This was originally posted on my now-defunct creative blog.
I bought Sketchbook Pro 6 recently thanks to the glowing review in ImagineFX, and this is the result of me messing around and getting to know it. My brother asked me to draw something for my niece – Doctor Doom may seem an odd choice for a little girl, but she loves Doom!
As you can see from the work-in-progress below, it was a relatively straight-forward process. Sketch out the general composition on paper. Then really rough blue lines, just translating the sketch to the screen. Go over the light blue lines with darker ones, tighten everything up. I like to sketch in a light colour because it’s easy to isolate it and take the best lines on to the next level of tightness. When I feel I’ve tightened the sketch up a little, I lighten the whole thing and go over it again, until I am happy with the results, hence the thick, solid black “inks” over that. Once I have a final layer which I consider final inks, I remove the sketch layers, then colour! I would’ve loved to have coloured it with some Photoshop filters, made it look like it was coloured using the Marvel printing process of old, but alas, I don’t have Photoshop. I probably should have gone over it once more with another shade to add some shadows.
Overall, I think I could have done a lot more with it. The pose is pretty basic, the Infinity Gauntlet is surely more powerful than it looks in this picture, and Doctor Doom himself should be more animated, maybe his other hand could’ve been pulling the gauntlet on – it just could’ve been more dynamic. Still, on a technical level I had great fun using Sketchbook Pro, those black lines are gorgeous, and the Copic marker simulation was a revelation. I don’t think I’ll get this printed out for my niece – I can do better. I’ll use this as a learning experience, create a more dynamic version for her.
What do you think of this? Like it? Hate it? Let me know!
This was originally posted on my now-defunct creative blog.
