What a wonderful class! I watched the first four videos then started my sketches. Note to other students: watch all the way through before starting anything!! I regretted picking an organic subject because it complicated the gradient/glow/stuff work later on. If I've watched the entire course before starting, I'd know to keep the "nozzle safe area" completely separate from Body and Exhaust safe areas. I had no idea what they are for until I got to watch the final few videos.

I had a special affinity with my unicorn so decided to stick with this little guy. I borrowed a Wacom tablet to do the sketch - I was pretty pleased with how it turned out, but I couldn't figure out how to keep my lines at 45 degrees as the instructor did. (I am deaf and the instruction videos weren't captioned, so I guessed based on the visuals as I went along).

 

You can see my early design below with rainbow chest - I had this idea of using a rainbow then realized the value of keeping a very limited color palette for easy editing later on. I didn't know that I can adjust the swatches later on, and that was a very valuable tip. So I went back several steps and simplified the chest area.... and then added a utility belt while I was at it.

 

I loved the value check! I didn't know that kind of thing existed until this course, and I can't believe the difference it made in my picking/mixing colors. Everything pops!

 

FYI, I couldn't find the linked images for the AI mixer file, so I recreated the background image based on instructor's example images.

 

All and any feedback very welcome.