altered an image on the computer knows about pixellation (the "white dots"). I usually work a couple of evenings on colouring my drawings, dependable on the amount of detail.

Step 9: The satisfactory one!: the finished image

Step 9: the final result

The finished product. The bad part about working so long on an image is that I tend to loose interest after a while. Of course, I see the image progress, and in this case it was fun because I love the character this much. As you can see I changed my mind with the BG a little and altered it (compared to step 7).

Now go on and buy him!

lol

So that's it! ^_^

A quick overview on how I make these images.

I hope I did not bore you too much? ^_~

Thanks for visiting this page! If you have comments, feedback or questions, feel free to send me a message.

Image thieves! Ye be warned!

Please do not take any of the images on this site without my permission. If I find out you stole my images I will hunt you down and put a severe and very nasty foot fungus curse on you and your next five generations. I mean it! DON'T STEAL!