This is the initial sketch of the idea I have, of a Valkyrie woman riding to victory. Alot of research is put into the horse's pose and the height relative of the woman to the horse.

The positioning of her leg is fixed to make it look more believable.

The sketch is scanned into the computer and I went over it again with the Cover Pencil tool on Painter. I also finalized the design of her clothes.

I found some more horses on stock websites and added them in the lineart. Alot of care is taken of their positioning.

I added in her cloak and sword design and darkened the lineart. Now we're ready to color!

I decided to start with the clouds as it is such an important element in the pic. I used the Oil Paint and Blend tool on Painter and started blending in and smudging the clouds, keeping in mind to keep it really dramatic. At this stage I only use greyscale colors. It was fun!!

I used Photoshop to change the colors of the clouds. I used different blending modes, Levels, and the Dodge and Burn tool to add the colors.

Back on Painter, I started finishing up the clouds and coloring the base color for her skin. I always love painting the face first :D!

Her cloak and hair is added in. I let the bright white of the sky blend into the cloak to make it look more ethereal.

I added a very dark color on the sword and let it blend with the stream of light. The color has to be very dark because of the backlighting.

The horse is painted using a different brush, and I used several fur brushes too.

Everything looks pretty different once I painted in the ground color. Now it looks more solid! I painted the horse legs over that.

Now I start on the other horses. I didn't put as much detail on them so they would not distract from the main horse.

The horses are finished. However, I am not satisfied with the ground.. it looks too boring if they are just running across dark dirt.

So I decided to make them run through water! I used several splatter brushes to achieve the splashing effect.

Then I used the smudge tool to smudge some of the more distracting splashes. Now it looks abit more realistic.

As a last minute thought, I added some soft wings. Mmm.. no, overkill and cheesy...

Now it is done! Thank you for reading! :)

Tutorials focusing on specific themes and subjects for Mangarevolution

W i n g s: designing fantasy wings
S c a n n i n g: scanning and adjusting traditional artwork
D i g i t a l E y e P a i n t i n g: realistic eye painting
D i g i t a l S c r e e n t o n i n g: using photoshop to do comic tones
E m b e l l i s h m e n t s: adding dots and sparkles to your paintings
W a t e r c o l o r i n g: manga style faces and hair
D r a w i n g H a n d s: A simple guide
M a n g a E y e P a i n t i n g: Those shiny shiny anime eyes
T r a d m e d i a: About traditional medias and how to use them
M a r k e r B r a n d s: Find out which is the right one for you
D r a w i n g F e e t: Puts you a 'step' ahead
C h o o s i n g A T a b l e t: A guide to Wacom's product lines
D r a w i n g C h i b i s: How to do those cutesy characters
A l l A b o u t H a i r: Give your character's hair a cut above the rest!
A n i m e E y e s S t y l e s: A comprehensive gallery on different eyes
C o l o r i n g C h i b i s: Cute coloring to go with the chibi

Walkthroughs and works in progresses
Characters are © their respective owners

N e w F r i e n d: watercolors + airbrush
M o o n S i s t e r s : watercolors
P r i n c e s s o f t h e F l o a t i n g C a s t l e : watercolors + acrylics
N e i l a : pen + ink
L l i t h i a ( M o o n g a z e r ) W a l k t h r o u g h: watercolor
S p r i n g F a i r y A v e r i r e: watercolors
I m p e r i a l F a i r i e s: digital media
A l l T h e S t a r s: watercolors + digital media
P e a r l P r i n c e s s K i a: Prismacolor markers
M o d s ' N i g h t O u t: Copic markers