0 - Thumbnails: When first laying out this cover, the requirement was to have three main characters, the demon, and the cat. So, I played around with three ideas—the first two being variations on the importance of the main character, with the third one being a less central composition. In the end, we chose to go with a combination of one and two, making the main character just big enough to be the focus, yet at the same time not to overpower the composition.
1 - Rough Sketch: Taking that finalized thumbnail, I blew up the image and then started a rough sketch, adding in more detail. This would be the basis for my cleaned up line art.
2 - Light study: After doing a rough sketch, I like to figure out what my light sources are on my characters, so that when I go to render out the shapes later, I have an understanding of how I will light the characters.
3 - Line art: Then, using my rough sketch, I clean up the line art and get it ready for rendering.
4 - Element separation: Then, I block out areas of color corresponding to my foreground, midground, and background. This way, when I start rendering, I can have those elements on separate layers so that I can tweak each element to give them a clear separation.
5 - Color render: I then render out each element individually, using a variety of brushes and textures.
6 - Final Touches: At this point, if parts of my render aren’t strong enough, I’ll add extra highlights to push elements forward and also add extra lighting and effects. Here, in particular, I’ve made it so that the eyes of the demon, the cat, and Enma's tattoo glow.