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korolife · 9 days

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Blog No.003　24年5月10日

「Let's Talk About Coloring+Rendering!!」

～ The Chaos of Akehhh-style Layering w/ Colors & Values ～

ArtStreet recently released some weekly coloring contests and as someone who likes joining 'em + colorwork being the absolute joyous part in drawing for me, I got really into it!! One of them somehow won and I still have the raw .mdp file of it with most of the layers unmerged... so, I thought there might be some value in sharing my chaotic coloring progress with it. There may never be an opportunity like this ever again...

CONTENTS:

Preface・・・・・・・・・

The Linework・・・・・・

Composition + Planning・

The Render・・・・・・・

Additional FX Tips・・・・

The Layers of Dread・・・

1. Preface

I use the free software MediBang Paint, which is made by the same folks who made the aforementioned Art-sharing website, Artstreet. Although its file type extension is .mdp, it can also save as and open .psd files all the same. You can download it on their website here! I believe it's available in both PC, Apple, iOs, and Android (also on the PlayStore). ☞And here is my google drive link of my fully rendered entry's raw .mdp file. I also included a .psd version that should be accessible with most other softwares.

NOTE: I'm not sure how some layer effects will be displayed on other softwares that may have different modes (either in name or function) from MediBang, though. But I think "multiply" and "overlay" is fair game mostly anywhere with layer systems.

Either way, ↑this is just a bonus thing if you wish to see for yourself how much my MediBang cries everytime I work on something, since visuals of the rough step-by-step will be provided here as well!

At the end of this post, all of the layers' purposes will be explained...y-you'll see...

■And just as a disclaimer: I'm an instinctively self-taught illustrator who is a heavy visual learner, so there are certain terminologies or methods I do that I cannot readily explain with a concise rational 'why' or 'how's / with back-up info on color theories or formally taught techniques in art schools and the like. I mostly operate on instinct, observation, subjective preferences, and vibes, so this would just be me trying to verbalize my process (with visual aid) as a means of share-rambling, rather than actually directly "teaching" anything, I think haha You can take it as a cautionary tale too, honestly-

※I will also be going through this with the assumption that the reader has some background knowledge of the basics of digital illustration and general drawing terminologies. If you have any questions or needed clarifications, or maybe if you'd like to request any potential topics of discussion in the future like this one, please feel free to let me know!

Although art can be fundamentally "wrong" when it comes to achieving certain specific styles, structures (especially when involving realism as the standard), or general executions of intentions/themes, I am of belief that there is generally no wrong or right 'way' for drawing anything; or for doing ANY type of artistic endeavor for that matter. This might be perceived as a "bad anatomy defender" / "no need to improve, then" stance on my part, but it is absolutely not the case! An artwork is never finished, there's always room for improvementsーa galaxy's size of a room especially for myselfーbut I just think anything at all that brings you an expressive or creative outlet, joy, or peace of mind is worth pursuing, regardless of your own skill or tact and there's no shame in that. I do not wish anyone, especially people starting out with drawing to be discouraged for having their own different approaches or styles in comparison to other people's works by misconception of, "oh, am I doing it wrong?". Sometimes it's just different or an uncommon worldview, and that's not always a 'bad' thing, I think. Heaven forbid artists actually start getting creative and unique―

What I will be presenting here is simply my one way out of thousands of thousands of different possibilities. So, let's start★

2. The Linework

Equally lengthy talk of lineart is probably for a later discussion, but here is the template provided by ArtStreet for the contest + what will be colored in for today.

☞The contest has since ended, but you can still download it here if you'd like!

3. Composition + Planning

The contest rules said it's "OK to draw backgrounds", so let's go!!

I had already decided on how I want to color it early on: It will be more scenic in nature, rather than stylistic. So, there will be more focus on looking 'real' than 'aesthetically stylish'! Just so it doesn't look disconnected or too out of place, I tried to draw my additions similarly to how Mr. bowman's linework looked as much as possible.

This how I visually define "scenic" VS "stylistic" illustrations (in my head)

I tend to think about my approach with the rendering long before the coloring process, even waaay before I line my final sketch, usually. I like experimenting and mixing different rendering techniques with varying linework styles, but for this in particular, I'm simply working with what was given to me.

