Once the base photo is complete, it is finally time to sketch the image.

 

[1] Sketch

My working environment consists of a dual monitor set-up for my computer. With that, I displayed the picture in full on one of the available monitors.

I drew the sketch lines while closely observing the displayed photo.

 

 

 

■1. Creating a New Canvas

 

First, it is necessary to create a canvas to draw the steak on. Create a canvas via the [File] menu → [New].

In the [New] dialog box, I set to a canvas size to a width of 4000px and a height of 3000px at 72 dpi.

This time it matched the 4: 3 aspect ratio of the digital camera I used for the photo.

 

The [Paper color] of the document is set to a neutral 50% gray, because I wanted it to be a color that doesn’t distract the eyes.

 

While white is the initial [Paper color], clicking the color selection element will display the color settings dialog box and you can set a color of your choice.

 

Then click OK to create a new canvas.

 

 

 

■2. Tools to use

 

The tool I used for the sketch is the [Rough pencil] from the [Pencil] tool. The color was set to “black”.

The brush size and other settings were left as they were in their initial state, and I drew the sketch as if I was drawing lines with an actual pencil.

 

 

 

■3. Drawing

 

When drawing the sketch, it is almost always good to add some details, as it will make the subsequent work of painting easier.

By firmly deciding the shapes at this stage, it won’t become necessary to change a lot of the design later. Therefore, take your time to draw what you see.

 

While the original photo was close to what I imagined, there were still unnecessary parts and details in the picture.

So, instead of tracing or drawing everything I saw, I painted while omitting details to create my ideal image.

 

Apart from just scrapping parts, I also deformed some elements to create an even more delicious illustration.

 

[POINT]

When creating shapes, it also helps to draw lines for characteristic shadows and highlights to make painting more understandable.

 

[2] Dividing layers

After finishing the sketch, I created the different layers for each part underneath the sketch layer.

I recommend doing this to make fine adjustments, such as moving the position of different parts at a later time, easier.

 

 

 

■ Separating layers

 

To do this, follow the steps below to create the separate layers.

 

① Create selections for the different parts, using the [Selection] tool from the [Tool] palette →[Lasso] or [Polyline] tool from the [Sub Tool].

 

② Using copy and paste for the ① in selected parts, will create a new layer above the sketch layer with only the parts drawn there. (Use the [Edit] menu → [Copy] and the [Edit] menu → [Paste])

 

Repeat this for each part and create layers for each.

 

③ Finally, delete the original sketch layer to complete this process.

I divided the layers for each parts as shown below.

 

[3] Creating a color palette

Your work may get significantly delayed, if you worry about the colors to use when painting too much, so I recommend you put together a color palette in advance.

You can also utilize the [Color set] functions, but in this case I put the colors into a manually created palette and arranged the colors at the top of the canvas as shown below.

 

 

 

■ How to create a color palette

 

Create a new layer called “Palette”, using the icons at the top of the [Layer] palette and paint the colors with a pen to avoid unevenness. The [Pen] tool → [G-Pen] is good for this.

The number of colors in the color palette depends on the complexity of the colors of the motif, and it may be just about half of what it is this time.

 

I added the colors in the palette using the [Color Wheel] while studying the original picture.

It is also possible to directly pick up the colors from the base picture, however, using your eyes and selecting them may support the concept and personality of the image better.

 

[POINT]

In case you are not used to picking up colors like that just yet, I recommend to pick up three colors for each part - a shadow color, a mid tone and a highlight color - from the base image with the [Eyedropper] tool.

Loading the base image into the [Sub View] palette for this makes it easier to pick them up.

• It is possible to temporarily switch to the [Eyedropper] tool by pressing the [Alt] key on the keyboard while using a drawing tool.

 

 

In case you are using the PC version of CLIP STUDIO PAINT, select [Menu] → [Obtain screen color] or [Color settings] → [Obtain screen color] (Eyedropper icon) to obtain colors directly from images displayed on screen.

 

This concludes creating a color palette. With this, its possible to smoothly start drawing the image.

 

In the next episode, I will show you how I went about coloring.