Behind the scenes art process: Holly and Ian

Cindy's scene was probably the most awaited and hyped one, but I knew Holly's first scene had to be something special, too. I had been waiting 6 chapters to finally draw her (although she had a mini scene in chapter 6), but that meant I was not used to drawing this character. And I HATE drawing glasses!

Holly has quite a different body type than most of ORS girls, but thankfully I found some good photo references. Holly's hairdo is also very characteristic, and as you can see in the first thumbnail, I sketched those defining traits and any other needed elements. Once the composition was set, I started drawing the line-work. I've noticed my lines have become quite clean recently, and that's even more noticeable in the drawing I'm working on now for Chapter 8).

Thumbnail number 3 is what I got back from the colorist. Basic colors and volumes are there, but as you can see the illustrations looks incredibly bland and life-less. This is when I add all that ambient lighting and additional detail to make the final illustration really pop, but in this case it was especially challenging. My first idea was that the scene would only be lit up by the moonlight, tinting everything with a blue color and pale highlights. In my mind looked great, but it didn't translate well to the screen. Thumbnail number 4 was on of my firsts attempts, but the result looked rather boring to me.

In thumbnail number 6 you can see me experimenting with adding a contrasting warm light source, to make the image more eye-catching and interesting. The source would be the lamp on the bedside table. But trying to add it in a "realistic" way resulted in a muddied colour palette that was not selling the image at all.

Finally, I decided to scratch that "realistic" feeling I was trying to go for and make the colours more abstract and dramatic, as you can see in thumbnail 6, which is the final in-game illustration. I pushed the idea of warm vs cool light contrast, making the colors way more saturated. The impact of this can be seen more clearly in the two first images of the scene, in which the background is not a game asset but just the bed sheets, that act like a big canvas. I painted it with these contrasting colors, the cool blue on Holly's side, while the warm touch was on Ian's, symbolising the heat and arousal he was awakening into Holly. This is even clearer in the second image:

Normally the ambient light pass is pretty straightforward, but I took a few days working on these until I found a solution that I thought looked cool and was also thematic. I like the results and I'm looking forward to try and do some more scenes with this more "abstract" look. When the bed covers such a large part of the image, the placement of the wrinkle lines in the drawing is also very important, but also very subtle, and I struggle with that often, too. If I could take more time with the drawings, it's an element I'd like to play with and explore more, too. Could you imagine the characters having sex over a beautiful abstract painting, their feelings and emotions solidified in the bed under their bodies? That sounds way too artsy, doesn't it? 😆

Anyways, once I had found the way to make that work for the two first images, the rest were way easier. Here I had to combine the bed with the actual background, which brought back a more grounded feeling, but the colors still tint the image pretty strongly, in this case, directing the viewers eye to the most important part of the image, Holly's face, which expression changes throughout the scene. 

Is it coincidence that Holly, a witty character, had me put so much thought into her scene? Not all scenes have such a lengthy process as this one, but I hope you found it somewhat interesting. Did you like the scene? Do you think the final result stands out from the other scenes, or you didn't notice any thematic change?

Other posts about the art process:

Cindy and Ian 

Ivy's game 

Lena and Ian