At first, I just wanted a "cool breeze w/ leaves flying away ahhhh refreshing~~" mood, but the space at the side of his head looked rather empty as is, even with Nessie. So I thought about putting him inside a vague...darkly-lit abandoned ruins-setting to eat up some of that space.

And with that, it's time for colors.

4. The Render

My coloring process is the lengthiest and often makes people who see me color in real-time scream in horror, but I think it's actually fairly simple and can be summarized into three nutshelled stages:

①Fill in the colors with a finalized palette of your choice,

②cry Continuously render until your arms fall off you're satisfied.

③ cry even HARDER (optional) Adjust accordingly to fit in better with other elements of the illustration, such as with the focus/subject to background. *will be explained later.

oh and btw, the word 'render' or 'rendering' tends to confuse a lot of people, artist or not. I tend to think of it this way:

・Coloring is the selection of your color range, tints, tones, and palette to use in a drawing, ・Rendering is the act (or product) of the specific set of techniques (including effects) you use with the colors/values to create illusions of depth, shadows and light, movement, warmth/cold atmospheres, etc.

But that's just how I define it with my own step-by-steps. Otherwise, I think either term is pretty much interchangeable.

Anyhoo, what do you think should this man's hair, skin, eye, and clothing's colors be?

here are some of the variations on the color picks of his outfit that rotted my brain for about 3 hours straight, like it's a 2000s dress-and-match flash game

The many submissions for the contest had many fun color combinations and interesting interpretations I personally think should've won. I saw a lot of blonde archer-princes wearing greens, browns, and blues, as a lot also went for the "forest hunter boi" vibe. But I was saddened by the lack of my favorite colors being used as the primary colorーorange and yellow. So, let's use those!!

The start of my coloring/rendering journey is never at Layer '1'.........

―Starting with what I've always referred to as "environment prep":

The purpose here is to 'set' the base colors so they match with the environment or general atmosphere.

This could mean adjusting the saturation, or spraying gradients of the BG's most prominent color on parts that...gives me anxiety the most-

As someone who tends to work with very, very bright color schemes, trying to blend it in when the illustration is meant to be scenic or 'serious' in tone without it being a distracting eyesore can be a challenge. But I just think gradients look cool lol- by doing this as my step 1 for the rendering process, it like an appetizer? It makes me a little giddy on what to do next.

Shading is usually an early step for me as well, even though I think it's a lot of other artists' near-to-final step. I tend to lean towards an abomination mix of soft shade and cel shadeーsolid enough to trace where the shadows start and end, but softened around the edges for effect.

I also tend to apply an additional spray of subtly darker shade on top of the first one? It's usually on spots where I think the light source won't be hitting as much.

※Just a side note: You may see multiple things changing around but during the actual drawing, I'm most definitely working on one area or part at a time lol. These visual aids were ripped off the raw .mdp by hiding some of the layers, so that's why different parts seem to progress all at once.

Apart from the previous 'multiply'-ing for the preliminary shadows, I add another layer of distinct shadow on there for objects or other characters that can cast shadows on the subject. In here, it's the bow and the hovering strap across his chest.

Lighting is also starting to be added as well.

One direct alteration I did with the lineart template was change the line's colors. I find it really softens them to mix better with their filled-in colors + as well as not stand out too harshly against a light-colored scenic background.

I think you now have a good idea over my hyperfixation on making sure colors are 'vibing' well against the BG lol A lot of these steps are basically just doing the same thing over and over with new layers for the sake of this purpose, really.

And after that, just repeating all the stuff we did with the character onto everything else until it's all done!

A lot of these changes are very subtle on their own, but makes all the difference in the bigger picture, I think!

Just maybe some additional finishing touches for some boom shakalaka and...that's pretty much it! You will notice that throughout the entire process, there's a lot of random little things that suddenly appear or change with seemingly not much purpose or meaning on its own. I unfortunately have always drawn in this sort of vague, quickly impulsive, directionless way since I was a child and I don't think even I will ever understand it, logically. It's mostly a... continuous string of instinctive feelings of "HEY let's do it this way, if not there's like 10 other things we can try next", is the closest I can get to an explanation of how it feels.

