The Making of Zatanna

To start with, I drew out the base image, as well as the pathway for the smoke to follow, using a 4H and an HB pencil.

I then scanned in the original sketch, and using the round brush in Photoshop CS6, I created a digital rough from it.

I then made the title with the pen tool, and a combination of drop shadows, strokes, and warping.

From that point, I took the file into Illustrator CS6 and, using the blob brush and pen tools, worked out the rest of the lineart.

Once that was done, I took the file back into Photoshop and added in smoke with the round brush, the Liquify filter, and the Fade Liquify editing tool.

I next added in curtains I'd made previously for my animation course last semester. I also worked more with the title.

With the lineart set, I worked out the color flats for the rest of the piece, using the round brush with the flow and opacity control set to pen pressure.

With the colors in the piece, I added textures to the piece, the stockings' silk belonging to deviantART member cadkittenstock, the hat's velvet coming from member oli-stock, and the boot and jacket's leather coming from limited-vision-stock, while the floor's wood was my own stock photos. I also added more body to the smoke.

I added more body to the smoke, as well as adding spotlight effects, and the shadows and highlights they cause. I also added color to the cards on the floor at her feet, and made a symbol in Illustrator and colored it in Photoshop to put on the cards. I also altered the proportions a bit to make her less like the Young Justice teenaged version of her character.


For the final product, I added sparkling highlights and a magical aura to Zatanna. I then added color to the smoke using the round brush and gaussian blur filter. Finally, I added an aura to the sorceress, added noise to the title, and added a bit more shading.