value study crazy

I am thinking about doing value studies to  put into my portfolio- so I attempted this  figure drawing in sketchbook pro- just using the pencil tool for sketching the outline and the paint brush on medium opacity for the fill colors- I am trying to keep monochromatic so I can practice on identifying shapes with tone only... I determined that a clean line and great silhouette is the start for an impressive value study- well I have to get back to finishing the shading on my comic assignment of finishing pages for a writer in our comic group in preparation for Detroit Fan fare

a potential process for digital comics/black it out

I was trying to look a new quicker process fro creating images with photoshop without drawing them over many times- so I am testing out how to use layers, blending modes, opacity, levels, brush opacity, and brush flow.

So here goes the process:

first- set up a sketch brush- In zero layer or background//I use the square scatter brush at 25% opacity and 25% flow- so it may be a little gray- I generally put the brush size shape to 0% it will produce a gray underlying drawing- loose lines and all// I then use levels  and move black slider up till drawing gets lighter- redraw clean line concentrating on smooth quality- erase if necessary- the underlying drawing is now done- for longer curves strokes- we can use the pen tool and brush stroke- vary brush size when needed...

second step- in above layer- set on multiply// increase brush size and lower opacity to <15%  and low flow for use this as a rendering  or shading layer- concentrate on shading core shadows and cast only- you can erase with low flow and opacity as well to make less drastic in tone....

third layer- in above layer- the black out layer- here we just color in black/ leave in normal blend mode - this can be used as both  a mask selection and a solid  upper background layer for the top color layer- set brush to 100% opacity and flow- we can use this as a mask by selecting the area outside the mask if colored in and choose inverse or select the black colored are if well defined...set this layer as 10-15% opacity- this will allow color to be seen from top layer

fourth and final layer-set to color mode- with the mask intact- fill in a skin or other area of color- with solid color... this also can be altered by erasing at low opacity and flow and adding color with a hard bush to identify textures

so thats it- hopefully this will make creating a page systematic and cool looking