I don't know if it's common for other artists to think or function this way, but I do know for a fact that many people seem to be surprised and confused when they see me drawing in real time this way. Everytime I get asked 'how' I draw certain things, I say things like 'I turn my brain off and vibe with many, many layers with a broken back.' and people think it's just a dismissive joke. I-it's really not, it's literally what happens, I don't have any secret shortcuts for you-

Hopefully this very lengthy post's visual aid can help demystify some misconceptions on what "really" goes on + make my nonsensical ramblings somewhat understandable... like, with an illustrated instruction manual written in a different language using many borrowed english words, but used incorrectly haha

Anyway, the rendering stage is where the simplified steps ② and optional step ③ branch out like a fork in the road for me; I don't think one is any "better" than the other, I think doing either is simply a matter of personal preference and artistic choice.

I removed the walls to see the whole figure better in a side-by-side comparison. I like the unadjusted (L) without the wall, but with the walls in the final illustration, I think adjusted (R) felt 'right'. What do you think?

There are some things, although realistic, don't look that good as a visual aesthetic and are just downright excessive/unnecessary to add to certain types of illustrations. Then there's things that aren't possible in real life, but artistically? Looks really dang cool. Being biased for either ends of the hyperrealism and hyperstylized spectrums of styles is fine; only as long as no discrimination is involved towards people who don't share your opinions, in my opinion-

and to conclude this section, I say,

『 You go render however you wantーhellーno colors even necessary if you wish! Simple ≠ laziness, just as much as complexity ≠ skill。』

I will never stop yapping about how a lot of minimalist styles require so much more amounts of planning and effort to make sure everything is nice and clean, especially compared to mindless rendering loops like these. Mine's a maximalist hell and I wouldn't have it any other way, but I greatly envy minimalist artists that can render with just something like my step ① with so much grace and tact; not a single stray or wasted stroke!! Anyone who dismisses these types as "lazy" I will violently stuff inside a couchーwithout any potato snacks to snack on!!!

5. Additional FX Tips

Just a shorter section for some optional finishing touches tips'n'tricks used in this I frequently (ab)use☆

From the very beginning, even before I understood how to draw, it's always been a tradition to doodle around sparkles all around the place. I usually do it with MediBang's sparkle brush if I want it to look polished, or simply draw it manually using either the pen or airbrush tool for a cruder charm.

Motion blur is great, and MediBang in particular also has different types of blur effects like Gaussian and regular blurs. If your software doesn't have these effects / if you're working traditionally but still want to achieve the illusion of motion in a still drawing, you can still achieve the same effect through your linework! Try looking into incorporating action lines (commonly seen in manga and comics) into it. Otherwise, purposefully drawing something blurily to begin with oughta work as well.

Apart from the color changing from the rendering section, there's also this little effect that is achieved by duplicating the lineart and blurring it. It gives something like a...'dreamy' quality to it? The higher the blurred copy's opacity is, the more emphasized it makes everything look.

6. The Layers of Dread

At long last we've arrived... at my MediBang's repeating demise for all of eternity...

Here's a preview of what the .mdp/.psd file of this colored entry's unmerged layers looks like + how I try to validate their existence. When I work on full-sized illustrations, I tend to merge layers as I go, so this is probably one of the rare times I can show something like this without either mine or your PC dying. If you'd like to see, play around with, and toggle them for yourself in all of its............glory, feel free to download it here.

Yes

we're starting at Layer 611. Enjoy.

I will now delete my PC's copy because jfc that's one too many MBs ...and it's still eons lighter than what I usually work with on my own full illustrations from sketch to finish......。 (;´༎ຶٹ༎ຶ`) thank you for reading this far and making it out alive, goodbye for now...

