My big little brother is a Halo master! Master Chief CJ, Halo MASTER!!!

He lives, breaths, eats halo & it shows! The things he unlocks in the game & how good he is at playing it amazes me, not to mention his online gamer friends! I wish he would post his gaming skills because they are insane.

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REWIND: He is my “Big Little Brother” because he is the baby of the family but is about 6 feet tall. He just turned 20 January 23rd, its hard to believe he is already 20!

So it is clear the inspiration for this illustration (which was his bday present 😛 ) is my big little brother, Justyn.

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The Materials:
• Bainbridge Illustration Board
• X-Acto Knife
• Watercolour Paint
• Masking/Transfer Tape
• Faber Castell Watercolour Pencils
• Prismacolor Premier Pencil Crayons
• Steadler Pigment Liner 0.1
• Sharpie Extra Fine Point
• Jelly Roll 08 White Jelly Pen
• Reference Pic
• Pencil & Eraser
• Wooden Board
The Process:

1. On the Illustration board I sketched out the rough image, using reference image, then added the details

2. Outline final sketch & details with Steadler Pigment Liner 0.1

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3. Mask off entire sketch with the transfer tape

4. With the x-acto knife lightly trim round the boarder & character. (Be sure to use a sharp blade & do not push down too hard, you do not want to cut the illustration board)

5. Peel the pieces of the tape off the background (only in areas you want to be painted)

6. Painted the background with water colour paints, starting with a light purple, gradually fading into darker a darker shade of purple to blue to black.

7. After 2 layers of this I used a dry brush, dipped it in white paint & spattered it over the entire image to create stars.

8. Once this dries, peel the tape covering the image & start blocking in colour with the watercolour pencils & blend with water, when it dried I did a second layer to add more dimensions with shadows, keeping the highlighted areas light from the start (it is easier to keep the white areas light than trying to add them back in)

9. Once this dried I used prismacolour pencil crayons (they go on creamy & blend awesome) over top to finish adding colour & dimension to the image

10. I did the pencil crayon one section at a time, using the extra fine tip sharpie to go over my existing ink lines to make them pop more, while adding some line work for shading (the pencil crayons pushed the strength of the felt back)

11. Once this was complete I used my Jelly Roll pen to add some texture to the highlighted ares & some stars to the background.

12. Peel off the rest of the transfer tape & framed the image (I made the illustration 8.5”x11” so I trimmed the matting of an 8”x10” frame to showcase the entire illustration)

Let me know what you think of this illustration, & of any critiques you may have. Don’t forget to follow me on my social to see what I am working on in real time!

Thank you for reading 🙂