September art! And a "tutorial!" :O
yes, I'm not dead. ;)

Anyway, I have my September splash image and just for kicks I decided to do a step-by-step to go along with it. I can't call it a tutorial really, because a tutorial shows you how to do things (really well), and I'm just showing you how I do things (not so well).

So, on with the show, eh? (Beware: image heavy!!)

So I just finished my re-read of HBP and I've been thinking about Draco a bit. I decided I'd do him for September, and this pose/situation came to mind pretty easily so I went with it.

It feels like when a person has done something horrible and has the compulsion to "clean" themselves of it. But in the case with Draco, the Mark will never wash away...

I don't know, I'm really not one of those artists who has some great cosmic idea behind their art. well, not usually anyway. :P




--- Step-By-Step ---

So the first thing I did with this piece was to come up with the idea. Rather important for representational art. ;) Then I went about setting up my file.
I opened the previous month's image (as it was the size I wanted), deleted the art layers and renamed the month layer just to keep myself straight. The rather small oval brush is my favorite for sketching and line-work, and I started with a low opacity (here 43%) on a new layer.



Then I started sketching!



Oh, and I do use a Wacom Intuos2 tablet. It's the smallest one and it works just fine for me. My computer on the other hand... but that's another matter entirely.

Then I continued to refine the sketch...



More refining...
I often will change the line color as I get working (or work on a colored background), but here I kind of forgot to change it and I ended up liking the way it worked later on...
And I should (maybe) note that this was done rather quickly and there are some anatomy things I should change (and will probably hate once I see it in the morning) but, meh. It is what it is. :P



Okay, time to color!
I dropped to the bottom layer, switched to the big chalk-type brush (I just like it, no particular reason) and set the opacity at 100%...



...picked a warm fleshy color and slapped it on!



And now to add the rosiness! :D
I picked a color that was redder than the skintone, dropped the opacity...



...and did a few passes over the rosy bits; the nose and ears, fingertips and toes, joints and fleshy bits. I'm not afraid of the rosinessssss! >:)



But I don't like blotchiness so I blended the edges with the standard "finger" smudge tool, keeping highlights and surface shapes in mind (a bit).



By this point I was not liking the dark black line so I just lightened it a bit under "hue/saturation". I normally would prefer color lines, but I liked the relatively cool contrast of the grey...



Then I brushed on the hair color with a light opacity, and hit some highlight spots with the dodge tool.



The vast whiteness was starting to grate on me, so I cleaned up the coloring edges and selected the area outside the color, created a new layer and airbrushed in the selection area.



For a bit of visual contrast and interest I created another layer and added some ankle-deep water (again, with low opacity).



Refined the water a little; smudged some edges and added some highlights.



Now for the Dark Mark! >:D
I sketched it on the lineart/sketch layer (oh, I'm too lazy to name my layers... oops) and after this pic was taken I added a third coil of snake above the skull to give it a more cross-like shape (I just thought it was more balanced).



Then I did some detail work in the face area...



And for a very post-HBP touch I added part of his Sectumsempra scar –there is a scar on his face, but I like it on the left side, so you wouldn't see it here.
This was just a bit of dodging and burning.



Then it was as done as it's ever gonna be! :)
Here you can see that I reduced the resolution from 200 to 72 and bumped the contrast a bit since when I "save for web" it really kills my colors. (if anyone knows why it does that or how to stop it, I'd love to hear it!!) :)




So that's it!
I realize that my pics loose a lot when I reduce them, but... at least you got to see some details here.

I also hope you enjoyed this a bit. Let me know if it was helpful or not, and any other things I should do if I do this again. :)

(Post a new comment)

	anjenue 2005-09-01 08:11 am UTC (link)
	Oh. My. God. He's BEAUTIFUL. I love the haunted, sad expresison on his face, the way his hair is falling, the way he's staring at his dark mark....and god the SCARS. You're just...you're so brilliant. You never fail to make me gasp every time you draw something. (Reply to this)

	intoxic 2005-09-01 08:11 am UTC (link)
	very helpful! I was always interested in the way you draw..and the process behind it. (Reply to this)

	karasu_hime 2005-09-01 08:20 am UTC (link)
	That's so beautiful and so sad! Poor Draco... and I hadn't even considered that he would be left scarred. Oh, this makes you reflect on the events of HBP, very thought provoking. (Reply to this)

	jereeza 2005-09-01 08:49 am UTC (link)
	Nice! I love tutorials by different artists. (Reply to this)

	silvertales 2005-09-01 09:01 am UTC (link)
	beautiful! Draco's got such an expression of painful remorse on his face. His sadness just oozes, and it's so simple that it's not overwhelmed by overworking. ^.^ As for the step-by-step, I think it's marvelous! It's always great to see how other artists work! I'd love to see more step-by-steps if you ever feel the inclination. ^.^ (Reply to this)

	mystisblom 2005-09-01 09:16 am UTC (link)
	Thats so beautiful, I love his expression. Kinda scared and sad. beautifuly done. (Reply to this)

	leelastarsky 2005-09-01 09:18 am UTC (link)
	Gorgeous pic! And I love seeing how you work! :~) (Reply to this)

