Step-by-step 02 - Team aqua boys date!

 Heya!!!

 I sketched this piece last week but I've been processing a bit of stress lately, so I postponed finishing it...I tried pushing myself today and I was able to finish it, so I guess I got a little better! For the sake of finishing it without burning myself out, I tried making it in a more relaxed way, trying to not be too perfectionist with details as I usually do. Some things like the line feel a bit more sloppy than usual, but that's ok I think, the piece is finished!

 Also I think i finally organized my process enough to document better the steps I take!! It's been helping me finish my work more efficiently. So I saved most of steps so you guys can get in private with it, mwah!

>With the aid of a perspective grid, I laid down the BG! Setting up the scene. Wanted a cozy interior of a ryokan room! 

> Putting figures in space!! Honestly that's very hard and I'm sorting it out myself, I always feel I'm getting the scale wrong. I also built up the plates from the "floor plan" i made in the structure above!

> Polishing up the characters... I nailed the feel I wanted to give them before so i worked upon it.

>Lineart! I permitted myself not to be obsessive on the background this time, because I wanted to test visual hierarchy, it worked out! Sometimes less is more. Visual hierarchy is setting up what you think is the most interesting thing for the observer to focus - in this case the foreground has bold lines with detailed figures and plates, while the background has thinner lines and is less detailed. You are guiding the person's eye to where you want them to! 

> Brainstorming on color! This is the time to be messy, explore lots of colors. I used to skip this one.............which is stupid!!!!! Ad lib is fun, but for things like this planning is the smart move!

> Then bam, I turned off colors in my head for a moment and focused about lighting and form, trying to set up values as well. This will help me shading the piece. I used to just go nailing this down after doing the flats...... which is a bit counter intuitive for me................but ok, ok I figured it out......

> Laying down the flats using that messy plan I did. I hate laying flats!!!!!!! Planning the colors before makes it so much easier...... Made up the designs of the poster on the wall and the beer can on the go...which is a thing i'll try doing beforehand in the next piece.

> Tcha-tcha! Rendering. I really enjoy doing it! The end.

> I usually experiment a bit with overlay after finishing a piece because this way I discover lots of new colors and moods. This one has a tint of orange that warms things up.

>Other silly thing I like to do with overlays is lowering the saturation of the piece and then I play with colors above it. The results are always groovy, but I don't post them cause dunno?? People may get mad that I'm sharing lots of versions of the same piece, and sometimes the changes are subtle.