I started this illustration with a drawing I had done for a comic project a long time ago. A simple marker sketch showing some basic proportions and an idea for a costume design. The solid black and white shapes force me to think abstract and help me to control my values. If there was a scale from one to ten, white would be 1 and black 10. Later I would use the values inbetween to seperate light from shadow areas.
 
After scanning and opening it in photoshop I duplicated the background layer and set it to "multiply".
 
 

Underneath, on a third layer I started blocking in warm colors using a low key palette. There are endless possibilities for coloring in a drawing but actually only very few pallett settings that work. The use of to many tones can be confusing and easily destroy a mood. Sometimes it helps to look for color reference before starting on a whole new picture. Open it in a new window and pick the colors you like.
 
I decide to start monocrome and fill my background with a warm tone and a value somewhere between 6 and 7 because I want to save the lighter ones for the highlights.
 
 

I wasn´t really happy with the face so far and while fliping the image back and forth I realised that some of the features were slightly out of place. I decided to paint it over on a new layer while constantly fliping the image and work either on the regular or the mirrored image.
 
Then I established a few cold colors in the reflections of the skin and hair as a contrast to the allover warm tone.
 
 
 

I did the same for the dress and the sword: cold reflection from an imaginary window above and warmer ones from the light reflected from the floor. As you can see I also started to change the proportions of the whole figure by cutting and pasting parts I felt were too long or too short. Also the silhouette needed some more refinement.
 
The brushes I have used are mainly photoshop default. Sometimes I squash them by using the "brush tip shape"-mode in the brushes window or I change the spacing to create interesting textures and patterns.
 
 

To give the whole picture a bit more dimension I thought the figure might cast a shadow on the wall behind. Further I had to check my values to not loose the silhouette of my character. I wanted the focal point to be around her face, collar and a few accents on the belt and sword. That is why I saved the brightest tones for excactly those areas.
 
The same goes for the amount of detail. Areas close to the center would get more attention than those further away. Some highlights and makeup are added to the face but the surrounding is treated more rough and blurry, almost unfinished.
 
 

To brake the vertical symmetrical composition I added a few diagonal shapes to the background, suggesting shadows casted by a light from above. In this case I put composition over realism and not trying to find out what is right but what looks good. Again, lighter and warmer areas in the foreground and cold/dark areas in the background add a sense of depth to the image.
 
So far I haven´t used white at all. The lighter tones are a set at a range of 4 to 2 on my value scale. No.1 will only appear in the brightest highlights of the metal reflection.
 
 

Once the character was set up I decided to add some texture to the background. I chose an image of an aged wall I had found on the internet. There are various sites with all kinds of photographs and free download available ( f.e.: cg-textures.com ). I pasted one of them on a new layer with "overlay" setting. The texture on the dress was painted with a simple round brush and the "opacity" set to "50%".
 
 
 
 
 

The trickiest part for me were the hands. I did not want to give them too much attention but then again they needed some more refinement since they play an important part in a characters personality. I changed the positions a couple of times and treated them like the face by fliping the image constantly. Keeping the allover value down helps to draw attention away from them.
 
 
 
 
 

After turning the background layer on again I cropped the image, merged the layers down and played a bit with the contrasts. I toned down the left have of the face to give it a bit more dimenson.
 
 
Read another tutorial posted on CGSociety.org...