Sexy Ninja | adamphan

Stage 1 - Sketch

Sexy Ninja Manga Project

The Sexy Ninja Manga Project is a 2D digital painting that I created for my portfolio, exploring the manga art style and female form in character design based on a subject in Japanese culture.

I chose a ninja as my topic for this project as ninjas are commonly linked to Japan with the moon and cherry blossom scenery, so I wanted to design a female ninja with the moon in the background following my own representation on the manga art style.

I wanted to test my digital painting abilities and skills by making this piece as detailed as I could, so that I was prepared to create more colourful and bold illustrations and art on future projects.

I spent approximately 5 days to complete this painting, and some of the skills I learnt during this project included the layer masking technique and blur tools to blend and colour the character much more consistently as well as creating clean line art and textures on the colour.

I have enjoyed working on this piece as part of an update on my digital painting skills as well as techniques in Photoshop that I have learned during the year working on previous editing and art pieces.

Progress pictures of my sexy ninja painting can be found below from sketch to base colours and refinement with a gallery of screenshots.

Stage 2 - Layer Mask

Stage 3 - Colour and Background

Stage 4 - Refinement

I began this project by looking at references of ninja outfits and female ninjas in videogames/animes so I could pick out key trends and items that are commonly used.

Ponytails, knives/kunais and baggy clothing as well as a scarf were the most popular amongst the costumes I researched.

I visualised my ninja character looking away from the viewer with a moon behind her for this project and made simple sketches with change in hairstyle from long hair to a long ponytail that curls as the ninja faces away.

For the scarf I wanted to exaggerate the flow of the cloth by making it sway with a curl so I could create some focus and texture painting along the scarf when I reached the colouring stage.

Once I had a clean sketch of the ninja lineart I made a clipping mask layer where I would trace over the sketch with the red paint.

The red mask marks out where paint will be allowed to be coloured without disrupting any layers outside the red fill.

This layer masking technique is a new feature I have learnt during this project and I will use it again on future projects so my painting can be kept organised within sections as each part of the character has an individual layer such as the skin, hair and clothing.

For the background layer I used the gradient tool with a transition of black and grey.

With the mask now in place I added a base colour to each part of the body on their own individual layer and began testing the chalk brush on the scarf.

The chalk brush allowed me to create the leather texture with the smudge tool to achieve the light blur and crease effect in the cloth along the scarf.

I also designed the background by establishing my primary light source with a large full moon with outer glow effects using a solid cream brush and dark strokes with the chalk brush.

For the clouds I used a 50% opacity chalk brush with the smudge tool to blur the edges into the dark background.

I added further detail to the base colours by adding a layer for lighter shades and a layer for darker shades allowing me to work consistently between colours.

Colour picking also helped me choose suitable shades that work well with the ninja's costume and skin based on the lighting and scenery.

I removed the lineart and cleaned up the edges using darker shades of colour to outline the ninja for a realistic manga painting.

My secondary light source is a gold spirit that accompanies the ninja as I wanted this light source to highlight the body of my character for a more brighter and eye catching image.

I created the spirit using a large gold airbrush for the glow effect and smaller strokes of the airbrush for the light flow.

For the wings I used a solid white outline and reduced the fill inside the wings to 50% to show the transparency.