I was an hour into working on Xander's grand prize pic when I realized that I hadn't drawn anything for myself in a very long time. I figured I'd make myself a badge (cus' why not) and so here we are!

I've really been pushing myself to improve my colouring techniques, and working on a small thing like this badge let me try out some ideas I've had brewing. I want to try and move away from cel-shading to a technique that will let me take advantage of a greater dynamic range, but it's slow going :c. Just have to keep at it I guess!

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As a bonus, I also included my pre-sketches on this one! For those curious, this is my usual process:

1) I always start off with a super quick and sloppy gesture drawing to get an idea started. I use blue, because it makes the next step less confusing.

2) One the gesture sketch is done, I draw over it with red and trace the rough shape of the gesture pic while adding in minor details to flesh out the object/character more. I use red because it shows up well against blue!

3) Once the refined gesture sketch is done, I go over it with black to create the final lineart. I'm basically re-tracing the previous sketch and working to add in even more detail. This time I farted around with textures-new for me!

4) Colours are always the last step. I just make a few new layers under the lineart and plug away at it! I may go back and make minor adjustments to the lineart as I find issues that have to be fixed.

So, basically...tracing is my secret! I redraw everything I do 3-4 times. Each time I remake the picture, I find something else to add or see an improvement that can be made. While it may not be the quickest method, it really lets me dive deep into my art and work with it critically.

Will move to scraps in a bit~

Drawn in Sai