Character Image: Kale by @Zuka (Karette Maple)

This is "Kale," an original character with an updated anime look.

I went back to my old smooth-style shading technique with excessive use of the smudge brush. It is so much more fun than cell-style! I got this colored in 1 day, instead of 3, like my last image took, x.o. I also finally put my tablet to good use! I know I said I was going to try using Painter... but I had some problems transfering the line art, and since I know PSP so well anyway, I decided to do the whole thing in that again.

It seems slightly over-highlighted, but I could just say that's the style... It fits with the brightness of the image, which is weird because I was going for a dull, toned-down look with the browns so the green would stand out more. I also kind of cheated on the "background" by 1) not making it into anything, and 2) using (what I think is called) a filter, but at least it's not blank white!

Saved comments from the line art:

I was going for a more dynamic angle but I think it just ended up making his feet stick out weird... This was also my second use of the new computer inking technique I learned - the freehand line tool in Paint Shop Pro. I still need some more practice in getting the lines smooth and solid. The longer they are, the harder it gets, and a tablet doesn't seem to make any difference at all. But it does make a sketch nice and clean for coloring! I also multiplied the lines to make them darker.

(That was long.) Hope you enjoy!