Process: Kung Fu meets Fu Manchu

I embarked on taking this composition in a more experimental direction. I wanted to mimic the old mis-registered prints from movie posters and wrap it up in a loving tribute to Shang-Chi, Master of Kung Fu.

I wasn’t happy with the initial pencil rendering of Fu Manchu, so I scrapped it completely and started over again.

After performing a grayscale test, I realized that what was missing was highlight values. So I added them in. Here’s the first pass grayscale test.

And the second pass, with the highlights added around Shang’s muscles and face.

Finally, here’s the finished piece.