Hero of Hyrule

The character is Link from The Legend of Zelda series. This was a subject I always wanted to paint, but never quite got around to, until I had a character design project for my Digital Ink & Paint class. So, it's both a class & personal project.

The sketch, tone, and color fill were done in Photoshop.

The Photoshop sketch.

The painting was done between Photoshop and Corel Painter. In Photoshop, the colors were laid over the tone (color layer set to "Color" blend mode). The layers were then combined and fine-tuned further - color adjustments, duplicate and overlay, etc. Then, further work in Painter to achieve the painterly, brush-and-palette feel.

I worked on the background on its own layer; I never had more than 2 layers throughout the project, as I approached it more as a natural painting than a digital composite.

Once finished, I flattened the image.

Final.