Deadly Mistress Steps

Next, I created a new layer in between the sketch and the background. On this layer I began "blocking in" the basic greyscale tones with a hard brush. At this stage it's important to let yourself go and just form a rough impression of the image. Don't worry about perfect strokes, smooth shading or going over the lines of your sketch. It can be tidied up later.

Years ago I used to take the opposite approach and try to get everything clean and perfect right from the start. I would work on an eye for example, paint it in detail, then move on to the next eye and build the image piece by piece. Unfortunately I found these pieces didn't always fit together. Either the colours or tones were inconsistent or my proportion was wrong. As a result, I had to repaint the whole thing again, or (most often) delete it from my drive!

By using the blocking method, you can be sure that all the tones are consistent, that everything is in the right place and get an impression of the entire image. If you need to make changes, it's much easier to do at this stage without ruining any hard work.

In my opinion, the hardest part of any image is getting started, but when using this technique you just go for it!

While it's sometimes good to get the colours down from the outset, I find they can cause distraction at this stage and I much prefer working in grayscale until I have the basic shading complete.