barananduen - Tumblr blog

barananduen · 10 days

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Art Resources!

Just letting #Artists on Tumblr know that I have an ongoing series of Art Advice Articles, that you might find helpful.

The currently published ones are:

Dealing with Art Block

How to Have a Positive Outlook

Advancing in Art: The 3 Ps

The Misconception Behind “Study Realism”

And more are coming soon, including:

How to Develop your own Style

How to Photograph Traditional Artwork

Feel free to +Follow if you want to make sure you don't miss them.💜

#artists on tumblr #art block #art advice #art tips #art help #art resources #art #how to #art tutorial #motivation #art motivation

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barananduen · 24 days

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Araçari (OC from my Advanced Aves tribe) - Digital Painting

I've been trying since July to get this to upload non-blurry. I give up.

I had a lot of fun designing this character (all the Advanced Aves are fun to design, tbh... getting all those bird traits into human form is a creative feast). Hurrak, who I [posted before] is also part of this tribe.

ABOUT THE CHARACTER Araçari works as a merchant in the Advanced Aves tribe, selling goods produced within the tribe as well as imported goods from the outside world.

CHARACTER DESIGN The beak is actually a part of his head, not a hat, and the feathers are also attached to him, but he disguises it as a cloak.

This character is based on the collared araçari [wiki page], a small toucan, and everything he's wearing represents the markings on the bird. Here's a photo I took of one, so you can see how I turned the markings into jewelry, etc.:

On the back, the space between the wings is burgundy red, which I used for the fabric color.

ARCHIVE LINK Posted to my DeviantArt on Aug. 6, 2019: https://www.deviantart.com/barananduen/art/Aracari-808650453

#artists on tumblr #art #illustration #nature #birds #toucan #plants #character design #original character #human artist #noai #original art - characters and fictional ppl

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barananduen · 28 days

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By the way, I have a photography blog, in case anyone likes looking at nature and still-life photos.🌹🍀

🌱Previously posted to my DA on May 17, 2016🌱 https://www.deviantart.com/barananduen/art/Delicate-Romantic-601875521

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barananduen · 1 month

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Art Advice: The Misconception Behind "Study Realism"

Most people who draw anime/cartoons have, while asking for ways to improve, at one point or another been told to "study realism." A common response to this is, "But I don't want to draw realism!"

But, did you know that the purpose behind this suggestion is NOT so that you draw realism? They're not suggesting you change to a more realistic style. What, then?

Let's look at this through an analogy:

Say you don't know music yet and decide you want to learn how to play the Happy Birthday song. You're not interested in playing anything else, just the HB song, and you haven't started learning anything related to music at this point. OK, that's fine, and now we have our situation set up. Once you've decided this, you set yourself to learning the sequence of notes to the HB song. You practice and practice, and, after a while, you can play it really well without a hitch. After a few years, it starts feeling bland to you, and you ask, "How can I make my HB song better?" And someone tells you, "Learn all the other music notes," and "Study classical and other genres of music." And you reply, "But I don't want to play that type of music; I want to play the HB song!" (And that's FINE! It's valid; it's what you want to do.[*Footnote 1]) But without having learned all the other notes and other types of music, you can't make a remix of the HB song, or an "epic version," or a hip-hop-fusion version; you've capped at the end of the first paragraph of this story.

So drawing anime or cartoons is like playing the HB song, or any one song in our example.

And here's where our misunderstanding comes in:

"Study Realism" DOES NOT MEAN "Draw Realism"

Yes, you'll have to draw it to study it (not only your brain, but also your hand needs to learn the skill), but it doesn't mean that's what all your artwork will look like. It is meant to give you more tools to make your anime and cartoon work stronger, more appealing, and more unique.

How will it do that? The more music notes you know, the more types of music you understand and can play, the more original a remix /version of the Happy Birthday song you'll be able to make - and it will be unique. Because you will be able to take all that diverse knowledge and apply it to your song, making it stand out, and the next time you play the HB song, people will go, "Wow! This is a really cool version!"

So now we can be clear: There is a difference between learning something and performing it. You can perform whatever you choose, but by learning all the things, your performance of your "Thing of Choice" will be stronger.

