006 - Smile - Kabuto

got the 2000 kiriban on my page, and requested I draw Kabuto, from Naruto. I figured I might as well fit it into the Topics to Draw list I've been doing (for info on that, check out ~Kugen's journal). The next one I was supposed to do was 004 - White Flower, but honestly, I couldn't work a white flower into the idea of Kabuto anywhere, so I skipped ahead to 006 - Smile, which, I think you'll agree, fits him better. If you're, say, not very far along in reading or watching Naruto, you *might* think the "Soft and Peaceful" catergory that "Smile" is supposed to be in fits ... why don't you just go on believing that for a while, hm?

Kabuto sez: "You want to know what the nin-card says, don't you? Of course you do. No, really, it's all right. You can trust me. Sure you can."

Done completely digitally from the first scribbles through refining the sketch to painting. Painter 7.0 with the occasional foray into Photoshop to clean things up or add light halos to highlights and so on.

[ edit ] I put a more-or-less step-by-step account here. It's a little light on the transition from color flats to fully shaded, but I got involved at that point and forgot to take screenshots.