	_littlun_ 2005-09-01 09:22 am UTC (link)
	its so strange the details u notice wen u look at the tutorial. can u believe i didnt even notice the scars or the darkmark! how dumb am i!? p.s. lovely as always. (Reply to this)

	bluestraggler 2005-09-01 09:24 am UTC (link)
	Oh. OHH. He's so SAAAADDD. *weepth; hugs him* Both his expression and his scar are so delicate and fragile and beautiful. *saves this under memories and makes it a point to read in further detail when she's more awake* (Reply to this)

	samena 2005-09-01 09:59 am UTC (link)
	It's beautiful, Sherant! And really moving. Poor Draco... BTW, my sister mailed a little something to you the other day, so you should be getting that one of these days. ;) (Reply to this)

	amanuensis1 2005-09-01 10:07 am UTC (link)
	Whimper. Your art tutorial reminds me of all those "Learn to Draw" things that made me gape and say, "But...where's all the inbetween stuff?" that is the curse of the non-artist. ^_^ You're so talented! (And, oh, the sectumsempra scars!) (Reply to this)(Thread)

(no subject) - moireach, 2005-09-14 11:13 pm UTC

(no subject) - amanuensis1, 2005-09-14 11:32 pm UTC

	kitaoroshi 2005-09-01 10:38 am UTC (link)
	Draco is simply amazing in this picture. The expression on his face! You just want to protect him in any way, despite the fact that it was his own fault that he got saddled up with the Mark. Where is Harry? ^_^;; And the art tutorial was great. I'm still trying to learn how to use Photoshop. But of a dork at it so every little bit helps. ^_^ (Reply to this)

	dark_beloved 2005-09-01 10:46 am UTC (link)
	He's lovely. I just finished reading the 6th book last night. It's so sad.... and may i say that you're so talented? (Reply to this)

	marmaduke01 2005-09-01 11:00 am UTC (link)
	that's so gorgeous!! and what a helpful tutorial, too bad i dont have a tablet or anything. guess it's just back to the old paper and pencil. (Reply to this)(Thread)

(no subject) - sherant, 2005-09-04 06:59 am UTC

	marksykins 2005-09-01 11:17 am UTC (link)
	Oh my God. God. This is definitely one of my favorite pieces by you, darling. He's so...broken. (Reply to this)

	magicicada 2005-09-01 11:23 am UTC (link)
	Wow. That's wonderful. (Reply to this)

	malfoys_skug 2005-09-01 11:36 am UTC (link)
	O.M.G. That's so awesome!!! (Reply to this)

	draconianangel 2005-09-01 11:37 am UTC (link)
	God, Sherant, you Draco... guh. Beautiful. *bookmarks* For future references on how to draw and color. :D (Reply to this)

	evilsource 2005-09-01 12:20 pm UTC (link)
	1. GUH! I always adore your Draco. He simply glows. I love the concept, too. 2. Love the non!tutorial. I love seeing different approaches to the creative process. (Reply to this)

	saikogrrl 2005-09-01 01:54 pm UTC (link)
	September is for Slytherin, Sectumsempra... and perhaps 'survivor's guilt'... *weeps* Oh, Severus..... *loffs melancholy!Draco* (Reply to this)

	souliesoul 2005-09-01 02:04 pm UTC (link)
	He's lovely! :) And it's a great step-by too. (Reply to this)

	myrafur 2005-09-01 02:25 pm UTC (link)
	This is ...so unbelievably perfect! O.O Without the tutorial, I would've never seen all the tiny details! Tears! ..they just don't show up on my monitor! Oh, I love this. Thank you! He's brilliant. YOU'RE BRILLIANT! (Reply to this)

	jaded_skys 2005-09-01 03:33 pm UTC (link)
	As always, I'll have your babies because of your art! AH! It's so...so.... so..... YOU! *hearts* (Reply to this)

	howlinmad 2005-09-01 04:17 pm UTC (link)
	Such a simple, gorgeous face! I hate when people put too many details, it bogs everything down. This is so nice and loose. Just beautiful! (Reply to this)

	pollyjuiceboy 2005-09-01 04:34 pm UTC (link)
	Beautiful! And good tutorial. Can you explain a bit further the part where you say The vast whiteness was starting to grate on me, so I cleaned up the coloring edges? When I do my pictures I sketch and then scan, no tablet yet, though I want one after seeing this. But when I color I always try to stay in the lines (so kindergarten!). How do you delete the overlap color? (Reply to this)(Thread)

(no subject) - coell, 2005-09-01 06:55 pm UTC

(no subject) - pollyjuiceboy, 2005-09-01 11:25 pm UTC

(no subject) - lady_songsmith, 2005-09-02 01:37 am UTC

(no subject) - pollyjuiceboy, 2005-09-02 06:29 am UTC

(no subject) - sherant, 2005-09-04 07:06 am UTC

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