Fluttershy WIPs
13 stages in total. Done in Photoshop.
Stage 1: Clean lineart is a good start just before painting for me. Already measured all four legs to make sure that their lengths tally after foreshortening & perspective.
Stage 2: Flat colored. Color swatch not confirmed.
Stage 3: Start with the face, which is also the most stressful part coz I lack foresight. Once the general shape, bumps & dents are right, that's half the battle, phew, & it's over.
Sculpted the general shape of the body.
Stage 4: Painting her hair is like thinking of it as a striped fabric. Created the stripes using 3 different tones of pink.
Used the Smudge Tool to smoothed the wrinkles. Strength of Smudging: 75% to 90%. If I'm confident, I use 90%, faster.
Stage 5: Applied the bumps & shine on the hair using a dark pink on a Multiply layer.
Stage 6: Achieving muted pink hair in only 2 steps. Step 1, adjust Brightness/Contrast.
Step 2, reduce Vibrance.
Stage 7: Achieving muted yellow skin in just 3 steps. Step 1, adjust Brightness/Contrast.
Step 2, reduce Vibrance.
Step 3, adjust Color Balance.
Muted pink & yellow is achieved, very simple.
Stage 8: Redrew her wings as the earlier version is covering her Cutie Mark.
Stage 9: Create the feathers, each row on a different layer. Color lock each of the layer.
Stage 10: Swiftly change the feathers into yellow. This can happen very fast, took me 10 minutes only for both wings.
Stage 11: Adding the 'stray hairs' on her mane & ponytail.
Stage 12: Cutie Mark is painted, the cast shadow on her butt & ponytail too.
Wings before & after, comparison between stage 10 & 12.
Stage 13: Added the white highlights along the contours, & the remaining cast shadows. The end. Complete. I'm so happy.