black rock shooter (black rock shooter) drawn by miwa_shirow

While doing the line art, I outline all the character and objects so that it's easy to auto-select. After scanning, I auto-select just the lines and duplicate. I duplicate another one, set the contrast to 0 and set the layer mode to multiply. This is going to be the base for the coloring layer. If you mask the transparent part, you can color without worrying about it going off the edge.

I initially drew the rough sketch on the right, but my usual habit of drawing gadgets bigger than the character took the better of me, so I drew the left one. Cleaned this up and scanned it.

Made a few more grey layers. I temporary disable the mask and using the selection tool, I cut out areas that the light would hit, making the shadow layer. After I'm satisfied with the result, I mask the transparent layers again and intensify the contrast of light and shadow by adding gradients.

Added more gradient to the skin and added rust-effect on the metalic parts. I recommend using paint-brush-like brush with lowered opacity. Add vivid colors and highlights to complete the effect.

Made a color burn layer. Added dark shades of blue and green with blurry brushes. You can see it in the sections that look green and blue. If you use colors that are to bright, it'll look over-exposed. I've brought over checkered pattern I made in a separate window and free transform it. This is going to be the background. If you've cut out the silhouette when you scanned the line art, it will be easy to cut it out here as well.

Painted mists using the paintbrush-like brush with lowered opacity. After achieving the BSR's music video-like effect, I've added noise filter. Halftone pattern might have worked too.

The usual dust explosion effect. I customized the leaf-like texture brush, set the shape and scatter setting to random and scatter it around. Invert selection. This will leave you selecting the dust. Blurr the selection area. The setting should be around 10 pt. If you fill the entire selection with black, you will get the dust with blurred effect. Make a separate layer to add the blue fire on the left eye and it's complete. From the line art to completion, it took about 12 hours. If you use auto-select and transparency masking, it should be a quick process. Thanks for reading.

The end.

Adding the base color. If you've got decent amount of shadow already, things are going to look pretty good. My impression of BRS is monochromatic, so it feels like it's lacking something. I start adding blue gradients.