making Mongo!

Greetings Steemians, today I'd like to share one of my original characters that has been a longtime favorite at the gaming table. This character has evolved much over the years, and now I'm updating him for our current game sessions. Say hello to Mongo the Bard!

I've always enjoyed characters who "break the mold", and this is no exception. As always, I begin by plugging in my Huion Graphics Tablet and cranking up Autodesk Sketchbook, and start building the figure.

Here is where I think about the shape and form of the character. In this case, I'm going for a figure that is tall and a little heavyset. once the character is finished, I'll scale him down based on the little blue figure in the corner.

At this point, I start adding in basic details, (clothing, equipment, facial expression, etc.) Now, I start adding more detail to the face, and playing with some ideas for hair.
After toying around with a few ideas, I settled on giving him a beret. Now that the sketch is completed, it's on to the line work, I use the pencil tool and get started. After the line work is finished, I'll use a lighter tone on the pencil tool to created shading effects that will add extra depth to other flat colors. Many digital artists refer to this as "Gradients". Later, when I add the colors, I have to do very little in the way of blending, or shading. I'd like to mention that in Autodesk Sketchbook, I've set my color layer to" Multiply", this way I wont lose any of the finished pencil line work. Once the colors are in, I add in a background and Mongo is ready for adventure! In future posts, I'd like to try some new digital painting/coloring techniques. Until next time, "Keep Steemin"!