Lion Illustration

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In this tutorial I will take you on a guide to illustrating a lion character on Paint Shop Pro 8. The way I add depth and excitement to this illustration differs to some of my other illustrations - I create these using sketchy shadows and borders and this is a technique I will cover in this tutorial. If you find this tutorial useful a credit link will be appreciated, if you need any help on executing this tutorial then contact me.

To begin, open up Paint Shop Pro and create a new image that matches the size you want your illustration to be. My image is sized 176 x 341.

We're going to start off my illustrating the face and the hair. To create the face, select the Preset Shape Tool and select the 'Ellipse' shape. Make your first pallet transparent and match your second to the colour #FAECC6 - draw on a wide face (like seen on the example to the right). Make the circle slightly big; it may look weird but remember mane will cover a lot of this.

Use the box around the image to rotate it slightly. Then right click the vector layer and convert it to a raster layer.

Now we'll start on the mane. To do this select the Pen Tool (V) () (learn about the importance of the pen tool when illustrating here). Match your pen tool settings to those listed below:
Segment type: Point to point
Meter limit: 15
Create as vector
The line width is not important as the top pallet is to be made transparent.

Match the second pallet a colour of your choice, I am using the colour #A36233.

With all the settings and colours chosen - you can trace your mane. Select the bottom layer when tracing it so that it appears behind the face. In order to trace your shape with curve, click where you want the shape to begin, click at a different point and then drag the mouse (Example (from illustration guide tutorial). You may not trace the perfect mane on your first try (I know I didn't), but continue to try and edit.

Right click this layer and convert it to a raster layer, you may also choose to rename it in order to keep track of your layers as there will be many. Then select the top layer and trace on the hairs that you want to appear over the face using the same technique and settings as before. Once you've done this convert it to a raster layer and rename it if you wish to.

The last thing to do on the face until the end is to add in the ears and more spikes. Use the same settings as before, but match your second pallet to the colour #FAECC6, draw in ears and some extra features into the hair - make sure your top layer is highlighted as this layer should appear on top of the whole image. Once done, convert the layer to a raster layer and name if if you wish to.

Next we'll move onto making the body which is the easier part to make, select the bottom layer in order to make it appear behind the main and using the Pen Tool (V) with similar settings as listed above, trace the body. I won't walk you through it as it's simple to do - but take it in steps (example) - start off with the body, then trace the legs and finally the tail. Remember when making the tail end you should change your colour back to brown.

The next thing we will work on are the borders, the borders aren't clean borders; they are made to look slightly off to give the illustration a 'sketchy' feel. To do this select the Pen Tool (V); match your settings to mine below:
Width: 1.00
Segment type: Point to point
Meter limit: 15
Create as vector
Colour: Black (Make your second pallet transparent).

Use this to outline your image where you feel an outline is appropriate - remember the outline doesn't have to be perfect - in fact try and make it a little off as that is what will give it the effect. You want your have started this line after selecting your top layer - this way it stays on top of the image. Every so often I like to do this with my illustrations, the sketchy effect is one that I really like.

Use the black pen to draw on other features, in this case I drew the ears and the eyes.

Now the lion is really starting to come together! Before we add in the shadows, use the Preset Shape Tool (P) with an eclipse shape and a colour of #FDF6E4 to draw the mouth 'backdrop' of the lion. Then use the Pen Tool (V) with identical settings as before to draw on the eyes and the mouth. Use this tool to draw on whiskers and a border for the mouth 'backdrop', also use it at a colour of #551C01 and the first pallet transparent to draw on a nose.

Remember, whilst drawing these convert them to raster layers. If you wish to convert the whole thing into a raster layer at the end, then right click and click 'New Drawing Object' when necessary. Also remember - the top pallet is the border for text and shapes, the second pallet is the main colour. In this case, we want to use each of them separate as we don't want our borders to be perfect.

To make the shadows, I use the brush tool - this fits in with the whole 'sketchy' feel. Select the Paint Brush (B) tool and match your settings to mine below:
Size: 12
Opacity: 100
Hardness: 96
Step: 100
Rotation: 0
All else 100

The first shadows are done using the colour black, simply scribble on where you want the shadow to be and change the layer to Soft Light at around 15-20% (depending on your image), then duplicate this layer - mirror it (Image > Mirror) and change the opacity to one that is slightly less.

After, repeat this step with a white colour and shadows in different places - change this layer to normal at around 15-20%. You may also use a pink colour to highlight the cheeks.

The final thing to do is to merge all of your layers together - and you're done! You now have your very own illustrated lion and the sketchy techniques when bordering and shadowing/highlighting can be used in other illustrations!

Good luck!