[ How I work - Dragon Girl ]
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I get a lot of questions about this particular piece of artwork. The most common questions deal with the process of how I work. Most people are surprised to learn that many of my illustrations are actually composites of several images. The following is a brief rundown of the steps taken to complete the "Dragon Girl" sketch.

Step 1: Thumb Nails

This is the basic step that I start with when I first get an idea for a project. I often sketch multiple thumbnails over a long period of time, while I'm involved with other projects. These can be done anywhere at any time on anything from a napkin to a sketchbook.

These are a few thumbnails relating to the Dragon Girl project:
Notice that neither of the thumbnails are exactly great pieces of art. The idea here is to get a basic shape or idea for the piece.

Step 2: Basic form sketch

This is the first step to the final sketch. When sketch a human form, I often use a wooden posing figure to get the basic shape on paper.

This helps get the basic layout of the body. Notice that the image isn't cleaned up at all. This is for basic form. This is now taken to a light table, where I place a clean piece of paper over the image. I can now begin the detail on her armor.

Step 3: Armor

Now that I have the shape down I start to sketch the armor. Notice that I don't use any pencil shading, because I intend to bring the final sketch into Photoshop for airbrushing.

Step 4: Face, hands, and feet

I like to work on the face, hair, hands, and feet after I get the body done. The same process of using a light table is used, except I will composite them later in Photoshop.
Here are all of the separate pieces composited together. Her right hand is a duplicate of the left, but this won't matter because most of it will be covered. Also the composite has been cleaned up in Photoshop.

Step 5: The dragon

Back to the light table. The composite sketch is then brought back to the light table, and yet again, there is another sketch added to the piece. This is then composed in Photoshop the same way the other components were. Notice the dragon has changed a bit since the concept thumbnails.

Step 6: Airbrushing in Photoshop

This is by far my favorite, and sometimes most frustrating, part of the whole process. The piece is brought into Photoshop and airbrushed.

Step 7: Add a background

This is where I added a background. I tried several different concepts, but this is the one that stuck with me.
Well, there you go! I hope that you enjoyed seeing how this piece came together. The final piece was easily printed to 13"x19" with no loss of quality. The resolution was in the neighborhood of 600 pixels per square inch.
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