An in-depth art breakdown of my process when creating the headshot below.
Tools Used: Krita (Initial Sketches), Aseprite (Pixel-Art)
The character used for the headshot was 'Dhana Dimension', a character from a game project concept I made but haven't acted on. Still, I liked the design and wanted to actually draw her more. This was a simplified version of the character to fit into the pixel style. When starting out I paid close attention to the character turnaround for Dhana created by CrowMesuro (Shown Below)
It's important to keep the character recognizable while still working in the more stylized art-style I was using. The first step taken was solidifying the look and layout, going into this piece I knew I wanted to use it as a header so those aspects were planned in advance. Including making sure it would overlay on top of the site UI. I sketched the layout in Krita - in a way that was rough but enough to get an idea for the pixel art.
The next step was making the outline of the figure in Aseprite and using grayscale to give a sense of colors without coloring yet. I do this to help determine contrast, and because it's more streamlined to change palettes later if needed while keeping the same general look. I also added the shadows and highlights in this stage.
Finally, using color layers I added color to the image. Sticking to the original character's color palette. I also took this time to add additional effects like a glow emitting from the energy pistol, which softly glows against the figure and fades in + out.
