So this isn’t exactly a walk through, and it certainly isn’t a step by step. I don’t work in an orderly fashion, so a step by step isn’t really feasible. But this will give you an idea of my process.
The picture we’ll be looking at is this one.
Rogue and Gambit, of Marvel’s X-men comics. This Rogue and Gambit piece was unique in the fact that I saved different versions. That’s not something I usually do, but since Rogue and Gambit are two of my favorite characters, ever, I wanted to make sure I got it right.
You can see where I started with the cleaned up line art. Then I laid in my basic colors, and blocked in some of my highlights and shadows. I put circles of colors for my light sources and the shadows so the colors will be easy to grab as I go. If it’s a color I think I’ll use pretty frequently, I’ll add it to my color swatches.
Next I figured out the background. That was mainly playing with colors and balancing the foreground, background and figures.
Now you see me playing with highlights, light sources, the folds on Gambit’s jacket. You can see I changed my mind a lot on how Rogue’s costume should reflect light, and the strength of the light from the playing cards on Rogue’s hair.
And then, with all art, you reach the point where you’re hurting more than helping, and you call it done. I hope this is able to help some one in their painting process. The biggest advice I can give is play around, and most importantly, have FUN.
For more Rogue and Gambit art, check out the fan art page.
