Lucy and Medo Illustration and Colouring Process

While I settle in to finish writing my second issue of Next To Nothing (then draw it), I've been having fun doing some stand-alone illustrations of my main characters, Lucy and Medo.  

I thought it might be interesting to show some of the stages of my colouring process.

Photoshop is still a bit of a wonder to me, and I'm certainly learning as I go.  For the most part, it's fun to do.  And I think the better my understanding of the program, the more fun and creative control I can have with it.

Drawing started with blue pencil, then regular lead pencil over top of that, THEN inked with a brush. (for smaller details I used a Staedtler Fineliner pen)

Here I tried to get the basic colouring done first, added some contrast on the trees.  At this stage, I wasn't sure how I was going to tackle the waterfalls, and the water was (IS) a big challenge.

Here I added more contrast (shadows, highlights etc), some water reflection, and detail on the rocks, as well as the background (behind the trees)

I wasn't happy with the overall colour, it was too cold, so I added a bit of warmth to it, as well as warmer highlights on the rocks, and on Lucy and Medo.  I also tried to make the waterfalls look more splashy and watery.