I remember it was almost 20 years ago when I played the very first Metal Gear Solid game, it did not blew me away.. but I remembered the feeling of playing it with my father and my uncle on a warm summer afternoon in our very first home which made it very special for me.

Now the latest installment of the game has been released and it is the last one to be directed by Hideo Kojima. I played the heck out of it and I loved every moment of it here is my tribute.

Here are the steps on how I painted BigBoss

Step 1:

I always start with a sketch, loose at first and then refine it to give form to the illustration. I originally wanted a “heart” on the dog but on the next few steps you will see that I changed it to an exclamation point as it fits better.. do not be afraid to commit mistakes on this stage.

Step 2:

2nd step is flat color seperation, I use a lot of layers in my drawings, it gives me more control and saves a lot of time, it is not very exciting but this step is very important.

Step 3:

This is where I place the shadows, correct placement of shadows will give form to the illustration and will start to give it that 3D look.

Step 4:

Is when I place the highlights, I place the highlights on the opposite side of the shadows. I also played around with the layer settings on this one.

Step5:

This is the step where I add in the little details like the scars, the patches on his shoulder and the stitches on his eyepatch.

Step 6:

Is where I put in the effects like colordodges and highlights on his eyes, I also placed him on a white background and made their reflections.

And here below is a summary of how it looks from the start to finish, I hope you enjoy my short explanation to my process. If you do please share, follow me on my facebook page tweet about it and subscribe to my youtube channel.

Thanks!