 | 1. Background FillI first fill in my canvas with a base color for which I will work my color scheme around as well. The world that she is from has red skies because of the red dwarf sun in her solar system. I decided that I wanted to use a color scheme of deep maroon reds for the skies with compliments of greens. |
 | 2. Rough SketchI had an idea of painting a human-like female creature from this alien world. I then sketch out my idea and pose for the figure in Painter. I find that painter is the best for sketching so I always start my artworks in Painter and then add fine details and textures in Photoshop. Both applications have great benefits. |
 | 3. Rough Color BlockingI have decided that the light source will be a mist of power around her hand along with the glowing creatures. I now take a soft edge brush with a low opacity (my favorite brush to use for this in Painter is the detail oil brush 15 with dab set at circular) and start to paint in the base skin colors and lighting on the figure. I roughly block in the colors at this stage. Refinement and details always come last in my work. I like to think of it as sculpting with colors. I also roughly block in the color for the creatures in the background. |
 | 4. More Rough Color and LightingNow I start to add some real color and lighting to this work (I love color!!). I start to add more colors into the figure and I roughly sketch out the alien landscape in the background of the image. I also start painting some rough clothing for her. |
 | 5. At this stage I realize that I want the image to be a bit wider so I extend the canvas a bit and fill in the white areas with some rough paint. I also add a few more details into the image. |
 | 6. I then decide that I want to add a bit more foliage around the figure to frame it better in the image. I start to roughly sketch in the vines and leaves around her. I also added more paint into the figure. |
 | 7. I now continue to work on the lighting again. I add some highlights to the leaves and vines roughly with a soft edged brush. I also add a few more details to the image using a small soft edge high opacity brush to rough in some details. |
 | 8. In This step I start to refine the face a bit. This is always my favorite part since I love to paint faces. I blend the colors in the face with a soft edged brush with a lower opacity and add some details and colors to the lips and eyes with a hard edge smaller brush with a higher opacity. I also add a few loose strands of hair. |
 | 9. Now I take the image into Photoshop and I decide that I have to add another creature to this image so I add a giant glowing butterfly on her leg. I first sketch in the butterfly and then fill in some color with a soft edged brush. I also decide that my colors need a bit of adjustment in the figure so I create a new overlay layer and paint over parts of the image with a dark cool green using a low flow soft edge brush. I also add a few more details throughout the image. |
 | 10. Now I start getting to more of my favorite parts of the painting process. I start to refine the face further and add more details to the eyes and lips with a small hard edge high opacity brush. I also add some shading to the gold areas in the image on her clothing and jewelry. I created the magic effect around her hand with a regular hard edge circular brush with shape dynamics and scattering. The smoke was painted with a regular soft edged low flow brush. |
 | 11. More Face DetailMore work into the face at this stage. I add some makeup to her face with a soft edged brush with a low opacity. To add more effect I use a spotted texture brush over the eye makeup. I also adjust the hue and saturation until I get a result that I like. I also add more detail to the hair with a spotted brush with low spacing and shape dynamics. I then add some stray hairs after that with a hard edge round brush with high opacity and then blend the shading of the gold objects further in the image. Now the painting is almost complete. |
 | 12. FinalAfter refining the image further I do some final blending of the image with first a soft edged spotted brush with a low flow and then go over it again with different soft texture brushes. I could work into this image forever adding more details but at this point I decide that I am happy with the result and that the painting is now complete. |