Just adding more and more shapes in the background color layer (layer 1)

The method is pretty simple, just drawing like irregular shapes with the odd curve thrown in underneath the ink and highlight layers (layers 2 and 3 respectively.) I've got the middle of the piece well on its way, now I need to start pushing out to bring the whole thing together.

I like my Virgil, its not typically as the charactar appears in classic illustration, certainly nothing like the Gustav Dore version. I think I've based mine more on a Obi-Wan kind of figure, fairly gentle but not without a sharp word. Dante is just the amiable idiot required for the plot to move forward.