Final image #1 (Step by Step)

Work on my first final image, of my girlfriend's pet Gecko, called Kai. She is an animal that is full of colour, texture and tone, something I want to attempt for my first final piece.

The artist that I researched, and who I took some inspiration from with the development of this piece, is griffsnuff, and her art style. I took inspiration from her in multiple terms, for example line usage, and the way she uses strong, bright, and vibrant colours. Her style makes the image stand out, which is something I tried to reflect this onto my final piece.

http://griffsnuff.deviantart.com/art/Chibi-Tango-261712223 < image reference at this link.

I took inspiration from the dot like pattern, placed onto a simple coloured body.

http://griffsnuff.deviantart.com/art/Lots-of-designs-sOLD-part-3-288464364 < image reference at this link.

I also took inspiration from another of her images. In this image she sketched a gecko, and again, used basic line art and vivid colours. Also, note her use of a basic background, and how it doesn't distract the viewers eyes, away from the actual drawing. I wanted to create a digital illustration of a leopard gecko, that featured a realistic anatomy, so I did not take after her 'cartoon like' gecko design, in this case, however some cartoon elements remain.

In this frame, I sketched out the line art for my Gecko drawing.

In this frame, I lay down a simple base colour, to start adding the full colour to the graphic.

In the frame above, I tweaked the eye slightly, to make it look more accurate in terms of shape, and I also began adding in the gecko's patches, and patterns.

(More pattern being added)

(The addition of more detail, and colours being used, to make the image more lifelike. Techniques such as fading are being used).

(Smoothing out the patterns on the body)

(Creating a natural division, on the spine)

(Adding the Gecko's under patterns, on a separate layer)

(Added more of the Gecko's detail, and starting to sample shading styles, on a new layer.

Smoothing out the shading, and adding additional detail to the pattern.

The inclusion of extra fine details, such as the lines on her belly, and arms. The shading is now complete, only thing left to do now, is add a little more extra detail to the head, and finishing touches, which I will update the blog on, after completion.

The finishing of the tail, and the neatening up of the layers.

After some finishing touches, such as going over the line separating the head from the neck, the piece is now complete, and ready to be exported, and uploaded as a stand alone piece.

I then uploaded it into photoshop, and added a gradient background, using colours that i felt worked well. After this I exported it as a PDF.

Thomas.