Character design- a step by step version.

This character design was for my advanced digital illustration class using Corel Painter. This is my second project using Painter and I have to say that I really like the results. I love the way you can use different media in Painter and have a great painterly quality to it. This is a step by step on how I came to the final piece....which is still not finished.


This was the initial sketch I had started with. Very rough and fast sketch. I was just trying to get his pose just right.


After re-drawing it on Painter (I think I should of just made a better sketch of the sheriff then scanned it in, very big pain in the ass redrawing it again...oh well live and learn) I started blocking in color and even starting some of the detail on his face and adding the shadow which I knew I wanted from the start.


Then came the issue about his rifle. My initial sketch of the supposed 1850's Winchester rifle came out like a amalgam of an AK-47 and a shotgun. So I had to go to some sources to get it right...as showed below.




Then come the highlights. I started with the rifle and his hands first because I knew I wanted that whole area to be the focus of this illustration. That and his facial expression.

I added the drop shadow across his stomach and darkened up the darks on his body.

Then I finished shading in the rest of the figure,cleaned it up, added some more detail, added the urn, cleaned up the figures cast shadow and added a photoshopped background

Here is the cropped off version. I still need to refine the background more and make that urn look better, I'm just not feeling it. I kinda ran out of time. But the important parts (which is the Sheriff himself) are done.