Well, I had fun doing the Vampirella WIP - maybe one or two other people thought it was interesting to follow along with one of my pictures.

So, I've decided to do the whole thing again. Only this time, I'll be adding in an inking step, not just going from pencils-to-colour.

I've been doing a few fantasy pieces lately, and came up with a rough idea for some sort of warrior guy, looking like something of a 'holy warrior' type. Once I started doing the rough sketch, I realized he needed big wings, so now he is an angelic warrior.

After getting the sketch mostly done, I decided to play with re-positioning the head, plus wrote myself a couple of notes about lighting.

After completing the sketch, the sword just struck me as a little boring. Something like the sword from Thundercats or something.

So, I played around with integrating a dragon design into it.

Another thing, for the completists out there. This was all sketched out on an outdoor patio at the Fyxx, a coffee shop near my apartment. It was the first time I'd actually been able to walk on my own anywhere for a week an a half (stupid foot infection).

Ah, listen to me whine. Better yet, don't.

Last time I tried drawing outdoors was anything but productive. Downright exasperating - struggling with dancing papers possessed by the wind - so ya got my respect there.

Seeing your process from concept to completion will definitely be interesting though, Ian.

Well, I do everything in coil-bound sketchbooks, 110lb paper. So, it doesn't fly around too much

I also really enjoy drawing around other people - that is what seems to get a lot of artists upset. Most artists I know can't draw around others (except in a studio setting or something).

So, here is the pencilled version. I used a 3H to do the initial layout, then a 2H to pick up all the detail to get it to this stage. That is why the scan is really light and why the scan line in the middle is so obvious (I use a 9x12" scanner, so I have to composite the two halves together - the drawing size is 10x15").

...of course, I already see something I want to change. So, I'm going to fix the left hand, making it less flat.

The inked version.

I like the new left hand better, much more rounded and heavy.

The armour is a little open (considering the very simple background), but that should work better for colouring.

...that just may be the longest sword I've ever drawn...

Technique-wise...the character (and the sun) were inked with a speedball pen (and a Micron/tech-style pain for the straight lines) and the clouds and mountains were done with a brush.

Laying down the flat colours.

As always, these colours aren't set in stone, just put in for easy selection for modeling, as well as creating the basic colour scheme.

Technically, I'm reversing traditional colour theory - normally, cool colours (blues) should be in the background while warm colours (orange) should be in the foreground. However, reversing it completely is still very effective - the planes get separated quite effectively this way. The key is not to mix up warm and cool colours within the same plane.

I really don't like your working process.

Just kidding. You should give him silver hair.

Just kidding about that too.

Matthew sucks.

Just kidding.

Actually, I was debating between platinum blonde and silver hair...I might go with the silver, as it will be slightly cooler (colour-wise), and integrate better into the figure.

I dunno.

I didn't tell on you, Matthew.

Just kidding.

Dang, Ian sure is annoying. He draws more gooder than me.

And here is the final version.

I went with a redder sword, something to separate from the uniform blue/grey of the armour. I deliberately did not want to make the armour multi-coloured (picking out sections to be red, orange, green, whatever), going more with the 'glowy angel' look that usually is done as one colour.