No Way Out

It's taken me a long time, but finally, here's my new turtles piece! It was a lot of effort, many delays and a bit of tearing my hair out, but goddamn, it was worth it. It's been an amazing learning experience and the result is just fantastic! It's the best thing I ever drew, bar none. I hope you guys enjoy it! ^^


For those interested, lemme give you a quick walkthrough!

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I've changed my turtle design a lot - in the previous drawing, I was trying to emulate the new nickelodeon series, but that's... simply not my style. I was happy with it at the time, but given some time and distance, I realized it was lacking in a lot of places, largely because I simply wasn't comfortable drawing in that style. So, I decided to modify things a bit. Right now, the design is kind of a mix of different incarnations of the turtles - Perhaps it's most reminiscant of fan art like that of MsObscure or sneefee actually - I've made the nose more pronounced, changed the physique a lot, but the gear design is still the 2012 series version.

Originally, I was going to surround Raph and Leo with Foot ninjas, but I couldn't get it to look right, so I decided to put the baddies outside the frame. At first, I wanted them on a rooftop, and I got a fair way into making that background, but the turtles just looked misplaced there. So I figured an alleyway would work perfectly. To make the alleyway, I began by putting together a room using simple geometric shapes. Once satisfied, I used the same technique to add objects: The window, the light, the drain pipe and the fire escape. I decorated them a little with some brushes. The bricks in the wall was made by swiping a square brush across it.

Finally, the lighting was uncharted waters for me. I've never even attempted lighting a scene like this, but I created a new layer and used a combination of multiply (dark colors primarily) and color burn to bring it to life. The effect is amazing, though I think it might be a bit over the top. At least it's moody though, and perhaps that's more important.

EDIT: Made it a bit lighter - lemme know if it's still too dark ^^

UPDATE: 2nd place in TMNT Contest's May Challenge! Thank you so much everyone who voted!!