How I do thumbnail sketches (Patreon)

I've had several people lately ask about how I do my thumbnail sketches and also how to add colors to grayscale values, so I figured I'd share a little explanation.

I like to split the sketching, values, and colors into separate steps like shown in the image so I don't have to juggle as many tasks simultaneously in my brain and can focus on one thing at a time. It allows me to play around in a non-destructive way and search for colors that harmonize well and lighting that draws your attention to the right focal points.

Hopefully the image is somewhat self-explanatory, but I should mention that the colors used in step 3 benefit from being relatively dark because step 4 and the group containing step 1 and 2 are set to the Overlay blending mode. The effect of Overlay applies most predictably to underlying colors with values that are around 50%, so start step 3 with colors that are in that range, and go lighter and darker until you get the colors you like. You'll notice that if you go too bright, the colors can look washed out or the values can look blown out.

When doing thumbnail sketches I also like to work pretty small. They're typically around 700 pixels wide. Drawing small details is fun, but during the thumbnailing stage those details are not helpful and are a distraction, so sketching at a low resolution makes it impossible for me to get caught up in those details, and my attention is fully focused on the broad composition, which is great! If you often catch yourself drawing small details too early, I recommend trying it out.

I never quite know when my explanations fully make sense or not. Hopefully they did this time! If you guys have questions about this stuff, feel free to ask.