・・・ホームページALL LINKS・・・

・Art Gallery・Commission Info・Ko-fi shop・

#art blog #long post #coloring #coloring tutorial #art tips #art tutorial #digital art #digital illustration #digital drawing #digital art tips #digital art tutorials #medibang #drawing journal #drawing process #illustration #coloring practice #nessie #the loch ness monster

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korolife · 15 days

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Blog No.002　24年5月4日

「Working on My Very First Miniature Kit!」

Hi, this is a behind-the-scenes on my experience in making the Corner of Happiness: Taste of Life DIY miniature kit!

It was from a couple of years ago, we found a stall selling miniature craft kits while strolling around the mall. My sister bought me the very same model I've been eyeing on my online shopping cart as a birthday present.

Me and my sister both love miniatures since we were very young, but making them from scratch require a lot of time, materials, and tools we don't really have (especially if you don't want them to look crudely made). Luckily, now with a Do-it-yourself kit, that wasn't going to be much of an issue! ...or so I'd hoped as a miniature newbie.

These are all the other variants of this series. I really dig the pink bunny aesthetics they're going for, though it's not as apparent on this one.

The kit also included custom wooden parts, wires, beads, and a tool kit necessary for the build. It also comes with an acrylic glass for dust-free casing!

Most of the parts were made from a print-out glossy paper with all the items' photo-real textures; some of which are just to be pasted onto a harder material like wood shaped similarly to the object, but most of them are just the paper itself.

I guess doing it this way cuts costs for manufacturing, but it was very challenging to work with, in my opinion. You'll see what I mean in a bit.

And here's a preview of the instruction booklet's contents.

I thought it was worded weirdly at parts, but still understandable enough with plenty of visuals to go with it.

Starting with the base/foundation of the model before anything else seemed to be the best option... though I was very, very tempted to skip to work on the food items. I don't know why, but miniature food just gets me really giddy.

But, gotta hold backーcan't make food without the oven and all.

I then worked my way through the biggest parts and set them down permanently with the paste provided in the kit.

...but I probably shouldn't have glued the kitchen island in place before placing the handles...aiyah one of them is really crooked-

I'm not familiar with wirings, so setting up the LED lights made me panic a little. But somehow, it all worked out! I'm confident that if an idiot like me can get through this, so can anyone!!

And now I present to you: The Paper Struggles™

+ and a "It's so fakken small" compilation.

The booklet is a lie lol that knife .jpg is 5x bigger than what you've got to work with-

I remember both bread toasts being squished from the tweezers... thankfully tiny enough for anyone to really see, but there's definitely a shtload of dents on there...

The wire handles for the mug was such a struggle lol it kept falling off no matter what, so I just kept adding glue and just... held on to it with pressure against the bead for what felt like eternity until it dried completely.

I also remember struggling with the semi-origami flowers quite a bit, but I think the trauma of it all made my brain forget to take photos-

Next up are the wires. I never really considered it before this kit, but they can actually have a lot of use when it comes to making miniature furnitures and accessories.

This was unfortunately before I got into making earrings, so I didn't have the right tools (pliers) to straighten them out. The very thin tweezers that came with the kit didn't help that much, so I just had to use my fingers.

The results... are as wobbly as the hands that created them lol I've learned my lesson...

that incomplete circle pains me so

And here we have my favorite partーthe food! All the tiniest of detailing, the garnishing, the arrangements... it just makes me so happy, I really don't understand why.

The original instructions only intended the oranges to be on the chopping board, but not in this household!!!

Oh, and the oranges were sliced up polymer clay rolls that I know are popularly used as nail art? Me and my sister used to sell polymer clay accessories back in the day and it felt very nostalgic seeing those tubes again.

And here we have the finished model! ☆

I made a few changes from the original intended 'look' + added a couple of my own beads from my hoard material collection from childhood I planned on using for when we started making miniatures... and the time for use was most certainly now!

Aaand here's a bird's eye view before completing with the dust-free acrylic glass encasing top lid.

