Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Phoenix II (Rachel Summers)

Phoenix II - Rachel Summers

Here is the original entry for Phoenix to the "Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe".

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And here is my entry for Phoenix to the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Redux.

I read X-Men back when I was an early teen and really liked the aesthetic look of the Rachel Summers version of Phoenix in issue #199 (yes, kids, I'm really that old).  So, when it became available for the OHotMU:Redux, I had to grab it!

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STEP ONE:  OK, I decided to go through and do some really quick thumbnails to find a good pose (each one was just a couple-a-few minutes).  I decided to go with "E".  In some ways, I almost like the thumbnail pose better than the finished picture... Oh, well.

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STEP TWO:  I blew up the thumbnail and got to work digitally inking over the top.  I then did some flat grayscale and then flat color over top of that.  I then used that as a base to start building up more highlights and some shadows, as well. 

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STEP THREE:  I then added New Layers and kept building colors on top of each section, which I broke down into Red, Yellow, Skin Tones/Hair.  Once finished, I erased the white and added something vaguely Phoenix-shaped energies as the background. 

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For those of you who are interested, here is an animated .gif of each step.

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This was done digitally in Photoshop

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