Meow

One of the pluses of being an artist of many mediums is that when you get bored, stuck, burnt out, or are just looking for a different outlet to express yourself you have options. One of the things I have really been into for the last few years is digital ink & paint, matte painting, illustration, etc.
Photoshop is great for this, and using the ol' Wacom tablet from my Art Institute days makes for almost instant gratification.

A new project I have been wanting to tackle originates from my ultra-talented girlfriend. She creates these fantastic pencil sketches that just routinely blow me away! A lot of the time she will paint these things and she's amazingly talented in that area as well, but I wanted to take a crack at using her pencils as a base and bringing the whole thing into Photoshop to see what I could do. I'll just shut up here and show the progression so far.

The original pencil sketch.

After the first pass of color, some highlights, basic form.

More texture added to the hair, refining of the skin and features, more texture in background, and painted ears.

The process isn't something I'm going to go into right now, but I think it's worth checking out Amy's artwork. As you can tell from the sketch, she offers a LOT to work with and provides a great foundation to build on. Do check out her blog as well! http://amykart.blogspot.com/

-D