Shazi's drawing tutorial

[† Shazi]

okay, i'm going to show you all how i draw, but first you're going to need two of either 3 programs. to do the initial drawing i use paint tool SAI. the portable version of SAI is free. since sai is a drawing based program to do any lighting effects, you will want to use either Photoshop or GIMP. i tend to use Photoshop CS5.

Step 1

draw your "skeleton" this is to start your posing of your character.to do this, use a light grey, airbrush tool with a radius of 4 pixels.

here is my "skeleton"

Step 2

next you draw a basic body on a new layer. in a darker grey then the skeleton draw curvy shapes to reprisent the torso, head, arms and legs.

Step 3

now we get into some details. hair, clothing and facial details to be exact. again in a darker grey and on a new layer, sketch what you're imagining.

as you can see i have modified my drawing from the skeleton and original body sketch. this is because i noticed my proportions were off. so i edited accordingly. here she is without the sketching lines underneath.

now, if you're happy with you last sketch, you can just darken the layer by going "Filter > Brightness and Contrast" and lower the brightness on the layer. or you can clean your lines with a black or near black airbrush on a new layer. i opted for the first choice.

next i will be showing you how to colour, shading and highlights!

Edited September 22, 2012 by Emotional Outlet

[† Shazi]

since the first part i drew the hands. i have no idea how to draw hands so i reccommend using your own hands as a reference, and search for some other tuts... i generally just wing it lol

anyway the colouring is going to use quite a few layers. since SAI is painting and drawing based, the colours are going to blend, often not the way you want them to. to avoid this, i make a layer for every part i'm colouring, or i make sure nothing on the layer is touching anything else.

Step 1

to colour, use the brush tool, 7-9 pixels is a good siz for the size i'm working with. begin with the skin, since it will end up being the bottom layer it doesn't matter if you go over the lines into other parts, if you're opting for the "make sure nothing touches" method, it's still a good idea to make the skin layer completely separate. to get a good skin colour, get an orange, then make it lighter. BAM skin tone XD

Step 2

separate your colours and objects into different layers and colour piece by piece with the brush tool.

Step 2

if you like, you can merge all of the colour layers now. but just in case i will not. on a new layer, change the blending mode to multiply, and using pretty much the same grey as you did with the skeleton and a brush with a density of 20-30

take a fairly large brush size too, i use about 20. now, on one side of each object, create some shadows. pick a direction where you want the light source to come from and try to simulate the shadows from there.

you can duplicate the layer, or decrease the brightness of the shadow layer if you don't think they're dark enough. i like mine as they are.

Step 3

the highlights! the concept between the shadows and highlights is essentially the same, only you should use white instead of grey, and screen or overlay blending instead of multiply. opacity is also a good idea since the highlights tend to come out a little strong.

[† Emotional Outlet]

I like seeing how people work--it's part of the reason why I have a soft spot for oekaki animations. It's interesting to see the different ways people colour and draw--and see the initial sketches before they decide on what they want the final product to be.

A well-done tutorial, ma'am. Starting with a basic skeleton is great advice, and unfortunately a step that seems to be skipped a lot, resulting in some fantastic anatomy--like spines bent at 90 degree angles. Why, yes, I have been reading [Escher Girls] a lot lately! The part regarding the lighting is also important, but a lesson that was lost on me when I took half a semester of art before dropping out of the class, haha.

I really liked the Jedi you had posted on FB--it would be interesting to see an animation of you doing another detailed drawing like that!

(My drawing will be eternally crappy because I'm lazy and impatient...!)

[† Shazi]

i have been tempted to do that, but i think i have a slight case of ADD and i tend to tab between things all the time... so if i record my screen while drawing, i'd have to edit the crap out of it before posting XD

okay so i made a video tut.. it ended up being like 4gb in size to imma compress it and post it here later. hopefully it gives you guys a bit of an idea of what i'm doing. i speed painted so sorry for the quality of the image lol i actually had no idea what i was drawing

[zx0]

Great tutorial Shazi, you have succeeded in making it look easy!

I am inspired to try and draw something, even though I know from over 20 years experience that I suck at drawing

[Nero D. Ace]

ah, le awesome tutorials appear.

Now i can put my plan to make le awesome drawings to warp teh minds of those around me!

MWAHAHA ... MWAHAHA ... HAHA ... MWAHAHA!

[Dude888]

That is an awesome tutorial. I'm looking forward to your video.

Are you using a pen/tablet peripheral or your mouse?

Also spoilerception

[† Shazi]

That is an awesome tutorial. I'm looking forward to your video.

Are you using a pen/tablet peripheral or your mouse?

Also spoilerception

i'm using a drawing tablet though the shading can be done just as effectively with a normal mouse. my video unfortunatly didn't work because my laptop is special. but when i can work out a way to get a desktop recorder to work on it i will most certainly do a speed paint of something random for you XD

[Tenure]

Wow cool. I like the style

[Xanodus]

Just a question Shazi; when you drew this, did you use a tablet or your computer mouse? And is this available on iPad?

[† Shazi]

Just a question Shazi; when you drew this, did you use a tablet or your computer mouse? And is this available on iPad?

I used a peripheral mouse replacement (i.e drawing tablet) and I don't think SAI is available for the iOS or android.

i use a Wacom Bamboo pen that i got 5 years ago, i'm too poor to buy a new one but i will soon after i get my new computer

[Xanodus]

Ah I see, maybe I should buy one of those, they look handy c:

Okay, now I shall look for drawing apps hehe great tutorial by the way, it's really easy to follow

[† Shazi]

Ah I see, maybe I should buy one of those, they look handy c:

Okay, now I shall look for drawing apps hehe great tutorial by the way, it's really easy to follow

thank you, i hoped it would help people with their digital drawing techniques. some things about digital drawings aren't always obvious

[idl12]

Thanks for this, the part about shading was especially helpful.