Trapped in Your Lie

I actually drew this in the beginning of the fall, but I had so much other stuff to work with, I kind of pushed this aside until 12/3 morning. Then I waited until I was finished posting excerpts to upload this particular pic.

Originally, this was part of an experiment I did in the summer to see which worked better as of that moment: my Sakura ink pens that I regularly use or the new crow quill I got. Whichever was the best, I would color. I prepared the experiment by drawing the picture in pencil then scanning it into my CPU. Uploading it to Adobe Photoshop Elements, I turned the grayscale image blue, copied the image, and pasted it to the side of the first image. Then after printing it (much later), I inked it with my usual tools and then the newer ones. In the end, the Sakura pens won out. I'd only ever used a broken in crow quill pen before, so my performance with my new tool will improve with time. But for now, the Sakura pens are the way to go for me.

I realized I would have to give Sheldon's face, seven years-old in this picture, a slightly healthier tint than teenager Sheldon. You'll notice how the youngster flush kinda uneven, but I like it that way. Makes it look more natural and has the vague effect of balancing the red of the baseball lining. But red in his cheeks would make him look too similar to his baby/toddler age, so around his face works better.

The eyes are always a treat for me, and they were fun and quick to do. Because he's fibbing, I wanted to make his eyes stand out with extra shine. To indicate his "Please believe me" face. I did his upper lip in the same layer as his eyes. Overall, this part took me 5-10 minutes.

His hair took a lot of time not only 'cause I had to tailor it down to size, but I couldn't figure out what shade of goldish-yellow to make Sheldon's hair. The light source is coming from in front, clearly, so the main highlights would be in front and the shadows would, as few as there are is Sheldon's hair here, be behind objects in front of the light. His youngest sister, Daisy, has platinum blonde hair while Sheldon has darkish blond hair, so since he compares them a few times in the book, I wanted to be sure there was some distinction here. His hair was more "lively" and less limp than Sheldon's teen hair. I allowed myself more color saturation than I normally add. I must have been at it for about 30-45 minutes.

His clothes were easy, though I used multiple layers for it. He wore this top in another picture, so I didn't have to think about its color scheme. I put orange, did random burning and dodging and then used the Impressionist brush to give it that blotchy look. It's hard to see from here, but it creates a slight texture you wouldn't get if it were a solid color. Then I shaded it with grey in another layer and used the same layer with the jeans. There's actually a texture fill (denim) on the jeans that gives it a better look. His shoes were simple, but it took me a little time to realize I had to factor in the shape of the shoes...

The ball and vase were simple. Just a few minutes coloring and shading. In my Hard Light layer, I made them shiny.

The background I did in another file altogether. I made most of it, pasted it behind Sheldon, and completed our light source effect. There's a faint glow around Sheldon's outline that makes the shadow seem sharper. With the final touches in place, "Trapped in Your Lie" is finished.

Maybe you found that interesting, maybe you didn't, but if you're still reading this, you probably found it at least worth your time, and for that, I'm grateful. Stay tuned for more another time!

Later.