NOTE: This art is my (@-Falconwing-) original work, and I would appreciate if you didn’t use or redistribute it. Due to Scratch’s rules, I can’t do anything to you if you do, as long as you give credit. If you remix or repost without credit, I can and will report you and take the project down. In simple words, you can use this, but you must say I made it. Music is by AJR, bg reference is from Google, the rest of the assets are by me.
1. I always start out with a sketch. My go-to color is a dark red, but it really doesn’t matter. Each sketch only takes me a few minutes, but I often have to draw several before I do one that looks right. What you see was my second attempt at this pose! Never feel bad about using your eraser or even completely ditching a version of a drawing, as it’s something even artists far more experienced than me do! Things hardly ever look right the first time I draw them. 2. I browsed through Google for a background reference. I knew I wanted something with a frontal focus and with greens and oranges, since my character was mostly brown and blue. This is a free-to-use image of Crow’s Flight, a mountain range! 3. I sketched on the main pieces of my background, keeping the photo on hand for reference. I will continue to use this reference until I’m done with the background. I also positioned my character in a visually pleasing spot. 4. I painted my background, using mostly a large watercolor brush, as I’ve found it’s flexible and gives a good, stylized result without lines. I’m still a beginner with backdrops, so please don’t take my advice as sacred! 5. I lined my character, making small adjustments and adding details until I’m happy. I follow the body type and fur position/length from my ref. Remember to take body shape into account while drawing, and not just the fur! I just sort of gave up on the mouth lol 6. Color! Not much to say about this part except follow the ref and stay inside the lines ^^’ I also took this time to carefully erase parts that the backdrop overlaid, to make my character seem more a part of the scene. 7. I added a quick layer of airbrushed shading on overlay using a pale yellow and dark blue. For this step of shading I use a very large brush, do not add any details, and always use contrasting shadows versus light. 8. I added hard shading in a dark blue on multiply, then did hard highlights as a pale yellow on add! I also added a shadow on the ground with a dark blue on multiply. 9. Scene lights! Everyone does this part differently, and there’s no right or wrong way to do it. I use a light orange and dark purple to focus the attention on the character. We’re done! And that’s my process! Not too much to it tbh, I generally skip step 9 if I’m not doing a scenic background like this. Every now and then I’ll also adjust the lineart and change up the color slightly, but since it’s not a frequent step I chose not to include it here. FAQ: -What program/device/brushes do you use? I use MediBang Paint, and IPad with my finger! I use mostly pen and watercolor brushes, sometimes a rough pencil brush for sketches or coloring if I’m feeling ~fancy~ -How long did this take? About an hour and a half-ish? I don’t time my drawings lol -How do I draw like this? There’s no shortcut to skill. It will take years of discipline and practice to get good at anything, art included. Tracing and copying may make you feel good and like you’re improving faster, but they teach you nothing about how to draw. Avoid books and tutorials that say things like “How to draw an owl” or “How to draw dogs”, since they usually just encourage copying/tracing. Find what you feel like you’re poor at, and look up a specific tutorial, like “How to improve lineart” or “How to design great characters”.
