My stages from the Idea to the Finished drawing

1. Idea – The first stage is to think of the idea about what to draw. I usually get inspired by a film or a computer game or I see something on the internet or social media. Then I usually “marinate” that idea for a few days for it to get into its final form in my mind. After I am completely sure what I am drawing I go to the next stage.

2. Composition and design sketching – Making several thumbnail sketches of the composition and format of the drawing. Also exploring design choices of the characters or elements to see which ones I like the best. At this stage I look at the reference photos, research topics or drawing techniques, if needed. After I choose one thumbnail which works best for me, I go to the next stage.

3. Pencil under-drawing – Now I take a full size A4 paper and start to draw a rough pencil under-drawing for my final artwork. I don’t make a perfect pencil drawing here, it is quite loose and I don’t bother too much with the details or shading usually. That would not make sense to me, it would basically mean making 2 drawings (pencil and ink) when in reality I need to make just one – in ink, so no too much time wasting on pencil stage. After the rough pencil under-drawing is done, I go to the next stage.

4. Inking the drawing – After the pencil under-drawing is done, it’s time to draw on top with ink. I use Sakura Micron pens, Sakura Pen brushes, Indian Black Ink and white Gelly Roll pens to get the desired effect. This stage takes the most of the time usually. The drawing can’t be changed pretty much at all at this point.

5. Scanning and finishing up with computer – after the drawing is done on the paper I scan it and clean up the drawing with the computer software (ArtRage, Photoshop) and graphics tablet and add the finishing touches, if needed, like text, textures, maybe some color sometimes.

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