Ten-Ten: Unpolished

This is the most fun i've had in photoshop in a while, so that was bound to make me not care if it turned out well either way, but, as it were, i think it's not so bad for its current state.

It still needs touch ups. Her right breast is shaped strangely and i haven't really settled on the lineart at the nipples for how it should be - in black or in the current red. There are touchups and overlaps that need to be corrected, etc... but it was at least ready to trim down to size.

Ten-Ten: The Return

For some reason I was in the mood for hentai tonight - i know, right?

Keep in mind that these are still partials and that the lineart you see is a very very rough lineart. I've gotten no where near finalizing it - i find that i get a little more realisim (all right - less realism, more hot shapes) if i re-work the lines once teh shading is in.

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Stacked 1.13.06

I know I haven't made many updates to this, but that doesn't mean I haven't worked on it.

I made a few changes, dropped the face all together (i'm having no luck) and the hair has to be completely re-done as well. She does, however, have nipples now. :)

Stacked 1.11.06

At the end of last night (when I finally fnished for the evening after the fourth time i'd told myselfI was done) I had done some of the base cell shading on the skin and hair and wasn't all together pleased with the outcome.

One of the best things about the original image was the shine, and while you can convert shine to cell shading, you lose some of the really gorgeous contours and that makes me sad. From there, a realism piece was born.

The shading isn't finished yet and the hair and facial features will likely change (they were a lot more forgiveable when she was more cartoon-y but now I think i have to find something a little less kindergarden cutout :)) Presently, i'm burried in a war of getting the lineart to match the skin tones in all of the appropriate areas. Because of the shadows, what is right in one place isn't in another which means that ctrl-u and the eraser brush and I are having a high-oh time getting it all to match properly :)



I do like to think two things about this piece. First, I like to think that her breasts beg to be touched. They're currently nipple-less which makes them a little less inviting but I like to think they're still looking rather delectable at the moment. I also like to think that the water-soaked , mostly-transparent clothing option is going well. She still lacks several important physical features to make it believable but, for now, it is what it is and I think it's going a-ok :)

Stacked 1.10.06

This is something that i've been touching in on for a few days off and on but i have it here in phases so yay :) This piece is based on this image of Britney Murphy chosen by my beloved boyfriend.

Lineart:
The lineart here gave me one hell of a time. Most of the time I have a few problems but nothing major. I do the true-to-life lines and then, as I begin blocking in the color, i cut out some of the real aspects that make things not fun. That's when the boyfriend comes in :) "Too much breast, honey?"

For now, I ran into a lot of trouble. First of all, has anyone else noticed how abnormally large Britney Murphy's shoulders are? Cuz, lemmi tell you, I have. So, i had to compromise my original hair style concept (which was very pixie) and go for something longer - long enough to fall across her chest and hide the fact that she looks like a linebacker in lineart. Then came my true enemy - the face.

As I mentioned before, I don't watch anime, which means my visual exposure to anime faces is limited if not non-existent, so it's been a trial for me to learn how to create and proportion the faces and expressions. Particularly given that i'm trying to derive something that is, at least a little sexual rather than shocked, suprised, furious, determined, etc... Not much frame of reference for that in a show about 12 year old ninjas :) Well, except Temari, but this character doesn't seem quite as much like a dominatrix bitch so, ya know :) That, and I have a horrible predaliction toward the completely adorable. That will come in handy as hell when i'm trying to draw a shy, reserved and completely sexually defeated Hinata, but not so much here.



Color Blocking:
So the color blocking here seems to be going pretty well as I go through the process. While the lineart was mostly done a few days ago, I did finish out some of the features and the hair today, which left me with little more to do than color block.

I considered taking the skintone from the original image because I still haven't mastered the anime skintone but elected not to on the basis that she had a killer oompa loompa thing going on. I still went for a more orange tone than is usually used in anime but, after free-handing the choice, I think I did pretty well. It's still more intensely orange than they usually go with (a mystery to me since it seems that half of all anime characters look uniquely white. Who knows, anyway...) Still, she's color blocked.



I can't decide if i'm going to keep the bra-lines as they are or take them out entirely. It would give me some more skin to work with but, theoretically, i would need to change the shape of the breast and i'm quite happy with the way that it is right now. I suppose as the color's block in I will get a chance to decide whether or not I need the skin or not.

In the interim, however, the basic layers. The skin area (including that under the clothes) is being filled in. My intention is to go wtih a semi-transparent (or possibly fishnet) design on the clothing, which will give full clarity through to the skin beneath, making it entirely necessary to fill in the skin areas or I'll just have to do it later. I've also filled in the black bra beneath the clothing layer because that will come into play as well when the opacity is dropped on the clothing.

I do usually change my hair colors about four times before I settle on something. I've become determined to do two things. One is to use this pinky-purply color (that will become more inky black as the colors layer on) and the other is to figure out how to cell shade an icy grey-blue but, for today, i'll settle on my first goal :)

The Hentai Project

So it has come to my attention that apparently people think it would be really interesting to watch me struggle, grudgingly through something with regards to photoshop. Why would anyone want to watch this kind of pain? I have no idea. But, because I am a total whore for my fans, here you go, the Hentai project.

A Few Things of Note:
First, the projects you'll see here aren't actually my first. The first one you'll see (stacked) is actually my fifth attempt, but not in any cosmic sense. It will be only my second completed design. Second, this work may be sporadic. I tend to go in fits and spurts - abandoning projects for ages at a time.

I didn't actually use any tutorials when I started doing this and I do tend to operate a little differently than other people. First, I don't use sketches for my base. I take my base from an actual image of a person and draw it using the pen tool directly on the PC. Secondly, I have a nasty habit of only working on the things I need to improve on. At the moment, that means faces, so I may not finish the pieces you see here, but if you happen to really like something, lemmi know and I might be pursuaded to take it to completion. If you are looking for some tutorials on this, I did put together two small, basic PS tutorials that you're welcome to use :) They're listed below. Ooh, one last thing, save 160 episodes of what must be one of the most redundant anime series ever (Naruto, in case you're wondering) I don't watch anime. Thus, I have very little frame of reference so i'm doing my best to improve on some of the more anime details.

Hentai Cell Shading and Clothing

Here we go.