The Panel Process
1.) Panels usually starts off with a very simple thumbnail to capture the idea. Sometimes they get more elaborate but this one was simple. Im working in photoshop.
2.) From there I layout a perspective grid and draw the lines. The lines dont have to be perfect since I paint over them.
3.) This is the most tedious part to me but also one of the most important. I lay out all the local color areas and group eveything in 3 layers. Foreground, Middle, and Background.
Edges are very important in my opinion and with all the shapes already filled, I can easily select the "blue shirt" for example, make a new layer and paint without having to worry
about painting outside the blue area.
4.) To simplify painting, I shade and highlight one value at a time. It looks like a cell shaded cartoon.
5.) I add gradients to warm or cool areas. Everything gets easier at this point.
6.) Now I simply blend in the areas, maybe add more detail but mostly just working with what I already laid out.
7.) The result of doing this to the entire image. I can always keep going on an image but because I have more panels to paint I feel this conveys the message well! Lettering would come next.
The key is to focus on one thing at a time. Focus on the drawing, focus on the local colors, focus on one shade at a time, focus on blending, then detail. Painting becomes simple this way.
Thank you very much for checking this process for one of my panels out! I hope you enjoyed.
coreyarte@yahoo.com