L I C O R I C E R O L L

I'll be taking notes of some TWST specificities as I go in purple, so for a shortened version of the tutorial, look for the colored text :)

Just as a reminder, this is my V1 that I'll be upgrading:

Step 1: Gather references! Observe them! Pick them appart!

And grab ones that will match your character, that's Important because of proportions. I skipped this on V1 and OH IT SHOWS lol. His scalp was way too small, which made his eyes look too big and hair too thin.

Mafuyu is 1m58, on the thinner side/0 muscle, and 17yo so my main references for him are Epel (1m56) and Riddle (1m60). Let's align them, taking their heels (on the body, not the shoes) as an anchor point, and trace some guidelines on the main elements (top of the head,, chin, shoulders etc...)

Purple line is Epel, red is Riddle and blue is Maf. His lines should be right in the middle of theirs lol, so let's fix that!

His head needed to be much bigger, this is better :)

Step 2: Lineart!

Make sure your pen is thin! I think mine was on 3.5 px. You're okay to vary and make it smaller for jewellery and thinner details like that (that's something you can see on Leona's bracelets, and most of the shoes, for example)

Something else I noticed: In the hair, most of the detail is shown with shading, not lineart! So don't be afraid to erase some strands from your line.

Same thing applies to the wrinkles in their clothes, I'm not even going to bother drawing in any on the cardigan, and the pants only get some at the crotch and the very bottom.

Let's look at the eyes now

My V1 was actually good as it was. I planned on keeping them, but then I noticed the blue at the top didn't show up enough so I modified them. The most distinct features I picked up on are the colored lights and colored lashes

Don't forget to color the lineart for the eyelids and eyebrows, while you're here! (you can see on my V2 I did that, and added a secondary line under the eyebrows, to match everyone)

Now, step 3: Colors

Mmmh I can't think of much to say about the base colors. Just keep them fairly neutral in saturation, outside of some specific elements like the dorm colors. Diasomnia doesn't care about burning your eyes off with their green, but everything else on the uniform is more chill.

Do take notice of the gradients on the uniform suit though:

Btw this is a safe place, I'm a color pick defender :'^) Just grab it right off the ref, who cares. The gold shade they use is very specific, so are the suit colors. I'm going to have fun emulating the rendering, but I don't find it particularly exciting to find the right HEX code by eye, personally, so I color pick 🤷

Anyway step 4: now we're shading!

I have a lot more to say about shading than I did with the base colors >:)

All the detail you didn't line are coming to life now! This includes the clothing folds/wrinkles and hair strands I mentionned before, as well as the nose, tendons in the hands, and the adam's apple and sternocleidomastoid muscle (the one that links the jaw and clavicle)

The noses in particular have a singular very specific shape (a shame tbh, I'm a unique nose enjoyer😔) :

Full shape on the light side, soft shape for the shadow side.

Check ✅ + I'm copying Vil's adam's apple shape, it feels less pronounced and I think that matches Mafuyu well Take this moment to add some gradients to your neck shading, including on the lineart! I'm seeing some colder colors on one side (often the left), and a warmer & more saturated shade on the other side. This warmer color sometimes come back on the edges of the skin's shading.

The colored edges I have found on the skin and the shirts in particular, bright orange⬆️ and purple⬇️, respectively

A more general note on the shading: you'll have to shade twice! Words are hard but I do have some step by steps to show you more precisely

Base colors ➡️ 1st pass of shading, selectively erasing some points with the aerograph/soft brush. I find the shapes of the folds are generally pretty pointy or boxy, rarely round ➡️ 2nd pass on the deeper shadows only, this essentially goes where you would've put lineart ➡️ Gradient with light at the top, dark at the bottom. This one doesn't apply everywhere, but I noticed it on some vests.

For the cardigan, I switched out the gradient step for lighting, mostly focusing around the shoulders and folds

I got to skip the suit, but I know the shoulders are lit the same on everyone, so I knew I shouldn't skip it on the cardigan.

As you go, look for aspects that might require colored lineart!

If you're unsure how to handle something, take a step back! Take a break for a few hours, and look at the entire cast to see how their unique items were drawn. This might give you a hint for how to draw yours :)

Okay, now for what I think is the most iconic part!! The hair! ✨

I'm grabbing these for my reference (no need to show this really, I just wanted Crewel in the post lmaoo)

Same general steps: Base color ➡️ gradients (I found it easier to put the gradients down first for this step, compared to the vest) ➡️ two colors of shade ➡️ and then some lights. However! The two details you should not forget about: a slight color shift at the back of the hair, and the diamond shaped light reflections :)

If your character has light hair, you might also want to color the lineart here. Mostly focusing on the inside of the hair, and keeping the outside lines black. (It's most visible on Epel here, but Jack's hair is lined in a dark grey in places)

Uuuuuhhhh I think that's about it? I won't go through all the items now that I wrote all my notes down, maybe just a quick word on the shoes: TWST artists sure love their shiny leather! I hope you love it too if your character has shiny shoes sfhjsdf I'm very glad I gave my boy some knock-off Buffalo cause I'm not super confident in recreating this :'^)

And with all that being said... I believe this calls for a reveal, huh? 👀

Tada!!!! 🎉✨

I'm so happy with the results 🥹 Still not perfect, but I'll get there eventually! I took the opportunity to rework Mafuyu's palette, cause I didn't like the white on white moment between the hair and the shirt + I wanted to give him a ramshackle ribbon to go with the brooch 💜Also he needed less light in his glasses to show his eyes better. I can't wait to use this new base for his next outfits hehhehe

I hope this was helpful!!! I really tried to write down everything I took note of while working on him 😊 If you're curious about anything else, I can answer in the comments!

Before I say anything: I FEEL SO BAD FOR SKIPPING GRIM i just,, didn't have it in me to draw them both, i promise i'll make up for it,,,,

I do have extra sketches for compensation though

I realized the suit jacket was not just an option, the entire cast has one so I added it last minute lmaoo

Anyway happy bappy to my dearly beloved little baby man!!!!!! It's been rough trying to sit down and draw recently, but I'd push through anything for him <3