Maikoh / Kolotl illustration process!

Since I'm short on animation this month I thought maybe I'd share the process for a drawing I did earlier this month.  

They're all in order, so hopefully it makes enough sense, but here's the gist of it:

1. initial sketch/idea.  Pretty much exactly what it sounds like.

2. finding the flow, focus, or lines of action.  This is pretty typical for action poses but I think it's also helpful for compositions with multiple characters, or 2 characters interacting.  When there's lots of limbs flailing around it helps to make sure they're posed in a way that if you draw a line through it, it directs your eye to the main focal point; in this case, their eye-contact with each other and how close their faces are.

3.  tightening the drawing!  Carving out more confident lines.

4.  tightening the outfits!  I didn't find it necessary with Maikoh 'cause she's in a pretty normal position, but Kolotl has a lot of extra crap on her and she's in an uncomfortable position/at a weird angle, so it helps me to chart that stuff out.

5.  clean up!  Also exactly what it sounds like.  I think it helps to keep the previous sketch layers on underneath so you don't lose too much of the initial energy!  (Although I think to some degree, for an artist like me who works kind of rough, this is inevitable haha)

6.  Colors!  Unfortunately I merged the color/shading layers so I can't show you that but you get it.  I also put a drop-shadow on the color layer so it kinda looks like an animation cel shot under a camera.

7.  Added BG, effects.  I messed around with glowing effects on their crystals and then decided against it 'cause I wanted to make it look more like a cel.  I also added a really faint red and green doubled-up around the lines... I don't know exactly what that's called but it's noticeable if you ever go see a cel-animated movie at a theatre.  I didn't spend a ton of time fussing with it, but it was kind of fun to experiment!  Also added those effects to the little rocks crumbling around them, since they'd also be on a separate cel layer/not part of the BG.  

Anyway, hope that was entertaining or helpful for you guys!  If you'd like to see more process stuff like this, definitely let me know!  I can always crack open the layers on some of my drawings and just explain what I was thinkin', haha.  

Enjoy!