What, Exactly, Will Studying Realism Teach You, Then?

I. VALUES

If you learn how to paint/shade with a full range of values (by learning realistic shading) that properly depict both volume and lighting, you will have no trouble simplifying that to cel-shading or gradient-shading in your anime or cartoon drawings, because you will at once spot when something is undershaded or the shadows are in the wrong spot.

On the other hand, if you try to do cel- or gradient-shading first, you are way more likely to a) undershade, and b) have an inconsistent light source. And when these things happen, you won't be able to tell *why* your drawing looks "off" or bland.

II. COLOR

By studying realistic coloring, you'll be able to learn how color varies across an item (say, a shirt) that is a "solid color." Example: you're drawing a character with a pink t-shirt, standing in the sun, at the end of the school day. The t-shirt is solid pink, however, the colors on it will vary from orange-ish to purple-gray, with some areas almost a bright red (and that's not even considering items around the shirt that would bounce light back onto the shirt and change its color). But you'll only know this (and how to do it) if you study realistic coloring.

Then you can apply that knowledge to your stylized artwork and make it stand out more.

Painting of a stylized pear, where I studied real pears to understand their coloring and texture. See how studying realism can enhance your cartoon work.

III. MAKE BETTER STYLIZED ANATOMY

By studying and learning realistic anatomy, you will be able to make stylized art that, for example, doesn't have one arm longer than the other, because you will have learned how to measure proportions, even if you don't draw realistic proportions. So that if you decide you want to draw unrealistically long legs (eg: Sailor Moon), you'll be able to make them look good and keep them consistent.

You will also be able to draw figures in any position, because you will have learned how body parts are made up and how they move, as well as foreshortening/perspective. Then, when you go to draw a pose you haven't drawn before, it will be WAY easier.

IV. UNDERLYING SHAPES

Although this is one of the least-mentioned aspects of art-learning, it is, in my opinion, one of the most important, because when you learn to see underlying shapes (the quasi-geometrical shapes that build up a figure), coupled with learning how to measure a form using other parts of the same form as reference (measuring the length of one body part by the number of times another body part fits in it, as mentioned in Section III, above), you will be able to DRAW. (Period.) You won't be able to draw just people. Or just wolves. Or just cats. You will be able to break down a new subject into its building blocks and come up with a very reasonable likeness. And whatever's different, you'll easily be able to make relative measurements to spot why and fix it.

Once you learn to identify underlying shapes and how to measure proportions in anything, you will also be able to pick up and reproduce any existing style without much trouble.

[link to Tumblr post with this artwork]

For example, this was my first time drawing anything Peanuts. I didn't have to do practice sketches for it (though there's nothing wrong with doing that). But I knew, from realism, that to achieve a good likeness, you need to measure body parts relative to other body parts, so I looked at Schulz's drawings and was able to determine: OK, Charlie Brown's head is roughly this shape, his body is so many heads tall, his eyes are this % of the head, the ears are this far in, the arms reach down to here, etc. I knew what to look for.

V. FOR THOSE WHO WANT SEMI-REALISM

If you want to do "semi-realism," you'll have a way easier time of it by learning realism and then stripping it down as much as you like, than by starting off with "100% anime" and trying to build it up without knowledge of realism. People think the latter is easier, because it *seems* less intimidating, but it's like trying to drive to a store you've never been to without knowing its address: you'll be driving around forever trying to find it, and it will be frustrating. What people call "semi-realism" is stylized realism, and you can't really hit it without knowing how realism works.

CLOSING NOTES

It also doesn't mean you should stop drawing anime/cartoons and focus solely on realism for X amount of time - you can do both concurrently. In fact, the most fun way to study realism is to do so on your favorite subjects; you can even turn your reference into your favorite character!

Studying realism is also one of the best ways to help develop your OWN, unique style; one which, when people look at it, say, "Oh, that's [your name]'s work!"

[*]Footnote 1: It is fine as long as you are drawing for yourself. As soon as art is a job and you're drawing for an employer, you have to draw in the style they tell you to. So, in this case, it's to your advantage to be flexible.

