Tutorial: How to draw CSR (Comic Semi Realistic)

A friend of mine asked me to do a tutorial how I exactly drew Xavier and here it is
(Important: this is my way how to draw semi realistic in a comic style, if there are others or better ones let me know )

Digital art used in Paint Tool SAI

1. Step: Sketching, you dont want to know how I do that, but I mostly start with a circle for the head and adding things like horns or teeth in extra layers.

2. Step: Lining, kindasimple and tricky, for realistic effects its always helpful to add more details than possible, also try to draw some lines thicker than others, that gives the dragon a bigger plasticity.

3. Step: The easiest thing, just flat color your char in an extra layer. I mostly use a group folder and use one layer per color.

4. Step: Yay time for shading , I used a layer there a multiply effect with 100% opacity.  The Shading color is something like a purple grey tone R 80, G 71, B 93. But its different and you can also play around with the opacity, but my experience says that stronger shadows and contrasts have a more realistic effect. Use the eraser tool and erase the shadow color there where light shines and try adding things like structures like scales or horn parts like in this pic.

5. Step: A sec shading layer like the previous one with same opacity and color and also multiply. Just shade the parts where nearly no light falls and also try to shade where your lines are (so it also looks more lineless )

6. Step: Just added a blue violet multiply layer with halve opacity for a blue effect (later for the background, I did this just on instinct)

7. Step: A overlay layer 100% opacity with light blue white color. Just color the parts where the light falls and just use it barely and smooth it no cell shading here.

8. Step: Luminosity layer for the eyes using xaviers basic eye color and white for the highlight and a soft airbrush tool

9. Step: A screen layer, 70% opacity, blue color for the mouth and eyes.

10. Step: Adding background and my signature and he is done

(Of course youcan experiment with the shading colors or with the opacity, but that is how I made him THIS time )


(c) Xavier: Me

(c) Art: Me