Making A Body Pillow of ZONE-tan!
In this article, I would like to write about how I draw a picture.
To be honest, I do not want to write this kind of article because I think nobody is interested in my way and nobody wants to see it, but I changed my mind for a while. I could make other artists think, "Wow, I can draw like this if I read it <3" or "Humph! I can draw better than this!" The important thing is that, in either case, it could be a motivation for other artists. If that so, I would be happy.
About the Original Version
The original art is, as always, the unique mixture of American expression and Japanese expression which I have longed to obtain. In particular, general style looks like Japanese drawing, but her facial expression is nothing but American DC comics. I think it is possible because ZONE-SAMA is familiar with both two different fields. The artist well depicted the cuteness of ZONE-tan as a naughty boy (not even a girl) <3 <3 I think this is a message from ZONE-SAMA, "Love her just like as your own child." Do you love her? Yes, I do!
Task Zero: Concept
I do love drawing a boyish girl, but I look at her a little differently. For me, ZONE-tan is a professional, mature and sexy announcer. So I drew her as she looks. Also, I tried not to forget that ZONE-tan is going to sleep right next to you (lol).
Task One: Rough Sketch
I decided about the main concept. In this process I draw many rough sketches. Only one important thing is that: Is your character cuter (or creepier, scarier if it is a horror picture) than anyone you saw today?
I adopted this sketch. The little letters say, "She doesn't want to be too friendly, but she feels comfortable for now." In my case, characters' face changes many time while I am drawing and I forget what I wanted to draw. So I need to make a note of what facial expression I wanted to draw first.
Struggle: I Cannot Draw Clear Lines!!
You have probably noticed by now, but I cannot draw clear lines.
In fact, a long time ago I used to use "clear" Bezier curves in line drawing, but the picture was plain and awful. The answer was simple. In illustration, "Lines tell us everything." This is what I learned mainly from cartoon arts. Bezier curves completely killed lines.
Also, I am so bad at "pen tablets". I can barely paint it, but I cannot control the line drawing pencil on screen.
I decided to scan my rough sketch and directly use it for my illustration. This method worked better than before because it did not kill the lines, but since then I cannot make a picture with clear and delicate lines. I tried to draw them, but I can only draw a picture on an A4 piece of paper. It is still too difficult for me to draw a delicate lines because the canvas size is too small.
I am still looking for a drastic solution for this matter.....
Task Three: Division
So this time, I divided the original rough sketch into five pieces, and I drew lines in five A4 pieces of paper. If the piece is too small, I only have to draw on a larger piece of paper!
(This is a rough sketch, but believe me, I drew this as delicate as possible.)
(1/5, the head is the most important part. )
Two hours later, I managed to get more delicate line drawing (than the rough sketch) without killing lines, I hope.
Now I prepared a line drawing. Next, I have to paint her.
In order to maximize her sexual appeal, I chose a method called "Adult game painting".
Adult game painting (a literal translation of Gyaruge-nuri (ギャルゲー塗り) in Japanese), is the most common way to paint a “hentai” pictures.
Also, please excuse me, but I am not an expert, so I can't teach you specific methods. I can tell you about only what I do. There is not necessarily only one answer. I think this is why illustration is so difficult.
Task Four: Base Coloring
First, I painted ZONE-tan with simple colors. In this process, you don’t have to pay attention to detail. Because you would soon get tired before an important decision. That is, you have to spend a lot of time choosing colors instead. If you do not like a color, you can change its hue, saturation or brightness, or you can paint from the beginning. What colors to choose completely depends on your taste, but there is a tip. For example, I painted her with colors of high brightness (or lightness) and low saturation.
Task Five: Painting Skin
Layers: (top) - cheek - light - shadow/shade - base color (bottom)
I use two different layers, shadow and shade. “Shadow” is a dark area where light from a light source is blocked by an opaque object. In this illustration, I painted ZONE-tan’s neck and around her hair. However, please be careful not to use too much. It takes only 1%~5% of skin surface. “Shade” is what you paint when you paint a ball. In adult game painting, there is a unique and weird technique but I do not know so much. Anyway, you can paint what you want to paint.
One more thing, when I was a beginner, I painted skin colors with air blush. But please let me say, do not use air blush. It will ruin your picture. Instead, I paint them with opaque watercolors and blur them.
Task Six: Painting Hair
Layers: (top) - light - shadow/shade - base color (bottom)
You might have noticed that, the layer structure is almost the same as “Painting Skin”. Therefore what I would like to say is also same as it. However, there is some more things I would like to say.
- I wanted the light to come from her back, so I cast a large “shade” in her hair.
- I put subtle gradation. There is no rule about which color to choose, but I choose the color beyond its border, for example, her skin color.
Task Seven: Painting Clothes
Layers: (top) - light- shadow/shade - base color (bottom)
In this process, what we should do is simple. Painting shadow/shade is all task. However, I have something to say also in this process.
- Basically you do not have to cast a light when you paint sweaters. But in this time, I put subtle gradation of her skin color.
- There seems to be an established way to paint stockings. Especially, I put light on her crotch and to express its glossy feeling, I put lines of light.
Task Eight: Painting Others
I added her eyes and last but not least, ZONE-SAMA’s logo! About painting eyes, there are many established ways, but I think it is the best for you to make your own way. The eyes create the life of the character. Let’s make your own child!
Also, I was thinking about the background color for a very long time. I noticed that her facial expression changed variously depending on the background color. Finally, I decided on the color that would make her look the happiest.
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This is the end of this article. Thank you very very much for reading to the end, and thank you for keeping me company with my poor English.
I am not a professional artist and I have not so much talent as others. But I like studying because I can see a lot of talented works much closer. I would like to keep on going.
As I mentioned at the beginning, there is not necessarily only one answer. To draw a detailed picture with great precision is one important way, but I think it is not necessarily only one truth. I think what you imagine can be your illustration. Your imagination is the most important. I also would love to maximize my imagination and create something that everyone feels “delicious”.