I’m going to post here the tutorial I made for you. I want to specify that I made it for the beginners and that I’m a almost-beginner. I know that many steps can be done in different, more professional, technical or faster ways, but I tried to put myself in the shoes of an absolute beginner, hence the steps I report are very easy and I hope, detailed. Obviously I’m ready for whatever observation and comment. We’ll fix it all together :) I’m working on a first array of Tutorials centered on the very first steps and on the coloration anime-style of a drawing with Photoshop, hence: digital color.

Why Photoshop? Because it is the most used media. My version is the english Photoshop7, but don’t worry! When we’ll move to the Photoshop window I’ll guide you with clear pictures, also usable by who is  not used to English or has a Photoshop version in another language. I also think that those commands are usable with different version of the program. Let’s begin with the first Tutorial :)
Tutorial for beginners – Realize  a sketch and prepare it for a clean lineart to be coloured digitally - Part 1

1) Since this is a tutorial for beginner, I suggest everybody to begin copying as much pictures as possible, specially if you didn’t attended any painting or drawing lessons just like me! Pick up your favourite (and not) authors and concentrate your attention, not just in copying, but trying to understand what steps the author undertake to obtain the image. Don’t overdo: choose something you think is at your hand. The picture I chosen, is just too much complex, but since the next tutorial is about the digital colouring, I needed a picture that would allow me to explain as much thinks as possible ;)

[Ruri Hoshino - Nadeshiko- By Keiji Gotoh]

You can certainly choose a less complex picture to try this tutorial...  Usually I start from the faces: study them in all angulations and expressions. When you’ll feel your selves more confident with them, move to the body and so on to the whole figure. Lastly study the poses since they are important almost like the expressions to obtain a great effect drawing!! ;)

2) Let's begin to copy the picture! Pick up a medium soft pointed pencil ( I used a B, but you should try some of them to find out the one you feel better with. HB –a medium one- B and B2 should work quite well to get a fine initial sketch!). I ALWAYS suggest to be soft when you draw, so you won’t spoil the sheet with chases and erasures. If you are not used to copy, it’s quite easy you’ll have erase often, so it’s always good to prevent botches! NW: You don’t really need to obtain an absolutely perfect copy of the original, you know! I usually modify the parts I don’t like, to substitute them with other I prefer (even if some times I’d like to reach the original), drawing them as I like most... as you’ll see later. The main part is to keep the proportions and make a resemblant picture of the character ^_^;

Well then, first of all draw the shape of the head. I always begin from the head, I believe everybody does so... Anyway, draw a base shape, trying to get it the most alike to the original since it will be landmark of the whole picture! Also delineate the shape of the eyes using the guidelines to maintain the right angulations.

3) Another suggestion! When don’t seat to a table keeping your eyes close to the sheets! Keep some distance to watch your work in its wholism and to compare it with the original constantly! To paint Ruri I sat on the bed crossing my legs and keeping the sheets close to my knees :P (Another way is to copy from the screen of the pc…)

Sketch the remaining parts of the body, this will help you to place the details and to correct the figure if you are detaching too much from the original. The Hair and the mini-Ruri backpack are left behind since I’ll use the completed main body as a landmark for the “extras”. At this point, thanks to a reduced picture on the pc (a very good way to find out errors), I notice that the eyes are too far away and I need to correct them. So I begun to finish up the face doing again the previous steps, and beginning the real and definite copy.

4) Ad just a bit with a soft kneadable putty rubber eraser (the soft and malleable one, you can find one in whatever stationery store)  ;) , I made the lines lighter. With the B pointed pencil I refined the eyes, the face and begun the hair.

Mouth,nose and bend of Ruri's face are willingly different since I didn’t like the ones drawn by Gotoh! Don’t believe I’m a know-it-all girl that think to be better than him, those are just personal tastes! Below I marked the parts I don’t like and that I’m going to change (if there are other difference, they are my fault XD ).

5) Below, I kept on implementing the traits and begun to sketch the right hand. Every time you begin a section, is good to use kneadable rubber to clean the area and to make the lines clearer and accurate.
 

Keep on like this, but attention! Keep on checking the picture with the original from afar. The best would be to take a break of one half hour… You’ll see how much the errors will jump out!!! I now begin sketching the tails and the Ruri-backpack.

6) I also used again the kneable rubber to make the lines lighter and then I revised them to make them the most accurate possible. Though unusual, you can also use a porte-mine pencil you don’t want sharp the point every minutes ^^

Keep on like this moving to the whole body of Ruri and finally start to refine the hair and the backpack. Now it’s all more clear and clean, isn’t?

7) again with the kneable to refine the backpack...

Let’s ink! I used a Drawing Pen Pigment Ink Pilot point 05. Those Drawing Pens can be found in any stationery store and are not much expensive :) I use Pilot or Staedtler, both are very good. I used a 05 since the drawing is in a A4, it’s big. With patience and still hand, ink the picture. Don’t despair if you mistake!! Later I’ll explain you how to ad just all the flaws ;). If, for example, the hair slide won’t result perfectly spherical… we’ll fix them later :)

8) After you inked all of the lines, let the sheet dry and erase the pencil trying not to damage the paper. As you can see below, using the rubber the inked lines often “fades”, it also happens with China ink.

You can use Photoshop to make darker the lines (as I’ll explain later... just remember “Auto levels” ;P), or you can ink it all again and get a fine marked effect. I chosen the last one. :)

9) Scanner to me!! If you don’t have one ask to a friend; in some stationery store you can find this service... not for free! Here below I show you the window of my scanner, to let you see how much dpi acquire the image to work well. If you drawed on a A4, like me, you need no more than 300 dpi, if it is more little I suggest 400 dpi, if the picture is very little and detailed you can increase the dpi even more... It also depends by your pc. If the file is very big it can be too heavy fo your pc, but I can’t give giou more suggestions since I’m not good at it!!!

Here ends the first part of the tutorial. Now you have a file with your drawing inside and it is almost ready to be coloured... that is, ALMOST. I the second part I’ll expalin you how I usually change a lineart good like this one to an excelent background for the digital color! For any questions contact me, adding a comment to this post.

*** You can find more of my works here ***

to be continued...

Download this tutorial

Right-click on the button below, and choose to save the file. Filetype is PDF and it is about 3 MB