[1] Adjusting the details

■1. Adjusting line color

 

I changed the color of the line art.

Making a layer above the “line color” layer, I clipped it and changed the line art’s colors to match the surrounding colors.

 

 

 

■2. Details and highlights

 

I made a layer with lower opacity above line drawing and drew a cloud with [Darker pencil].

 

I added the highlights to the hair with [Darker pencil] while checking the overall balance.

 

Since I was concerned about the empty space around the upper left of the screen, I reused the plant line art.

 

I scattered cherry patterns in the background.

 

I added highlights of white droplets with [Darker pencil] over the whole illustration.

 

Now I’ve finished all of the main painting steps.

 

The layers currently look like this.

 

[2] Overall color adjustment

After combining all the layers, I adjusted the colors using [Edit] menu → [Tonal Correction] → [Color balance].

 

I usually move the bars closer to red, magenta, and yellow.

 

Finally, I made a new layer and added the layer effect [Border of watercolor] to create some smudges.

People sometime ask me why I do this, and it’s because my works tend to be flat. By doing this, I think I am adding an organic feel to the image.

 

The illustration is complete after I merged the smudged image.

 

Finished illustration