Gloria: Making Of

_{I found a bunch of screencaps I made back then of my work "Gloria" and I thought it pretty much my painting process for most everything.}

Sketch: First, I begin with a very rough sketch of what I want to do based on a photo I took of my sister. There is nothing wrong on using references especially when you have doubts on how your pose will look like or if it is even anatomically possible. Many sites can help you with this, such as Pose Maniacs or Human Anatomy for Artist;

Grayscale: From step 2 to 4, I work the levels/grayscale of the image: on step 2 I work the shape, step 3 the main elements of the image, step 4 detailing those elements;

Colors: Step 5 is when the coloring part begins. I start by slapping it some basic colors on overlying layers. The layer blending modes I use the most are: Multiply, Overlay, Soft Light and Hard Light. Next, on step 6, I fix what the previous step might have ruined, such as shadowing/light, give it textures (my main resource is CG Textures) and more detailing. Step 7 more and more detailing until I'm satisfied. Final piece:


Some tips:
While you are coloring, if you feel like something is not right and/or your eyes are having a hard time to read your piece, take it a screencap and turn it into grayscale. If the grays of your picture are blending too much, then your color choice might not be the best. Try fixing it by using lighter or darker colors or from the opposite range of the color palette you are using.
Whenever possible, make breaks. This means if you work for hours on a piece, you should take hours or even a day to get back to it again. You will find its flaws and maybe even ways to improve it with a lot less dificulty. Like when you write a text in a hurry, read it 10 times and find no typos and then when you give it to someone else that person finds typos like there's no tomorrow. We have all been there.

_{Hope this helps someone! If you have any questions, let me know.}