21-Draw-Illustrators-Guidebook-vol-2-ebook-(2021)

the steps and the walls. Since I don’t work
in 3D modeling myself, I ask a friend who
throws it together in 20 minutes—thanks
Tom! I don’t always do this step, but in this
case I feel the 3D model will help me get the
stairs and the overall perspective just right.
This also allows me to focus my time more
on the characters and less on fretting about
the background construction.
I bring the 3D OBJ file (a universal 3D model
file format) directly into Photoshop and
move it around until it matches up with
my thumbnail sketch (see below). Once I’m
happy with its placement, I rasterize the 3D
into a 2D layer and tweak it to fit using the
distort and transform tools. I’m now in a
good place to start blocking in!
I start roughing out the background in line,
defining the stairs, the room perspective,
doorways, window, and picture frames on
the wall. Having a line drawing as a guide
helps me keep my perspective and structure
during initial block in (see top of next page).
On a new layer, I begin adding color. I keep
my color thumbnail close by on my canvas,
so I can color pick from it and build my
image fairly quick. I already decided most of
the overall color scheme, so this work goes
smoothly. I add in the ghost color since that
is pretty set in stone.
With the background and ghost blocked in, I
shift focus to the characters. I follow a similar
process, using the line layer established in
my character pass, then I paint the character
colors on a new layer underneath, eventually
painting out the lines.
To simplify the process, I start with flat
local colors only—meaning only the color
of objects as they look without the effect
of light. I’m not interested in showing
shadows or the effect of light hitting my
characters just yet. I only want to establish
their general color palettes. That said,
during this step I adjust my color choices
slightly to work well with the background
ambience.
138 21DRAW