So, this here is my next step in my "Summer of Trying to Suck Less at Art". This was actually made off of that sketch I threw in my scraps a few weeks back (http://www.furaffinity.net/view/11194018/). That sketch, I'm actually really proud of, but this was supposed to be more of experimenting with the coloring and detailing a bit. Which, admittedly has caused me to not really sketch anything for the past couple weeks because I was busy with this.

I first tried what I normally do, coloring in Photoshop. Coloring the image wasn't working out too good, and neither was shading the image. Also, my previous pictures I made doing that were all more or less full body pictures in an image that wasn't too big. My much-less-than-idea methods that I used for those didn't really seem to translate well to a bust shot, where more details are required. But that's the point of experimenting, right? Figuring out what works and what doesn't.

So, I decided that why not try something other than Photoshop. I'd been wanting to try Paint Tool SAI for a while now, so I figured I might as well. It took a bit of practice to get used to how SAI works, but over the course of making this, I kinda fell in love with the program. It's not that Photoshop is bad. It's just that SAI feels like the more appropriate tool for what I'm wanting to do.

I colored and shaded as before, but in SAI. The brushes with their color blending capabilities really helped in this part. I had a base layer of color, and I did the shading by overlaying a layer of grey. I might try next to have a base layer of grey and overlaying the color instead. However, I was still able to shade the image decently enough that I could make out the form without needing the line art, which was my goal.

Detailing was next, and it was once again the most challenging part. Well, some more challenging than others. Fur was definitely the most challenging, and honestly, I'm still not happy with my methods. It wasn't too much different than what I've been doing, and perhaps that's the problem. What I want to do is get fur that looks good and fluffy when need be, and I think it's the fluffy part that keeps tripping me up. Also everything else about it. It's all details. So many details. It's gonna kill me one of these days, I just know it. The chest fur was the most frustrating of this, as I just couldn't figure it out, but I got it to a point that I found acceptable enough. Again, need to find a better way to do this.

However, there were parts of the detailing that I actually am rather proud of. Ironically, the hair, but that might have just been a fluke. It's not the best hair drawn ever, I know that, but it's the best I've done so far, so I'm happy. It started off as a nasty mess of brown color and random lines, and that was shit. However, I got focused, and did stuff. Rather than trying to do individual hairs, I decided to define locks of hair, then detail those locks, and I think that worked out rather well. Even the crappy base coloring of the hair helped out, proving a less saturated color for the base or roots of the hair.

What was also fun was playing with a luminosity layer. It helped give the and fur a bit of highlights, which was good for making it less flat. You know, it's interesting, what I've noticed. A picture might not seem flat, until you do something to make it pop. Then when you look at it before, you wonder how the hell you didn't notice it was so flat without it. I think the eyes are a good example here. Playing a bit with the luminosity of them, adding a bit of light and shadow, and then I have made decent eyes.

So what did I learn from this? SAI is awesome. Fur is a pain in the ass to get right. Luminosity is fun. And I really need to get faster at this. Combined time, I don't know. 12 hours, maybe, but that's just a guess. That might include the failed coloring in Photoshop. But, still, it's a step forward from before, and that's what matters. After all, it's the "Summer of Trying to Suck Less at Art". Not the "Summer of Mastering Art."