～ CONCLUSION ～

Overall, I thought it was really fun, despite the unforeseeable challenges along the way. Even as a newbie with little to no experience working on actual builds + with only the enthusiasm and love for miniatures to desperately cling to when the damn wires wouldn't stick on their corresponding surfaces properly... it seemed to turn out pretty OK!! I expected a whole lot more screaming and dying inside lol If you're interested in getting it, I think simply searching up "Corner of Happiness" or "Taste of Life DIY miniature kit" should get you some results on your preferred online shopping platform! ※NOTE: I do have to stress to make sure to check (either through other user reviews or the listing's description) if the seller is including a tool kit in your purchase. A lot of the items included in this kit you can probably find at home, but not a lot of people are so crafty to just have them lying aroundーespecially if you're a complete newbie with crafts/miniatures! You'll have a hard time trying to wing it without tools. ※also, they might just skimp on you by not including them, but still have you pay for the full price lol it's definitely worth considering when purchasing.

I know a lot of parents may see these kits to buy for their kids, but unless ➀ they're also helping out the kid in the process or ➁ if the kid in question has no interest or patience for these kind of things, I think it's best not to buy them DIY kits like these if you don't want to risk wasting money. But that's just my opinion, as a broke adult who's always wanted one of these haha

The amount of care, effort, and attention to make sure everything is sturdy enough and visually clean can be very drainingー but if you're willingーanyone can do it!

And of course, a final very cool look on LED lights turned on at night.

This project was done around 2022年. I've done one more miniature kit since then that was way more complex, but that's a whole 'nother journal entry for another day...

For now, here's a mini update of how this Taste of Life is hangin' after two years have passed:

please don't mind Mr. Gamma side-eyeing you in the BG-

The batteries for the LED unfortunately need replacing and one of the wire chairs kind of died a bit, but it's still alive + currently displayed and part of my makeshift not-all-Shounen Jump Manga corner! I might make a separate blog about that too...

But until thenーthanks for reading ( ´ ꒳ ` )⸝ see you in the next one!★

#crafts #miniature #miniature model #kitchen #taste of life #corner of happiness #diy #diy kit #review #miniature dollhouse #miniature craft #craft kits #diy dollhouse #diy miniature

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korolife · 1 month

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Blog No.000 24年4月5日

『KoroLife』 : (I wish for) A Colorful Life

in hindsight I probably should've started with this introduction but ah well

Hello! I go by Aki Shourikawa, also known as TheAwesomeAki-kun from DeviantArt. Ever since dA "died" in 2019, I felt like I lost a place where creativity and the fun aspects of making art was celebrated and utilized. With the character-limiting, trend-chasing, confusing censorshipping, popularity-prioritizing algorithms and systems most social media sites use, I lost an outlet for expressing my scattered thoughts and experiences throughout my art journey.

Even though talking to the void for not having a following was normal to me even from my dA days, it felt especially lonely the past few years trying to move everything and start anew to cold, uncaring websites who valued clicks more than integrity or ingenuity. So much so that I just felt like I shouldn't even try doing anything apart from quietly feeling inadequate and too incompetent for anyone else outside my own head.

Outside of being a creator, I can hardly find artists I'd like to follow as a viewer in these sites now compared to before; when all the recommended recommendations tend to be the hundred-thousand-eyeball-popular artists that usually ➀cater to a younger demographic for profit, or just ➁follow along with whatever is currently trending and mirror what other artists already made. Not that there's anything bad about understanding your market and making profit off of it! It's just... art, to me, has always been an escape from ridiculous societal standings, hierarchies, or denomination prejudices present in day-to-day lifeーEveryone is capable of drawing or making art, and that's something I've always liked about it. But even if bad apples with bad takes are probably just a minority to an otherwise wholesome majority of artists out there... the idea of transforming the creation of art into a pure competitive market, or even some kind of 'content' generator somehow leaves a bad taste in my mouth, personally.

I want to see more of artists who create their own art as a showcase of how they perceive the world in their unique sense and style, just because! But those types (especially ones without a following) seem to keep getting shadowbanned, stunted, and pushed away by unquenchable zombie algorithms that push and normalize this trend.

There's a lot of laughably bad things to say about DeviantArt's online reputation, but I found that a lot of like-minded lurkers were easier to find back then + genuinely interact with beyond one-word compliments and befriend over a common interest (art!) regardless of following size, skill level, or what have you...compared to how it is these days where it's a ridiculous..."looking for art moots, but I will be picky❤"-kinda world. It was probably because it was focused as an art website and not just a really broad scope of 'social media' site where everything non-art also goes down the hatch...that was the case for old dA, at least.

