Huntress

2011.08.08


This is a HUGE piece for me and I'd suggest viewing the full resolution version to take it all in.  This is a personal best for me and I don't think I'll be topping it anytime soon.  XD

I bit off more than I could chew in regards to commissions over the last few months and went on hiatus after finishing the last batch a week or so ago.  I felt I needed to draw shit just for me before I burned myself out and the Huntress popped into my head.  I had never drawn her before and with good reason.  I make no secret of the fact that coloring black and dark areas scare the hell out of me, so Huntress here brought me the perfect challenge.  If was going to get this right, I really needed to knuckle-down and focus.

I spent a good bit longer on this piece than I usually do, about three hours on the pencils for starters.  I've also included the layout sketch below.  I usually don't do scratch art or thumbnail sketches unless it's going to be a big piece.  ^_^;  I drew the final pencils on a pretty big sheet so I could go crazy with the details and not have to worry about the lines being too fat.  While inking I decided to extend the shot a little more so I had to draw in the rest of her left leg and staff to do just that.  After scanning, I grafted those bits on to the final lineart.  I also adjusted her legs during the inks to make her lean over the side a bit more

The colors were the obvious time-suckers, but surprisingly didn't take quite as long as I thought.  Pretty early on I wanted this to be in the rain, partly because I thought it would add some interesting atmosphere but mostly because I had never done it before.  The rain itself is in about half a dozen layers to add depth the pic.  I also threw in some fog behind Huntress to make her  pop out a bit.  As for the figure herself, I used a few more gradients than I usually do give her outfit more of a leather look and gloss her up for the rain.