Last Thursday, a sequel to the video game “Tomodachi Life” was announced. This has been one of my most anticipated games ever, so I decided to channel that excitement into doing a style study/inspired piece based off the new trailer! You can watch the trailer here:
I first started with a rough sketch, as usual. I tried drawing the characters from the trailer, which made it take a little longer than usual!
Once I’d decided on a composition, I started on the line art, using the turnip pen. It was very tricky trying to keep the characters looking very digital and symmetrical!
I then added the base colours, creating gradients by selecting the hair and blurring the colours in between.
It’s coming together nicely already! I then added some simple shading.
From here, I then coloured the line work! I find I really like to colour details that make up a whole (e.g, the collar and shirt details on the yellow dress above), while keeping the lines that separate parts (the sleeve connecting the dress to the arm) solid black. This helps keep the piece bold and punchy so you can clearly distinguish what you’re looking at, while not muddying things that don’t need to be solid colours.
I then added a subtle gradient overlay, and some daffodils at the front! There are also some extra highlights I added.
Finally, I added a photo of a beach, which I locked to a layer that I scribbled a textured brush on! I also played around with the sharpness and contrast a bit.
This was very fun to do! I definitely rushed a bit (the old man magically floating in the back being proof of that), but drawing what you’re excited about is a really great motivator.