old version >
new version > 
21. The eyes have kind of bothered me since I colored them. They didn't turn
out the way I had originally sketched them. Then a friend told me they looked
too Asian, so I took steps to correct it. Now she's more of the round-eyed barbarian
heathen she's supposed to be.
22. Now I'm back to working on the body. I added more shading and highlights.
I cleaned up a lot of things and erased a lot more of the original outline.
I did a lot of work on the hand under her chin. I repositioned some fingers.
(I used my own hand as a model.) I'm not sure, but something looks "off"
about the left arm, but I can't put my finger on it. Could be I'm just losing
my mind. (Yes, even I struggle at this whole "art" thing.) Overall
though, she's lookin' pretty hot if you ask me! : )
23. I believe I have fixed the problem with the arm. I thickened the area where
the upper and lower arm meet at the crease. Added more definition to the elbow.
I also lowered her breast. It wasn't anatomically correct where it was before.
Now I think it works.
24. Here's a close up of the right hand. The outline has been erased. I actually
removed the entire outline sketch layer at this point. I wanted to show this
stage to illustrate how I lay in my colors and lines. Since it's very rough,
it's easy to see the portions of light and shape. From this point on, it's just
a matter of getting tighter, cleaner and more detailed. (This is when my wrist
really starts to hurt!)
25. Here's the hand finished up, for the most part. Colors have been blended
and the lines have been cleaned up. Oh yeah, and now we have fingernails. I
happen to be blessed with very nice hands and nails so I used my hands as models.
(I only wish the rest of me followed suit! : )
26. Well, here she is! Here's the semi-final result. I know I'll go back and
fix things I notice later, after I've had some time not to stare at it so closely.
In addition, as I work on the background, things may be altered in some fashion,
as necessary.
27. Started laying in the background. I had imagined her wading at the shore
of a sea of tentacles that seemed to just flow behind her - the creature being
far too big to take in from the vantage point of the viewer. I intentionally
made the colors of the creature's tentacles match her hair tentacles since a
part of "Them" are now permanently a part of her.
28. More work on the background. Sharpening some of the edges and blending the
colors. Brightening highlights and darkening shadows. I've also started going
back to highlighting the body somewhat. This was planned for. Note the pale
green highlight under the arms. This is a slight reflection of light bouncing
off the creature and onto the underside of her flesh. I'll be doing more of
that as I go along. It makes her more part of her surroundings.
This initial stage took me only an hour to do. After doing so many hair tentacles, they're becoming second nature to me. Got a ways to go, though. But I'm happy with the beginnings.
29. Final version! Sharpened the highlights and darkened the shadows even further.
Added more muscle tone to the hip and stomach area (and added the bellybutton!).
Added a ring on her right index finger. I also changed the hue of her skin to
a slightly more greenish tone. I did this by selecting the layer with the body
and face, then Image > Adjust > Hue/Saturation. Then I selected Yellows
from the drop down menu and slid the Hue to +10.
30. OK, scratch my statement above about being the final version. : ) After
showing step number 29 to my friends and strangers alike, I received a lot of
good feedback. I found that the people who didn't know me didn't realize the
tentacles in the background were supposed to be an alien creature. Therefore,
I added a big alien eyeball, sharpened the tentacles even further, and added
some slime. Below are details of the slime and the eyeball. I also turned the
skin back from greenish to pinkish. Seems to work better.
Welcome to the "ick factor"! I wanted a mucus-y, egg whites sort of
look.
peek-a-boo... it sees you.
31. ok, THIS is the final version. Honest. See? It's signed n' everything.
Last things I did (besides sign it) were to lower the breast and remove the bellybutton. Not to get too visually explicit, but after looking at myself in the mirror from the side buck nekkid, I could see that I had the breast too high and there was no bellybutton in sight. (Not that I'm even remotely this hot, but certain anatomical things are just standard.)
I also modified the shadow around the breast to look less "muddy" as well as softened it.
Well, there you have it! I hope somebody out there learned something from all this. I learned that I suck at tutorials. But hey? Whadda ya want for my first attempt?
Click here to see the actual size version. It's a huge file, but you can see all the insane details.
All artwork and web design © 2004 by Rebecca
Kemp
Taking without permission is stealing, no matter what.