Stage 07 – Adding Light & Shadow
I begin by choosing an overall direction of light - in this case the major light source is coming from the upper left, with a minor light source spilling over from the right.  I start shading the overall body shape with a hand painted gradient, then go back and add highlights (with white) and shadows (with a darker gray).  I try to work fast and capture the form without letting myself over-think it.  Everything is considered rough at this point, so I’m not working on creating a final image, just getting the ideas down.

I tend to try and think solely in contrast at this point.  I don’t even know what colors the final piece will be.  I try and accentuate the contrast between light and dark to create as dramatic shading as I can for the mood I want.  I try to avoid using smooth gradient shading and other “Airbrushy” styles – I want to see movement in the brush strokes.

Once I have the nude figure roughed in I turn back on the loincloth inks.  This has allowed my to paint the back leg and abdomen the way it would appear and then layer the loincloth over it, making it easier to imagine the forms underneath.  I begin working in rough facial forms and the eyes, which I like to do early as they can often set the tone of the entire finished piece.

Stage 08 – Hair Roughed in and Legging Shading
I begin working in the other forms.  The legging comes first, along with the knife and arm wraps.  For each I begin each shape with a flat gray, modify it with a broad, rough gradient of light using the Acrylics brushes and then layer in first light and then shadow.

For the hair, I begin by lightening the black to more of dark gray and use a large brush to paint variation and gradient into the overall form.  Then I go in and start to define the interior hair forms, using light gray to denote where the light falls on the hair shapes.  These locks begin to form themselves from the darker gray as I go.  I once again use the light box feature of Painter to turn on and off the original pencils, using them as a guide.

Click to see a close up of the brush work.

Stage 09 – Rendering the Hair and Loin Cloth
With the hair roughed in, its time to add details to the locks.  This is done by adding shadows to compliment the highlights and working to add movement and interest in the forms.  Once again, I tend to keep it rough.  I want to see the brush strokes in there.    For the loincloth I take a similar approach.  After I have the basic forms detailed I go back in with a lasso and eraser and clean up everything that spilled outside the lines.   I can then go in and paint in a first pass at the large earring.

Stage 10 – Adding Details
At this stage I begin to clean up what’s there and get an idea of how the whole thing is coming together.  I’ve lightened the ink lines a bit, and decide I like the way they soften the overall image.  I go in and add more highlights, especially to the hair and loincloth.  I look at each form and begin to add more detail and polish.  The stone knife gets its own blood, inked with the same pen nib as I used for the ink line, but on its own layer. I wasn’t happy with the coy lips, so I go back to the original pencil for guidance and try again….and again until I get something I like.  I also bring in the original body paints from the pencils to see how they are going to look.

I re-ink and repaint the knife handle to work better in the perspective it is being held in.