Character designer Aleksey Baydakov reveals his colourful rendering process as he depicts a unique circus partnership.
The ImagineFX team saw my sketch of a well-matched circus duo and asked me to develop the art for their cover. I really like these cartoon characters and was happy to render them in colour. I love it when the form and details of my characters convey their mood and charisma.
I do all my work in Photoshop. In this workshop, I’ll explain my usual process of working on the rendering of characters in colour. I’ll show key techniques and principles that guide me, and reveal how I use photo textures. I don’t employ a large number of brushes, but I try to sculpt forms through my brushstrokes, just as in traditional painting. The strokes are visible if you study the art closely, but the render looks smooth at a distance. It took me some time to perfect this technique, but now I use it to speed up my painting process. And I like the effect it produces.
It’s crucial to observe the phasing, and go from simple forms to complex details. It’s also important to establish all the details during the sketch stage, otherwise you may run into trouble later on. Of course, I’m inconsistent and make mistakes, but that’s just part of the fun! Let’s see how I create these performers, who are clearly at the top of their game…
1 Adjusting and improving the original sketch
Because I’m working from a finished sketch and it’s been some time since I drew it, this is an opportunity to take a fresh look at it and make some small adjustments. I clarify the lines, then turn the image into a silhouette to assess the expressiveness of the forms and counter shapes.
2 Starting with simple shapes
Esta historia es de la edición September 2019 de ImagineFX.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor ? Conectar
Esta historia es de la edición September 2019 de ImagineFX.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor? Conectar
Jan Wessbecher
Dominic Carter talks to the visual artist about creating his own comic and why sketchbooks are great for creative experiments
Kyounghwan Kim
The Korean character concept artist speaks to Dominic Carter about staying open to ideas and the value of drawing regularly
Slawek Fedorczuk
Dominic Carter talks to the concept artist about what keeps him motivated and the advantages of using physical sketchbooks.
Raquel M. Varela
Raquel is inspired by magic, fantasy and fairy tales. She loves designing female characters from distant worlds. \"My greatest reference is Loish's art, thanks to her I learned to draw the movement and fluidity I like to convey.\"
Estrela Lourenço
Estrela is a children's book author and illustrator. Her work is influenced by her background in character animation and storyboards for clients such as Cartoon Network, and she channels comic strips like Calvin and Hobbes.
Daria Widermanska
Daria, also known as Anako, has been drawing for as long as she can remember. Inspired by Disney and classic anime, she loves creating new characters and often finds that a single sketch can spark a unique story.
Allen Douglas
Allen has been painting professionally since 1994 for the publishing and gaming industries. Inspired by folklore, he distorts the size, relationships and environments of animals, and calls his paintings 'unusual wildlife'.
Thaddeus Robeck
Thaddeus has been drawing from the moment he could hold a pencil, but it was the 2020 lockdowns that gave him the time to focus on honing his skills.
DRAW FASCINATING SYMBOLIC ARTWORK
Learn how JULIÁN DE LA MOTA creates a composition from his imagination with a focus on crafting figures, volumetric modelling, and light and shadow
First Impressions
The artist talks about his journey into the mythological world