It's bees awhile since I entered a Challenge. That's because there weren't many that I wanted to submit to. Besides, I could also never make the deadlines in time. So, when it came to a Challenge where I could submit anything, I couldn't resist.

Instead of spamming theO with more of those crazy Bon Jovi pictures, I decided to switch gears and spam theO with pictures of Greed from "Fullmetal Alchemist" (and the two anime incarnations, as well). I don't know why I can't get enough of the guy, but I can't.

Actually I do know why. I think it's the extra-wide smile that won me over initially. Then there's his character. Yeah, he's the incarnation of a sin, but has standards (he doesn't lie, he takes good care of his henchmen, etc.). I've heard of anti-heroes, but Greed is somewhat of an anti-villain. The final reason why can't get enough of him is a spoiler. His appearance in his traditional form was all too brief. *Sniff.* (Note that I'm not talking about Greed in the first anime. His potential was totally wasted there.)

OK, enough of me being a fangirl. Let me explain the creative process and do a little self-critiquing while I'm at it. I referenced many, many manga pages for this picture. It's funny how speech bubbles overlap parts of characters, so I had to reference several pictures at once for the drawing. I also used a manga anatomy book (they exist!) for the angle.

The initial sketch took me quite some time. Even after putting in all that effort, I still see that some stuff is off. It's mostly the head-to-body proportions. I wanted the drawing to fit on the page, and it barely did, but I think the legs suffered a bit for it. I have trouble drawing below the waist. It's like I stop caring after I rough out the torso. And the fact that I accidentally omitted some fabric folds doesn't help matters.

This was the first time I inked before I colored. The advantage to doing that was that I could see where I wanted to ink more easily than if I had laid down color beforehand. The disadvantage is that I erased the pencil lines afterward and it made the ink fade a bit. Still, I think the inking came out pretty good. Unfortunately, after I inked, that's when I noticed all my mistakes that I mentioned in the previous paragraph.

The coloring went mostly well. I had a rough time with the skin tone. I've lately used a combination of two colors for skin when I draw characters, but in this case, I only used the lighter of the two colors. I also had a rough time with the fact that Greed wears SO much black. I tried to mix in some dark greys for contrast, but I only have so many greys. Curse my limited color palate!

After scanning, I decided to mess around in Photoshop. I followed parts of Panou's Tutorial which was very helpful, even with a colored image. I used another tutorial that I stumbled on, but I forget where I found it. I think the Photoshop work made the drawing look much better.

I didn't cover every last little detail about what I did, but you get the idea. Besides, this comment is getting long. Oh, this is also my first PNG that I submitted, by the way.

I'm going to double-team this image and use it in another Challenge. Don't worry; it won't be for fan art. Let's just hope I make the second Challenge in time.

THIS ARTWORK IS MY POSSESSION! All I'm saying is don't steal, OK?