I enjoy getting a chance to go back and color these to add some more depth and clarity while also hopefully making some new process blogposts for you all to see and eventually to be included in a new sketchbook (though I just released on this summer: Axe Wielders which is still available for sale)
Below is the process for creating the illustration as well as coloring the artwork.
The start of this was done as two separate drawings on different sheets of copy paper of both Saxon and Kenzie. Those were scanned and tinted different colors in photoshop as I digitally blocked in a tree and some leaves (and digitally added some bark detail to the tree). The grass was it's own layer where I had an outline so that each blade of grass I drew already had a hard line around it for clarity. Oh! and I dropped in a 3D model of a sword because I didn't draw one beyond a directional line in the pencils
Working like this allows me to still draw some on paper while also getting the resizing and editing benefits of digital.
With the layout complete, I printed it out and taped it to the back of a sheet of Strathmore 300 series bristol. On my huion lightpad I was able to see through the surface of the bristol down to the printout to use as a guide as I inked. I inked this with Copic Multiliner SP pens (the 0.3 & 0.7 nibs).
Most of the 'work' in this piece was in the texture of that bark and trying be sure it wasn't overwhelming and had some depth while leaving the forms of the characters clear.
The first step of digitally coloring a piece is do establish the color areas with flat colors (a professional version of coloring-in-the-lines). Most of my color choices were already established with the characters themselves and the layout, but I adjusted them at this stage to make the piece more cohesive.
I also established color holds (areas where I want the inked line art to be a color other than black) on the background grass and the leaf veins.
Final Render:
The rendering was all done with the dodge and burn tools in Photoshop with a stock textured brush.
Here my trickiest part was getting a sense the light was coming in from the right on the character as well as a the leaves and the highlights on the bark.
This piece will be included in the next sketchbook out sometime in 2026!
