Illustrating Feathered Pegasus Wings In Procreate - Episode 12
video - Episode 12
In this episode, I am talking all about illustrating a Pegasus in Procreate, and this one is a full process timelapse video where you can see how I am creating the wings and details for this horse in Procreate.
This illustration was created for a custom pattern design project for one of my clients, and you can see the project it was made for here if you want to check it out.
Not all of my patterns have this much detail, but my approach for this pattern design was to have it look like something you would read in a storybook.
I wanted to tell the story of what goes on around Olympus, which is why there is a lot of detail.
For the game I was creating this for, I wanted to immerse the players into this world as they were playing and transport them to this place.
This artwork was created during the height of the pandemic, and we were all stuck in our homes, so it was a big deal to me to give the game players a pattern and an experience.
Watch the Full Process Video: Illustrating Pegasus in Procreate With Feathered Wings
If you would like to learn more tips about creating feathered wings in Procreate, you can grab my Illustrating Wings Guide, where I go into more detail about creating feathery wings.
You can find the link to this guide below!
Tips for Pegasus Wings in Procreate Guide
Get the Illustrating Wings in Procreate guide at the button below!
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Pegasus Feathered Wings in Procreate Transcript:
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I am Denise Palmer and I am an illustrator artist and surface pattern designer
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working outta my studio close to the Gulf of Mexico where water
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adventures and botanical plants surround my everyday life.
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Welcome to these video chats where I talk about some of the techniques I've used
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to create my artwork and chat about all things illustration, art, and design.
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In this video,
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I illustrated a Pegasus in procreate for a custom illustration commission
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for a client. This was a past project that I completed quite a few years ago,
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but I had this great footage of working on it that I wanted to share with you.
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The Peggy Si. I created for a pattern design for Greece as the inspiration,
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so I focused on Greek gods and the idea of Mount Olympus.
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The pattern design that I created from this artwork I will share with you at
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the end of this video, but I named the design Olympus Odyssey.
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To give you an idea of where I'm going with the design,
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I created this illustration before I found my favorite sketching brush,
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and for this drawing I used the standard six B pencil in procreate
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Everything starts out as a sketch and goes through my layered sketching process.
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My layered sketching process includes three layers that I put on top of
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each other. I start out with a rough sketch,
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then I create what is what I call a refined sketch,
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and then I get to the final sketch, which is a working sketch.
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Sometimes I get to the sketch that I want in the second sketch and sometimes
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it takes three sketches to get the artwork to where I want it to be.
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If I don't like something that I drew in the sketch,
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I sometimes will cut it out and edit it until it feels right to me.
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I like to flip my canvas as well when I am sketching so that I can see the
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sketch from another perspective.
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It's easier to spot areas that need improvement this way and this
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Pegasus started out really rough,
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but I got the working sketch to a point that I was happy with.
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Once I had the sketch finished,
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then I started working on the local color fills for the body.
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This is my favorite part after finishing a sketch is getting to bring it to life
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in color.
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I already knew that I wanted to use creamy colors like off whites and
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tote for this Pegasus since even though it was a detailed part
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of the design, it was not the main focus of the pattern that I will be creating.
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As I follow along the body, I'm deciding what parts will have this color,
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the legs that are further away.
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I will make a darker color to emphasize the separation in the legs and give
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some depth even though I'm adding these colors.
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Remember they are a starting point and you can always adjust and change the
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color later if you want to lighten or darken your base local colors.
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Something else that I find very helpful is to add to your illustration
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and then zoom out from your procreate canvas to get a better overall
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perspective of your changes. You may notice that I do this a lot.
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It's just because it's works for me.
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Here I am adding in the local colors for all the main parts of the Pegasus,
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like the body which I've finished,
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the back legs and the main and tail hair of the
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horse, and then the wings will get their own color too.
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As I am working, I do my best to name all of my layers as I go,
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but if I am in the flow of working,
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sometimes I just create the layer and then go back and name them properly.
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Especially when you are in flow,
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I usually stick to staying in it and not letting like the little things
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distract me. If you are wondering what flow is,
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it is that state where time seems to melt away around you as
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you are working,
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you are deep in the moment and utterly focused on the task at hand.
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You move through the tasks much easier and what you need to do feels very
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natural to you and your intuition takes over.
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At this point,
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I like to turn off my sketch and go back through the layers I just created and
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clean things up.
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I do this by switching between the eraser brush and the regular brush as I move
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around my procreate canvas. If you turn off your sketch,
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it makes it easier to see where you need to clean things up in procreate,
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but I also like to clean up my artwork as well in Adobe
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Photoshop when I bring my artwork in there.
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But for this particular illustration,
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I felt that I needed to go ahead and do a lot of cleanup ahead of time
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and it just depends on your workflow and how you um,
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end up using the artwork. In the in at the end.
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Part of cleanup also included adding any texture for this
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horse. I wanted to have a textured edge to the artwork,
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so I'm using the six B pencil again and this is the standard procreate
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brush and I went along the edges of my artwork to add in texture.
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This was a little time consuming,
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but I felt worth it in the end for the effort to get that textured
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edge to the artwork.
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I could have used the textured brush to begin with,
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but textured brushes when filling in color can leave gaps that you have to fill
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in anyways because of the texture. And this is the method that works for me.
