This is my emulation of Abraham Lopez. After browsing his gallery on DeviantArt, I noticed that the majority of his portraits were a pin up of popular comic or game characters. In light of this, I decided to do a mock pin up of the main character from the comic I am designing and making for Unit 3.
I am very pleased with how this turned out.
If I were to redo this emulation, I would improve on the clear crisp lines of the cell shading.
To do this, I would use a stabiliser on the brush settings to avoid any wobbly lines.
To create my emulation, I first had to think of a pose for the character I was going to draw.
As the majority of Lopez's art involving singular characters are often posed in such a a way (along side exaggerated expressions) that their personality almost shines through. This is why I have chosen a neutral pose with a confused expression.
To ensure that the colouring keeps tidy and within the lines, I used cripple layers over a dark grey base. The grey would contrast with any colour I added as it is not at all saturated, meaning that I would be able to spot any errors a lot easier.
The first layer set of colours were my flat base colours. This creates an even palette and gives a basic idea of how the colours will contrast.
Over the base colours I added flat cel shading. I really like the cartoony effect this has on a piece.
Using a soft brush, I added some subtle highlights. This contrasts against the dark cel shading and adds a nice finished feeling to the piece.
I had noticed in Lopez's work that he often includes little rough speech bubbles with limited words, characters (such as an explanation or question mark), or what could be considered some kind of dingbat illustration. To match with her confused expression, I thought a question mark would look the most interesting, and leaves the viewer to interpret what it is she could be asking.
I am really happy with how this turned out.
