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Description
I created a step-by-step for a simple illustration for my next character design book (tentatively titled "Character Mentor") and I thought I'd show it to you all. The illo might be a little small, but hopefully that will make you want to buy the book to see it better! Here's the text that will go with the steps above:

I gave myself a simple assignment to create a spot illustration of a woman jumping out of the way of something- possibly reacting to someone throwing a firecracker at her. My goal is creating a pose that expresses a powerful leap but also has a strong sense of fear to her facial expression.

Here are the steps I took:

1- I create a quick sketch that is mostly just a line of action with simple shapes on top of it to show her basic anatomy. I’m going for a feeling here- almost like the pose is an exclamation mark.
2- I like where the sketch is going, so I stay with it. I add some more details, but still using just basic shapes. Ovals for the eyes, nose, a shape for the mouth, and I indicate the drag of her long hair. This also accents the movement.
3- I am continuing to add details. Refining her clothes (and the sense of drag on them also). I start figuring out her expression more also.
4- Since the sketch is far enough along to see some problems creeping into the drawing, I do what I do to most of my drawings- I flip it over. Looking at a drawing backwards (via a light box) is always helpful to see the problems of a drawing. I create a new sketch on the back of the paper, fixing problems I see like the lower foot placement, the tilt of the chest, opening the hand on one of the arms, and even redrawing the tilt of her head.
5- Flipping the drawing back the original way, I redraw the drawing transferring the corrections I made on the back. They are minor tweaks, but they helped.
6- Using a kneaded eraser, I “knock back” the red under-drawing (which simply means I lighten the line by hitting it lightly with the eraser). Then I start creating my final, tighter line drawing with a graphite pencil. I want the final line to still feel loose, so I keep it slightly sketchy.
7- After I’ve drawn everything in the tighter black line- adding little details like hair stands and highlights in the eyes- I scan the drawing into the computer. This enables me to go into the Channels box and select the Red channel which takes out all the red line under-drawing leaving only the tight black line. I then tweak the levels and contrast a bit until I have a final, tight black line. Ready for color!
8- In Photoshop, I start adding color. On a separate level, I cut out a shape for the background color and fill it with a gradient. I started with the background color simply because I knew I wanted it to be a reddish- orange to give a sense of danger. Establishing the main color first is usually a good idea, so that you can make sure everything else goes with it.
9- I add a White Level (in the shape of the figure) in-between the line and background color levels. This gives me as opaque surface to work off of so the girl’s colors aren’t affected by the background colors.
10- At this point, I start blocking in flat color for her. Not all of them are completely flat; in a few places I used a gradient, like for her hair and blouse.
11- There are a million different ways to color this piece, but I wanted a simple, “animated” coloring style for this that I thought would suit the line work style. The last step was to add another layer that has some highlights and darker shadows that are applied graphically. Also, I made a last minute decision to move her left arm down a bit so that the two arms weren’t “twinning” so much. I should have caught this earlier (around step 4-7) since changing it in the color stage is more work. With that change made, it is done!

Description
I created a step-by-step for a simple illustration for my next character design book (tentatively titled "Character Mentor") and I thought I'd show it to you all. The illo might be a little small, but hopefully that will make you want to buy the book to see it better! Here's the text that will go with the steps above:

I gave myself a simple assignment to create a spot illustration of a woman jumping out of the way of something- possibly reacting to someone throwing a firecracker at her. My goal is creating a pose that expresses a powerful leap but also has a strong sense of fear to her facial expression.

Here are the steps I took:

1- I create a quick sketch that is mostly just a line of action with simple shapes on top of it to show her basic anatomy. I’m going for a feeling here- almost like the pose is an exclamation mark.
2- I like where the sketch is going, so I stay with it. I add some more details, but still using just basic shapes. Ovals for the eyes, nose, a shape for the mouth, and I indicate the drag of her long hair. This also accents the movement.
3- I am continuing to add details. Refining her clothes (and the sense of drag on them also). I start figuring out her expression more also.
4- Since the sketch is far enough along to see some problems creeping into the drawing, I do what I do to most of my drawings- I flip it over. Looking at a drawing backwards (via a light box) is always helpful to see the problems of a drawing. I create a new sketch on the back of the paper, fixing problems I see like the lower foot placement, the tilt of the chest, opening the hand on one of the arms, and even redrawing the tilt of her head.
5- Flipping the drawing back the original way, I redraw the drawing transferring the corrections I made on the back. They are minor tweaks, but they helped.
6- Using a kneaded eraser, I “knock back” the red under-drawing (which simply means I lighten the line by hitting it lightly with the eraser). Then I start creating my final, tighter line drawing with a graphite pencil. I want the final line to still feel loose, so I keep it slightly sketchy.
7- After I’ve drawn everything in the tighter black line- adding little details like hair stands and highlights in the eyes- I scan the drawing into the computer. This enables me to go into the Channels box and select the Red channel which takes out all the red line under-drawing leaving only the tight black line. I then tweak the levels and contrast a bit until I have a final, tight black line. Ready for color!
8- In Photoshop, I start adding color. On a separate level, I cut out a shape for the background color and fill it with a gradient. I started with the background color simply because I knew I wanted it to be a reddish- orange to give a sense of danger. Establishing the main color first is usually a good idea, so that you can make sure everything else goes with it.
9- I add a White Level (in the shape of the figure) in-between the line and background color levels. This gives me as opaque surface to work off of so the girl’s colors aren’t affected by the background colors.
10- At this point, I start blocking in flat color for her. Not all of them are completely flat; in a few places I used a gradient, like for her hair and blouse.
11- There are a million different ways to color this piece, but I wanted a simple, “animated” coloring style for this that I thought would suit the line work style. The last step was to add another layer that has some highlights and darker shadows that are applied graphically. Also, I made a last minute decision to move her left arm down a bit so that the two arms weren’t “twinning” so much. I should have caught this earlier (around step 4-7) since changing it in the color stage is more work. With that change made, it is done!