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Plus it gives me the opportunity to make any other last adjustments to
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the edges of the artwork as well.
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Now that I have all the base local colors in place for all the elements of
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my Pegasus,
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I like to also make adjustments to the background color on my canvas.
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The color I'm using here is very close to what the overall background color
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in the finished pattern design will be. Though there are variations,
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but it is a darker navy color for the ocean and I that I plan to use.
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Adding in a background color that is close to what the background color will
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look like in your finished piece is important as the background color
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has an effect on what the colors you choose in your illustration and how they
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will look together and play off each other.
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Now it is time to add some depth to the colors that
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we have already put in place, and I usually like to work on the shadows first.
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So I'm starting out with body shadows for my Pegasus horse
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going around his body.
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I am using the shadows to define areas that would be in shadow and most
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lighting situations.
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I'm not going too detailed on light and shadow because this is a pattern element
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and he will be facing several different directions,
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but a general light is sufficient here since he is flying outside,
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there will be a shadow under his hair and belly as well as the body decorations
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that I will be adding in later. Also,
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I'm establishing the shadows for it now since I'm already working on shadows.
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If I don't like these shadows, I can always adjust them later.
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At this point in the drawing process,
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I am starting to want to add more details to his face so I begin to work on
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that next face details really start to make your illustrations come
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alive and at this point I was needing to get those in place.
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This Pegasus is focused on getting somewhere,
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so I had him looking forward in where he was going in
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mid-flight. He ends up looking quite serious in the end,
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but it's okay. It ends up working out and it's uh,
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an a serious kind of piece. So that's, so it worked.
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Once I get his face started, I decided to deepen the shadows more.
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Now that I'm happy with how his body and features are coming together,
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it was time to move on to his wings.
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The wings were the part that I was most excited about working on,
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so I really had fun working on his wings.
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If you know you may need some motivation at any time during
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the illustrating process,
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save the most exciting part for where you will need that motivation the most.
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So for example, if you are struggling,
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struggling with getting started on something,
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start with the part that you are most excited about first to get the ball
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rolling if you can and if it works to do it that way.
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Or if you have motivation for an illustration already,
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save the part you are most excited about. For around the halfway point,
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which is what I did here,
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the halfway point is sometimes like this is the point where I might have gotten
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tired and needed a kick in the pants or well, in my case,
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my yoga pants. Getting that motivation halfway through,
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it really helps you get to the finish line.
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So for this particular illustration,
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I finished this all in one day over several hours,
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but I took breaks and when I say breaks,
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it could be a day or two that you may need and and not be able to complete it
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in one day. You should definitely stop when you are tired and need the break
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for the wings.
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I knew I wanted them to have a lighter color to them and be a little bit
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more on the gray side,
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and I also wanted them to have a feathery look to them as well.
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So I used the oriental brush,
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and this is a standard procreate brush that I liked the look of for
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creating a feathered edge to the wings.
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Once I got the highlights on the wings,
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I added in some other colors to add variation to the feathers.
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Some feathers are below and some are a different color,
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but this detail adds a sense of realism to it,
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even though this is a flying animal.
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Once I got the first wing done,
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I started on the back wing by repeating the process for that one,
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but I add in deeper shadowing for the back of this wing.
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This gives some depth to the wings and separation
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between the front wing and the one in the back.
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I also add in the feathered edge with my oriental
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brush as well and add in some hairline details with
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the six B pencil to keep the same edging as the front
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wing.
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I also flip my canvas so that I can look at the wings
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from another perspective so that I can make any adjustments
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that I feel is necessary to finish out the wings.
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Not all of my patterns have this much detail,
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but my approach for this pattern design was to have it look like something you
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would read in a storybook.
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I wanted to tell the story of what goes on around Olympus,
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which is why there is a lot of detail for the game I was creating this
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for.
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I wanted to immerse the players into this world as they were playing and
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transport them to this place.
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This was during the height of the pandemic and we were all stuck in our homes,
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so it was a big deal to me to give them not only a pattern,
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but an experience.
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I am at the point of this illustration where I'm adding in the finishing details
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and I saved the golden leaves go around the neck and the tail.
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I work from light to dark and so that,
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so that I can create the depth for the golden leaves.
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I used my sketch as the guide for creating the leaves and the outline for their
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shape to carry the leaves through.
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I added some leaves to the tail to flow along with the movement of the tail
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as this creature was flying through the air. Coming up next,
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I'm going to show you how this finished design turned out with the rest of the
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illustrations for this pattern,
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this illustration took me most of a full day to finish,
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so all of this is condensed into a much shorter time-lapse video.
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If you want to do something detailed, take your time and enjoy the process.
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The fun is in creating and seeing the story in your mind come to life in
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front of you, not only for you, but for your clients and their customers.
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Here is a closeup of the finished Pegasus in the pattern design.
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Now all the illustrated elements came together to tell the story of Olympus
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Odyssey.
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If you would like to learn more tips about creating feathered wings in
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procreate,
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you can grab my illustrating wings guide where I go into more detail about my
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approach to the wings.
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You can find the link to this guide below this video in the description.
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Creating the wings was definitely one of my favorite parts of creating this
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illustration.
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I will be sharing more process videos just like this one,
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so be sure to subscribe. Thank you for watching.
