KOF REDUX: Sketch Collection 1

I thought I would post some of the REDUX sketch work so you guys can get a peek into my process.

As you can see the sketches are pretty close to the colored versions. Each character has 5-6 thumbnail versions so I can get the pose I want on paper and I can mess around with outfit styles before I start on the larger version.

The larger versions (what you see here) are drawn on 11x17 plain old copy paper with a mechanical pencil and spot eraser.

From there its scanned into Photoshop, my scanner is only large enough for 11x14 so I have to scan 1 half the image at a time and piece the top half and bottom half together in Photoshop.

From there I save out the image as a jpeg and bring it into illustrator where I ink it using the pen tool. This way I can get pristine lines that I can do flats (flat colors) in.

Once the image is fully inked I bring it into the Photoshop to do the flats. Then from there I pick a light source and go to town on the lights and shadows. Also you may notice that there are no black ink lines on my work, thats because I color the lines similar to cell shading so they don't stand out and the light and shadow looks more natural.

Lastly I have an FX layer I use to adjust colors, add highlights to hair and metal and surface texture. Then I am done .


If I can pass on a valuable lesson that I learned during this series it would be this: The more time you spend on the penciling stage the easier it will be to color and less time you will spend fixing stuff you don't like in Photoshop. It's also much easier to scrap a pencil piece and start over than it is with a half colored concept that you are unhappy with.

So make sure you are content with your pencils before you scan them in and start inking and painting.

-DN