Forums → Art, Music, and Writing → The Making of the Sub-Zero Image By: Reton8

I entered the Awesome Art Contest r1: Ninja contest with an image of Sub-Zero that I made in GIMP. I'm making this thread to show (somewhat) how I made the image and to show that I didn't just use a screencap of the character from a video game or something like that. I did reference a Sub-Zero image (heavily), but none of it was ever traced. It took me about 15 hours to complete over the span of two days. Feel free to tell what you think about the image and if you have an art background (have take many art classes) tell me what I could have done to improve the image.

Below you will find a link to a picture of the Sub-Zero image a different steps along the process of it's making and a commentary on how it was made. (The image is really big so I don't want to post in in the thread)(The numbers in the commentary correspond to the picture numbers).

Here is the link to the picture for commentary.
http://img651.imageshack.us/img651/1613/subzeroninjacontestproo.jpg

Here is a link to the reference picture.
http://www.desktoprating.com/wallpapers/games-wallpapers-pictures/sub-zero-mortal-combat-wallpaper.jpg

1.) The first step is the sketch of the outline of the head. I originally was only gong to make the image his head.

2.) In this shot some of the mask is colored in and the front part is textured. The texture I used was a simple, I did HSV noise effect on just a white background a few times, motion blurred that and then used that as the texture for the mask and any article of blue clothing.

3.) I have finished shading the mouth and jaw part of the mask. I have begun shading on the head part of the mask.

4.)I finished the shading on the head part of the mask. Most of the shading was done by me using a regular GIMP brush set to black or white color in overlay. Then the opacity set low. It would be the same as using the dodge and burn tool. I also used a lot of the blur tool and did a lot of smudging with the smudge tool.

5.) Here I have added the vents for the mask and the lines that go into them. The vents I made a circle and then used the perspective tool to change them to the proper perspective. Then I used a regular brush to add the colors and then the same sets of brushes and tools as in image 4 to finish the vents. Also on the right side (looking at the mask, not the mask's right side) of the mask I have increased the hood's width near where it meets the blue part of the mask.

6.) I drew in the eyes and increased the width of the hood again on the right side of the mask where the hood meets the blue part of the mask.

7.) I have begun to shade in the eyes and have also put in the eyeball itself. Again mostly the Overlay brush, blur brush, and smudge tool.

8.) I finished the other side of the eyes (the face). If you look closes at image 7 and 8 you will notice that I changed the skin color to a more blue shade to give a more of an icy feel. (He kind of looks like R. Lee Ermey.)

9.) Here is were I decided to include some of the body in the image. I sketched this out much like I did the face.

10.) Here I have added the basic colors for the body.

11.) I have begun to shade in some of the body. Using the same or similar brushes and tools as in images 4 and 7 (and any time I did shading).

12.) I cleaned up the lines around the mask where it meets Sub-Zero's face and I also cleaned up the lines around the head part of the mask (the hood).

13.) I added the design in Sub-Zero's shirt and shaded it. Look closely and you will see that I put my user name into the design (Reton8).

14.) I shaded the metallic part of Sub-Zero's arm. I actually shaded this part twice, the first time I didn't like the way it came out so I did it again.

15.) I finished Sub-Zero's arm using the same shading tools and brushes as images 4 and 7 and other images.

16.) I added the smoke. The smoke is somewhat difficult and never really looks completely the way I want it to. To get the smoke you make a new transparent layer. In that layer you make a few blobs with the brush in the color you want the smoke (in this case greyish white with a hint of blue). The you take blobs and distort them with a slur effect. Then you blur the smoke. The you use the Iwrap distortion tool and swirl the smoke. After that you can add another layer of smoke that is less opaque than first layer to add depth and character to the smoke. Both layers of smoke are set to low opacity so that it is see through, one layer more opaque than the other. (In this case it is probably Sub-Zero's breath being seen because of the coldness, but I called it smoke when I made the image.)

17.) I increased the size of the canvas to make room for the letters. Added a gradient for the background. Put in Sub-Zero's name. Added a gradient to it and gave it a drop shadow and then added a third layer of the name again only offset it in the opposite direction of the letters. Lastly I added the "watermark" of my user name. I simply just made the name less opaque and put it behind the layer containing the Sub-Zero image.

Here is the final product.