Now, enter Tumblr!ーa site that I've been extremely familiar with even before I started uploading my stuff online, even though I haven't used it myself mostly because of DRAMAtical Murder memes ngl- and while I understand it still contains most of the flaws I've listed of other social media websites... it's meant to be a blogging site! With multiple blogs for multiple different things! That'll work great for me!... with my category-varied 2.4k submissions on old dA...I think!!

So instead of moping around for halcyon days as I did the past 4 years or so now, through Tumblr's platform... I wanted to get back to being productive again and document an aspect of my life that I wish to be filled with different colors and flavors. Through this nonsensical ramblingy, longass tangent about not liking other social media sites in comparison to old dAーalreadyーI'm doing it now!!

I want to learn all sorts of things when it comes to drawing, so I want to share all the failed experiments, confusing experiences, and silly things that generally makes me a little happy when I'm drawing. Even though I'll probably still be talking to the void...I think even the void will appreciate having more than 280 characters to use without sounding like an incoherent, shattered fortune cookie prophecy.

And if somehow, somewhere, someone finds and reads through them.... I hope they can give some form of motivation, inspiration, entertainment, or a cautionary tale for your own artistic endeavors, maybe? like, underestimating your deadlines and procrastinating at the last day, then panic upon the realization that you should've started like a wholeass year ago to finish the task at hand, then proceed with praying to a god (of your choice) and cramming until the very last minute til you nearly break your hands! Me and my 7-, 11-, 14-, 19- and 23-year-old selves do not recommend this at all! Tune in next week for more wild experiences that will summon forth bombasticeth side-eyes!!-

See you around, and for now, I hope you have a nice day ahead! 'v')/

・・・ALL LINKS・・・

・Art Gallery・Commission Info・Ko-fi shop・

Main blog・Art blog・Non-chatterbox drawing process (KoroLite)

#blog intro #introduction #korolife #korolite #kororette

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korolife · 1 year

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A Palpitating Salutations to U

Hi! this will be a nervous wreck word salad dump of my drawing processes! (with visual aid). More specifically, I’ll be journaling the 'making-of’s of:

illustrations that have a ton of detailing that needs a lot of pre-planning,

ones especially that are humongous in size,

ones that experiment around techniques and styles,

and ones that contain certain elements or... just something I feel like rambling about.

Crafting endeavors / general creative experiences!

Thanks for stopping by. (´꒳`)

・ MAIN BLOG (central hub for everything I do)

・ ART BLOG (where all the finished illustrations are at!)

・ SUPPLEMENTARY LITE VERSION (moving .gifs only)

- - - - 🍊🍋 🧺 BLOG ENTRIES INDEX:

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Symbol Legend:

🍊 is for Detailed Drawing Process 🍋 is for Crafting Experiences 🧺 is for Blog Updates 🥕 is for drawing technique discussions 🍘 is for general drawing journaling 🥮 is for spec. Art Challenges 🥪 is for spec. Art Collaborations 🍱 is for spec. Original project releases 🍧 is for Concept Diving 🍨 is for Room Update 🍈 is for DIY and makeshifts 🥛 is for ??? 🌌 is for Recommendations 🌠 is for Artist Features 🥏 is for Product Reviews

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Listing:

🧺No. 000 - What’s KoroLife?

🍊 No. 001 - Making of “Mini Show of Life” (big illustration)

🍋No. 002 - Let’s Build A DIY Miniature Kit!① (”Taste of Life”)

🍊 No.003 - Let's Talk About Coloring+Rendering!! (+downloadable raw .mdp and .psd file)

#blog intro #introduction #tag list

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korolife · 1 year

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Blog No.001 23年4月11日

Drawing Process: Making of “Mini Show of Life” (commissioned illust.)

