PROCESS PACK: divine peach // nsfw

download the .zip below to access the process pack for this picture of nian and tu shen--it contains 17 pngs and 1 gif.

a while ago i posted this nsfw sketchdump where you can actually see the small doodle that ultimately was the basis for this painting. i'm trying to explore different perspectives, ways of framing, and compositions for my smut art, so i don't get stuck just drawing things from same angle and framed in the same way. in the case of this drawing i challenged myself to do a POV perspective, which i've never really done before and it was both fun and tricky. i'm still not sure if the anatomy, foreshortening, and perspective makes perfect sense, but it's plenty good enough--and it's definitely something new, so mission accomplished.

from step 02 to 03 i made the wise decision to lengthen tu shen's back and change the position of nian's legs, in a way that made it look more like tu shen is on his hands and knees. i also added nian's hands groping at him, which immediately made the image more interesting, intimate, and sexy (ass worship, amirite?). i re-drew tu shen's face several times, partly because i find it so tricky to draw faces from this angle and partly because his smug expression needed to be just right. (and i daresay it paid off, since his expression is really what kind of sparked the idea for the nsfw story that was based on this pic!)

i kept the lineart rather rough, because i wanted it to kind of blend into the colouring, and i find that that's easier to accomplish when the lines aren't too crisp and precise. i immediately changed the layer setting to 'multiply,' lowered the transparency, and coloured the lines brown (for tu shen) and dark green (for nian). i then started adding base colours, gradients, and shadows. tu shen is all white and all soft, but the hues of nian's body shift a bit--and he's partly covered with scales. i used a rough and textured brush to render the scales, careful not too add to much detail because i didn't want them to look too "sharp," if that makes sense.

on the other hand i used my beloved lasso select + airbrush method to colour nian's hands (i gotta say that this image made me remember how much i love drawing hands) and most of tu shen's body. in hindsight, my only regret is not adding a very subtle yellow undertone to nian's arms, since it would have helped differentiate them a bit from the rest of his body. 

since nian's body is darker, he benefitted from a somewhat darker lineart, but at this point i made the lines of tu shen even lighter. in a way i wanted this whole painting to look kind of soft and smooth and relatively painterly, from the colouring, the relative lack of texture/detail, and the way the lineart isn't too prominent. like the lineart is definitely there, but it's not super in-your-face, y'know? for the colouring of tu shen i relied on differences in hue and value to give his body shape and delineate one part from another; for example the white fluff of his tail against the shadows of his back which helps underline the foreshortening; the soft highlights and shadows of his asscheeks that make them look all round and plump; and the darker gradients that outline his bangs against the rest of his hair. 

finally i added a pale blue gradient (on a layer set to overlay) to create a bit of depth, slapped on a simple background, decided on removing tu shen's hands entirely, and increased the brightness/contrast every so subtly. 

i loved colouring this because their colour palette is so pretty (and oddly soothing), and it came out so balanced-looking in terms of detail, texture, and 'lineart emphasis,' so to speak. also, no promises but i kind of really want to draw a matching picture but from tu shen's POV this time, perhaps illustrating a later moment in the story...?

// art + nian © me; tu shen © kubi.