Comic for Thursday, Jun 9, 2011

Commentary

Posted June 9, 2011 at 1:00 am
Sketches for the last panel of this comic. This was one of the more complicated bits of sketchery I've had to do due to how the two characters layer and the clouds. One of the benefits of sketching entirely on the computer, however, is that instead of erasing along the way, I can just put things on separate layers, use different colors, and have layers with areas of whiteness between them to keep everything looking clean.

Speaking of which, yes, the the fairy's clothes were on a separate layer. This was because I wasn't entirely certain of the fairy's outfit and I wanted to be able to try different things without having to erase sketches for the body. I left some transparency on the sleeves because I figured knowing where the arms are exactly might impact the shading. I don't think it actually did given that the sleeve sketches themselves provided enough detail, but that was my thinking.

Sketching the clothes on a different layers actually isn't THAT different from the norm, though I usually just have the clothes and figures on the same layers. It's standard practice to lightly sketch out a character's unclothed figure before sketching clothes onto them. I'm not going to give a detailed drawing tutorial here, but it makes sense when one thinks about it. How the clothes look is largely dependent on how they look on the figure, so it makes sense to actually draw the figure and not just draw clothes with some vague idea of where the body is underneath.

It is worth noting that lightly sketching out the character's figure in no way necessitates drawing any covered up bits in detail, so anyone out there cursing the clothing layer of this sketch, you're basically only missing out on seeing the equivalent of a super hero in mono-color tights. Which might still be something you'd wanna see, but I'm sticking with this version all the same.

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