A while back I finished this piece as a part of projected 4 part series to illustrate the story of Princess Thousand Furs. I’m currently working on the second part, so I thought I do a process post for this one.

Here’s something I don’t normal post with this kind of thing: the sketch. I drew the riders directly on to the illustration board (it’s a bad habit, I know) after I had transferred the sketch using transfer paper.

I don’t really know why I decided to use such a bright color as a base. Usually I pick one that’s more in tune with the colors the painting will be. You can’t see it in the final scan, but if you look at the original painting, I left some areas where you can see small parts of the pink showing through. It gives it a nice subtle vibrancy.

Here it is with all the background done. My camera had some problems getting the colors to show up right.

Working on the titular thousand fur coat. It sure felt like I mixed about a thousand colors for it. Well, maybe not a thousand but at least a hundred.

And finally, here’s a nice close up of the finished coat.