The original drawings, seen here, were spontaneous sketches created with a Pigma brushPen and twelve cups of coffee. When composing digitally i select images from my book which appeal to me and seem to be suitable for further composition. In this case, the two obese forms seem to share a bond that goes beyond their coincidental shared space in the book..

After scanning the drawings, i have decided on a composition that i like. The drawings are on separate layers and i save selection areas as i go, to make later work easier. Normally i would convert scanned sketches into ‘grayscale’, but the purple brushpen lines appeal to me.

When the sketches are situated, i begin work on a new layer (typically set to ‘Multiply’) to shade and play with the dimensional forms of the drawing. All the work done at this stage is in BW (Black&White) - using the saved selection areas to mask out portions of the art.

Beginning with the foreground and working back, an atmosphere begins to form about the figures and the lighting and mood of the scene begin to take shape.

A background layer is placed in and the final scene emerges in all its filthy glory. Final touches are added, such as shadows and some elements of texture mixed in to avoid a flat look. This could be a finished piece as is, but i decide on full-color - converting the purple lines to black before proceeding.

In the end, i have decided the image would look better in color. Although it would seem to be a tremendous amount of work, it is actually quite simple -
Using the saved selection areas, i adjust the hue using a selective color process which allows hue to be added to the white/grey/black color values (Image/Adjustments/Selective Color.. using Photoshop). After modifiying the muted tones a first time, there are more colors available for adjustment if a second tweak is necessary.