[Reward | WIP] Brotha Hug

Final product post

February reward for Patreon Leaf!

NOTE: I slipped and forgot to set the record setting for this one a little late, so there's no timelapse footage of the sketch and lineart process, my apologies.

Feat. the two best brothers in the world, Nefer (Left) and Midir (Right), both of them OCs from Leaf! Having a nice moment together.
Nefer is a very outdoorsy kinda guy while Nefer mostly keeps to himself and is shy af.

• 1- Sketch: The early sketch was very hasty in nature and didn't really put too much effort on details or things of the sort but tried to get the key components of the picture in there. Like the expressions, the poses, etc.
• 2- Sketch 2: Made a little correction to Nefer here, as his previous sketch made it seem like his neck was abnormally long.
• 3- Lineart: With the sketch done, I move in with the clean lines for the next steps.
• 4- Flat colors: Now to add all the base colors for the characters, some extra colors will be added later.
• 5- Gradients: At this point I adjust the aspect ratio of the picture by cutting out some of he vertical space that wasn't needed, I also add a light and dark gradient for every color of each character, along with some effects on the ears from the character on the left.
• 6- Shading: Then I move on adding 3 layers to create the shadows and highlights, all of them colored differently depending on the character (since their color palettes are too different) and set to their respective settings and opacity.
• 7- Lighting Effects: On this stage I add glow and bloom to emphazise the light bouncing off the charracters. and also color some of he lines to suit the new change better.
• 8- Extra effects: Now I add some extra layers with some extra little effects that are very necessary to convey the cute scenario I want to go for, some blushies and some spakles do the job pretty wel!
• 9- Extra effects 2: As a good extra, I add a ring of shining light around the cheerful character to really sell the idea that they're so affectionate they're overwhelming the 2nd character
• 10- Environmental shadows: Last but not least, I draw some environmental shadows around them following the direction of the lights.