I hope this was helpful and helps clear up a common misunderstanding people go through when receiving feedback. 💞

MORE ART ADVICE ARTICLES

You can find the index to all Art Advice Articles [here] including:

How to Deal with Art Block

How to Have a Positive Outlook

How to Develop Your Own Style (coming soon!)

etc.

#art advice #art tips #art help #art resources #art learning #artists on tumblr #art #how to #art tutorial #anime art #cartoon #semi realism

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barananduen · 1 month

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D.E.C.O.M.P.O.S.E.R. - Watercolor and gold acrylic on paper

Originally posted on my DA on March 23, 2016: https://www.deviantart.com/barananduen/art/Watercolor-D-E-C-O-M-P-O-S-E-R-598397639

#artists on tumblr #illustration #watercolor #watercolour #surreal #music #noai #original art - characters and fictional ppl

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barananduen · 2 months

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Zebra man - Digital painting

MAKING OF When I worked with colored pencils, I used to do this type of lighting a lot; wanted to try it in digital.

The most challenging part of designing this character was trying to fit the zebra stripes to a human body in an aesthetic way.

The pencil sketch before I painted it digitally:

BG for sketch added digitally. Texture: Texture 71 : Gold by WanderingSoul-Stox (not used in final pic)

DETAILS WATCH!

ART TIP! Light things look best against a dark background, and dark things look best against a light background. If you must have a dark thing against a dark background, rim lighting is your friend. (See: mane)

Do people enjoy this type of extra content? (Do people even expand the Readmore?😅)

ARCHIVE LINK Originally posted to DA on Dec. 27, 2020: https://www.deviantart.com/barananduen/art/Zebra-Man-2-is-an-Awesome-Title-864962946

#artists on tumblr #art #illustration #fantasy art #nature #zebra #braids #plants #flowers #character design #original character #noai #original art - characters and fictional ppl #barananduen

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barananduen · 2 months

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"Julian (OC) Playing Cupid ... and Failing" - "3D" painting: Watercolor on paper, fineliner, rope, mounting squares

#artists on tumblr #illustration #cute art #angel #cupid #painting #watercolor #watercolour art #valentines day #hearts #flowers #heart shaped #bees #flowercore #noai #original art - characters and fictional ppl

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barananduen · 2 months

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This is WanWan.

WanWan is an innocent young man🥺 from a good family,🥺 who was unwillingly sold into the city lord's harem.😔 He doesn't want to be there,💔 but...

...this is all a lie that he made up to cover up the fact that he, Zhen Wan, alias Black Impermanence, is the Martial Art World's #1 Assassin™[*], hired to end the existence👻 of said city lord, Liu Qingying!😱 Which he did!😱 EXCEPT!😲 That when he was about to leave🏃‍♂️ after doing the deed that de did while pretending to do the deed that she thought he would do,🤔❔❔ she ✨came back to life!✨😱 But now she doesn't remember anything.🙃 So now he's stuck there.😶 Awkwardly.

AND, TENCENT!! WHY DID YOU NOT TRANSLATE THIS DRAMA; I WANT TO WATCH IT!! *holds Tencent upside-down and shakes them to see if a "Wan Wan Lei Qing" drops out of their pockets*

[*]Two out of three Martial Art World's Number One Assassins are actually terrible at their jobs.

So, since I couldn't watch the comedy mini-drama📺 about the bossy city lord and the assassin puppy who try to escape the very enthusiastic harem,😱 I cope with chibis.😔

Reference:

Text on speech bubble is made up. It's not from the drama. Alternatives include: "Hmm... Are you sure about that?" "Welllll....."

#fanart - asian media

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barananduen · 3 months

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"Charlie Brown on the Moon" - Watercolor, black fineliner pen, white acrylic

I painted this for an event on DeviantArt where we were given a phrase with a character and we had to draw it. I got "Charlie Brown, on the moon, after losing a bet."

🏈🌟🌛

ABOUT DRAWING THIS Normally, I'm holding my breath while inking lineart to make it as smooth as possible, but wobbly lineart was part of Schulz's style, and, in my opinion, one of the design factors contributing to the cuteness and awkwardness of the characters (esp. Charlie Brown), so making shaky lines on purpose was interesting. I did it only for the character; perhaps I should have done it for the whole thing.

