Drath'nor Redraw 2021 by Mikey Parker March 22nd 2021
2481 x 3507 pixels 300 dip
size 5.60 MB
Drath'nor is a foul mouthed, rowdy and ever edgy, Tiefling Rogue I created for a friend when we decided to start playing Dungeons & Dragons (5e) together. I had never been a game master and he had never played, nor had the other players in that campaign, so I made their first characters and we played a Pyramid Themed BO$$ RU$H style campaign. Fight Monster, Earn Big COIN and EXP, Level UP, Buy Items, Fight Bigger Monster.
Here is the original design for him in a chibi style. This was many moons ago and I did not have my digital drawing tablet yet. 😅
The Campaign turned out to be great and we had such a good time. Drath'nor makes it to the last level of the Pyramid and decides he's no longer going to fight against the Lich but JOIN 'EM!
If you're really interested you can listen to the recordings of the games on my YouTube Playlist called "the Angel and the Vengeful Sea" what a cheesy campaign name looking back now
(https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL4--NrwxzJEyG1iB-aaY0OSH4wgAodoAP), language and volume warning! Alcohol was most definitely involved.
Recently I've been going back through old drawings and paintings, trying to find pieces I believe deserve a second attempt with new digital equipment and if we're lucky, I've improved my art skills and knowledge too. This whole series of chibi characters screamed out at me, desperately needing a redraw.
DISCLAIMER Drath'nor wasnt the first one I redrew but I will be adding those into blog posts too
- Starting with a 2481 x 3507 pixels 300 dip canvas (which is roughly a little bigger than 8.5 x 10 inches) on Clipstudio, working on Cintiq 13 HD
- then importing the original file, I color picked a few colors I would want to keep. The pinkish-red skin and leathery brown. Then selecting my own eggshell white, pale yellow and dark-almost-black-purple.
- Using pose references and staying very loose I sketched out a new body for Drath'nor on a new layer, a much more realistic looking shape.
- Starting with the face I added details around the eyes, ears and horns, waiting to do the hand last.
- As I would try to draw the hair similarly to the old chibi reference, I lost interest in that style and began to push it longer and longer.
- This male body was easy to define muscles in the way of his "averageness", nothing too large or too small, he's a Rouge after all. Dont need to beef him up.
super sorry about not having more WIP shots, didnt know I was going to be writing such an in-depth look at this so I merged all the layers together
- Lastly I set the line layer to "Multiply"
- create another layer underneath it, this will be what I call my "underpainting". I block in big amounts of the colors I saved earlier with an oil flat brush. Erasing off excess and creating sharp edges against the background
- Speaking of background, at some point in that I made ANOTHER layer and slid it underneath the underpainting, using the Fill/Bucket tool I completely fill that layer so it can constantly create a crispy edge against the figure.
- Back up to the "underpainting" layer, I spend a little time cleaning edges up (you can select your underpainting layer if completely filled space underneath drawing, then you cannot paint outside that area)
- then turning down the opacity of the sketch, I create another layer set to Multiply above it. This will be our shadow layer, Jimbo.
- Color selecting the base color and painting on the Multiply layer will have only the darker tones on that hue be presented. So I use a smaller flat brush to go over my outlines underneath the figure and anywhere skin lines presses against other skin. A light grey for shadows in the hair as well.
When I feel like Ive got the shadows where I want, hopefully covering any pesky pencil lines, I merge the layers underpainting and sketch. The next part of my process is a little weird to describe but Ill try, its a lot of switching between layers as I correct things. I also want to remind the reader, I havent painted any smoke yet, I have no idea how I'm going to make that happen.
- I create a corrections layer more or less on top of all the other layers. Using the soft airbrush tool and blending tool, I cover any remaining pencil lines, painting mishaps
- and a hard airbrush with the background color to create a hard edge against Drathnor.
- Merge the layers and create a new on top of all it; this is highlights layer.
- A very small oil brush for bright cast highlights
- and soft airbrush for form fitting highlights
Happy with how all the highlights and hair had turned out I decide to try a "corrections layer" to see if I can color balance it just a little better.
- merging all the layers, then creating a correction layer: Hue/Saturation/Lumosity I adjust hue and saturation until I find a better, less pink skin tone.
The Smoke is actually a really big pencil brush that I thought would look airy and light if blended out as it traveled further from Drathnor and dissipated into the atmosphere.
The last step was to give it a free stock texture, its one of my favorite things to do at the end of the painting to help it get that oil painting look. I have a few I normally use; this one is a desert floor from a bird's eye view, zoomed in.
- importing the image, I stretch it out over the entire canvas, rasterize and set the layer to "soft light" and turn the opacity down until its noticeable but not distracting.
- signed and saved.
Drath'nor deserved a new look and all I can do is hope I gave him one he would like. I still play D&D with the player from back then. Im still the DM and he's still Drath'nor but this time he is a dragonborn paladin. Maybe someday he will get an embarrassing chibi drawing and years later, a good painting too.
Thank you for your time,
Mikey