A FIGURE IN A FOREST

1 Create a rough sketch

This is where I work out the composition. I keep it pretty loose, because I know I’ll hone the smaller details when I move on to the ink stage. I’m figuring out things like the folds of the main character’s dress, the position of her hands, the shapes of the branches, and the goblins’ poses.

2 Working on the values

This is the finished ink and watercolour stage, after scanning the piece into Photoshop and starting the values. It’s not always necessary to have perfect contrast in black and white, as you can achieve readability with complementary colours, but it does help to shape the piece.

3 Final colour tweaks

I select each element of the piece and add colour using Color Balance and Hue & Saturation I also use Levels to make final adjustments. I don’t really “paint” other than to add touch-up to some areas, like the character’s blush. Finally, I use Color Balance to push the yellow saturation slightly.