Unadon (鰻丼, an abbreviation for unagi donburi, "eel bowl") is a dish originating in Japan. It consists of a donburi type large bowl filled with steamed white rice, and topped with fillets of eel (unagi) grilled in a style known as kabayaki, similar to teriyaki. The fillets are glazed with a sweetened soy-based sauce, called tare and caramelized, preferably over charcoal fire. The fillets are not flayed, and the grayish skin side is placed faced down. Sufficient tare sauce is poured over so that some of it seeps through the rice underneath. By convention, pulverized dried berries of sanshō (called Japanese pepper, although botanically unrelated) are sprinkled on top as seasoning.
This time is the food making series. The basics of drawing food through how to draw the cutlet bowls and ramen that we have sent so far will be summarized, and we will introduce how to draw eel weight in a making format, including applications.
1. How to draw a rough (draft)
Since it is not difficult to shape, draw a rough sketch while deciding the arrangement while looking at the material photo.
2. Pen case
The pen case can be expressed well if you are aware of the following.
- Apply strength, do not close lines = Looks soft
- Uniform line = looks solid
So, the lines of food will not be overwritten, but leave the roughness and express the softness. On the other hand, tableware is drawn with a straight line tool because it can express the difference in texture with food if it is made a uniform line.
3. Undercoat
When drawing food, select “Red Taste” or “Higher Saturation” to make it look delicious.
The color on the left is an eyedropper from the material picture, but it looks cloudy when it is illustrated. Please be aware that the color is slightly red and high in saturation.
4. Brightly paint the protruding part
Put a light color on the eel of the undercoat layer. Decide where to place the color after considering the shape of the eel and the light source.
Since it will be a guide in the subsequent process, you can see the photos and imagine the 3D to understand the position where it will be brightened, so you can work later without getting lost.
5. Shadow ① (Multiplication)
Select a color close to the base and paint. If you choose a grayish color, you need to be careful as it makes no sense to increase the saturation with a primer.
Contrary to the bright areas, the shadows are painted after considering where the depressions are.
Since it will be blurred in the subsequent process, it will be painted clearly at this stage. Use a hard brush to avoid over-blurring.
6. Shadow ①
Blur using a color mixing brush.
If you do it too much, it will give you a soft and slimy texture, so leave the original line clear.
7. Shadow ② (Multiplication)
Apply a darker area. Let's narrow down the points so as not to overdo.
Blur the original line in the same way as the shadow ①.
8. Burnt eyes and sauce
Paint with highly saturated brown. Dark brown is recommended because it becomes cloudy when using black.
It ’s okay to use a sauce after drawing a burnt eye, but this time the colors are very similar, so I paint them all together.
The burnt eyes will leave a handwriting (rough image), and the sauce will be smooth, so it will look like it when you blur it strongly (feels slim).
9. Highlight ① (screen)
The idea is the same as when you first drew a bright area. A bright color was placed on the protruding part.
I choose the yellow system on the assumption that the lighting in the store is reflected. Changing the color of light according to the situation of the illustration (outdoor indoor time zone) will improve the familiarity.
Highlights are the most important thing about food paintings!
Just like the shadow, it blurs while leaving the handwriting, but again it draws the highlight and blurs ... Repeat until it looks like natural irregularities.
Although it is difficult, if you carefully perform this process, the quality of the picture will increase.
10. Rice highlights (screen)
I put a highlight on each rice grain. Draw with a brush with an edge.
11. Highlight ②
The eel has many irregularities, and the surface is covered with sauce, so fine highlights enter here and there. I put a lot of white and fine highlights to express it.
The projecting part has a lot of highlights, but since the sauce is liquid, it may be stuck in an unexpected place. Please put in the feeling without thinking too much!
12. Draw reflections
The surrounding color will be reflected on the long surface. In order to express the smoothness of the sauce, I drew the reflection in white and used it to lower the transparency.
If you draw too much, it will look like enamel and the texture will change. If you think it is too strong, try lowering the transparency.
The same highlight was added to rice and leaves. Both are less lustrous than eels.
13. Finish
Finally, finish. First, paint a bowl.
In addition, I adjusted it because the color tends to become dull while painting. This time I made red strong with color balance,
- It looks dull on the whole → Intensify red with color balance
- Sharpness is weaker → Increase contrast
- Grayish (astringent) → Increase saturation
Please use them according to the impression of the completed illustration.
14. Finish with overlay
The overlay layer has a transparent bottom color. This layer effect can be used for various purposes such as adjusting the color or adjusting the place where the image is drawn too much because the color does not become cloudy.
With this effect
- The grains of rice were too conspicuous, so I blew white with an airbrush over the protruding part.
- The leaves look flat, so a yellowish green is blown in the center to create a bright area and give a three-dimensional effect.
I did something like that.
15. Add steam
Steam is essential for warm food! It looks delicious at a stretch just by having this.
If you add dots like water drops together, it will be refreshing. Put it exaggerated for fruits and cold snacks, and put it sparingly to some extent for steam like this time.
We're Done!
Cre: Author / Painting Mitsune Tamaki - Ichi-up
Illustrator. Focusing on social game card illustrations, he plays an active role in any genre, including 3DS game backgrounds and candy toys. He is also involved in many web illustration courses.
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