"First Contact" Part 2

If you've read through Part 1 of this walkthrough, then the next part of this won't be too different. I'm just continuing to use the same techniques for the rest of the creature's body, filling in, smoothing, and refining the paint.

Again, I continue refining the paint, and then begin adding details and the counter-shading pattern on its belly. I've added a glowing lateral line along its side, as well. The process for the glow is pretty simple. I used the pen tool to make my line on a separate layer, and traced it with pure white. I made it a little fuzzy with a bit of gaussian blur, and then set the later to "Overlay" mode. And voila--glow!

You'll notice that I'm painting directly over my rough sketch of the diver. That's okay, because right now I'm focusing on the creature. The diver is in front of it in the water, so I'll add him back into the picture later.

Here is some detail of the creature's arms, again using the same painting technique that I've employed on the rest of its body.

Now comes a fun bit--and also an easy one. I'm adding biolights to the creature's head and its tail. To do so, I simply create a pattern of white, slightly fuzzy dots across its skin the pattern I want. Once that's finished, I just duplicated the layer and set it to "Overlay."

And that finishes off the creature! Part 3 finishes up the rest of the painting.