ARCHIVE LINK

Originally posted to my DA account on Nov. 7, 2017: https://www.deviantart.com/barananduen/art/Watercolor-Fanart-Mashup-Charlie-Brown-on-Moon-713064060

#Charlie Brown #Peanuts #Snoopy #artists on tumblr #illustration #cute art #fanart #moon #stars #space #galaxy #painting #watercolor #watercolour art #human artist #noai #fanart - other

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barananduen · 3 months

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"ChongZi and Mu Yu Enjoy a Sunny Day at Luo Yinfan's House without Luo Yinfan" - Yes. All of that's the title. Fanart of the Chinese drama "The Journey of Chong Zi" - Digital Painting

Part of my "square cdrama chibis" series.

...as they do.

ChongZi caught herself a Mu Yu. Plot twist! Mu Yu let himself be caught. Plot twist to the plot twist! Mu Yu set it all up so that ChongZi would catch him.

And they made flower crowns together. And fed The Fish.

And where can I get a Mu Yu pillow like this too?

Details Watch!

This piece goes with the [night scene] that I made before.

For more, click this tag: #fanart - asian media

#The Journey of ChongZi #Yang Chaoyue #Li Daikun #cdrama #cdramasource #artists on tumblr #illustration #Li Dai Kun #chinese drama #cdrama fanart #The Journey of Chong Zi #chibi art #cute art #noai #fanart - asian media #barananduen

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barananduen · 4 months

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"Christmas Chocobo" - Watercolor and black fineliner on paper

#artists on tumblr #illustration #cute art #final fantasy #final fantasy series #final fantasy xiv #chocobo #birds #animal art #watercolor #noai #fanart - other

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barananduen · 5 months

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Virgen de Guadalupe - Digital painting

#artists on tumblr #illustration #cute art #Virgen de Guadalupe #Lady of Guadalupe #human artist #noai #fanart - other

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barananduen · 5 months

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Art Advice: Advancing in Art: The 3 Ps

For people who are new to art, new to a different medium, or just need some motivation.

Keeping what I call "The Three Ps" in mind will help you power through and not quit before you've reached your goal.

I - PRACTICE

It sounds cliché, but practicing is necessary; not just for art, but for everything. Much like athletes spend years in the youth levels, learning the skills, before they can become professionals... and then even when they're pros, they go to training every day, to hone their skills. Just like they do, so, too, must an artist practice.

Practice can be anything. It doesn't mean you must shade so many spheres before you can-- no! You can shake it up! You practice and hone your skills with every drawing you make. You can practice drawing your OCs, your pet, your favorite piece of decoration in your house. Practice with something that makes you excited to draw!

Train yourself to draw different things. When you do a new drawing, try different head angles, lighting, perspective. Try landscapes, still lives, different types of animals. It won't come out perfect the first few times, but keep trying. Each different thing you learn will add new skills to your set, and the more of these you collect, the easier it will become to make that drawing just as it is in your head!

Every artist screws up sometimes; even professionals! Do not be discouraged; every mistake takes you one step closer to where you want to be.

Don't worry about making everything perfect. Just draw! Then look at the imperfections and address them, but don't let them hold you back! Here's an article that will help you keep a positive outlook when things don't come out the way you want: [Art Advice: How to Have a Positive Outlook] It also explains a method that you can use to analyze your not-perfect drawings to identify what you need to fix and how (See #2 in that article).

II - PATIENCE

I often see beginner artists feeling upset because they're not getting "good" at art quickly. Art learning is a long-term process; it takes several years for people to get "good" at art. In fact, you never stop learning and changing and improving. The trick is to stick with it and not give up!

"Rome was not built in a day." - proverb; unknown source

Be patient with yourself. Give yourself time. In the meantime, enjoy the ride!

III - PERSEVERANCE

Imagine a miner who's digging for a precious metal, has been digging for years, becomes disappointed, and gives up and closes the mine. But they were two days away from hitting the vein! They just didn't know it and quit before they could reap the results! Don't be the miner who gives up before hitting the vein!

Keep on arting! Keep on practicing! Keep on challenging yourself and keep it fun! You WILL get to where you want to be!

Keep your goal in mind and don't give up before you reach it!

All the best wishes, ~B~