Hello! This will be my first in-depth journal/blog entry in a very long while after being quiet for 5? years since dA’s fall from grace. But, I hope you can find something of use, or at least get some entertainment out of it. Do take care though; once the talking starts...it’s not going to stop. Please feel free to skip through parts you deem only worthy of your time (or just the pictures really), I won’t take any offense! I will be mostly using these to gush out roughly 5 years-worth of recepientless chattiness directed to anyone willing to sit through walls of text anyhoo.

However long the stay; thanks for stopping by! (´• ω •`) /

CONTENTS:

0 - Making (overview)

1 - The Concept

2 - Inspiration

3 - Breakdown

4 - Never Finished

⓪　―　メイキング　―

Start of project (concept pitch): 2022年 February 7

Start of Labor (revisions and onward): 2022年 November 10

Date of completion: 2023年 March 27

Total time passed from start (labor) to finish:

4 months +17 days? ( ~3,280 hours / ~137 days )

Very Rough Estimated Labor Duration (*excluding breaks/sleep AND reference hunting + test runs) :

= ~1,128 hours / ~47 days / ~7 weeks / ~1.67 months in total.

※Very rough estimate indeed, my math may have failed me in a few places-

Although it seems like a lot of time has passed (*also in comparison to the previous one that was arguably much more laborious), it’s worth taking note that the duration of the entire process got hit by two major holidays in a row (Christmas + New Year), then immediately followed by my birthday haha so it had more days of rest than it did labor through all that time.

①　―　THE CONCEPT　―

Around 2023年 early February, I was contacted by MissPacthesis (otherwise just known as Pacthesis) on twitter to draw a movie poster/book cover-type of illustration featuring the two main characters of their original webcomic, “Violet Goes To The Beach”. Since there was no specific request for the composition, I made four concept sketches with different themes and moods for their consideration. This was the first one:

The basic idea was to create an artificial dollhouse-like environment that showcased the characters’ daily lives, as depicted in the comic.

I’ve always been fond of miniatures but, for some reason, never really thought about making them as the subject for my drawings? So I thought the whole physical dynamic between Harley and Violet was the perfect opportunity to explore that.

The three other concepts have already been finished by the time it was this one’s turn (despite being the first one to be conceived).

MissPacthesis was super generous and patient with me when it came down to the deadlines. And so, I wanted to take my time with it and really make sure to end it with a bang for the now-final boss of the bunch!

Following through the requested changes/details after the rough concept sketch was delivered + as well as my own additions, this was how the first set of revisions turned out.

Some of said requests are:

the moooooon

stars hanging on the strings as props

set curtains+lights (to establish a ‘show’ setting)

putting Violet against a less cluttered environment someway

One of the bigger issues was the size difference between the two characters; Violet inevitably can’t be clearly seen with how small she is in comparison to Harley, much less stand out in the composition in the original version. In the other three previously completed commissions, she always remained small and near the environment, while Harley’s ginormous size in comparison unintentionally hogs the spotlight (unless he’s bringing Violet near him).

I was really, really fond of Violet’s outfit design on this one, so I asked if I could make Violet be bigger than Harley for once; even through just an illusion of perspective. I got MissPacthesis’ OK and was feeling pretty OK myself, but immediately screaming and not as OK after realizing I had to draw the female anatomy in close-up view Aiyaaaah

②　―　INSPIRATION　―

Each and every external inspiration used as reference is difficult to pin down in retrospect, but I can tell you that throughout the duration of this drawing, it wouldn't stop coming after me anywhere I happened to look.

The introduction of the fairy tale themes was inspired by its references in the comic, which leads to me connecting it with old fairy tale book covers that are known for being super intricate, magical, and no longer made how they used to be now. Then again, those things were probably super expensive too...

If we’re talking about the overall shape, then it's definitely the magical doorway in the movie “Barbie as Rapunzel”. I didn't remember it at all until I came across a pirat- I mean, a s l i m e t u t o r i a l on Youtube, that made me realize that it must've made an impact on kid-me; it was just this concept embedded in my subconsciousーraring to get blurted out at a moment’s notice. Just look at the way the flowers circle around the scenery as a border. Heck, even the same type of flowers in thereーpink ‘n blue morning glories. I was near finishing cleaning up my lineart when YT hooked me up and it hit, “oh sht, I copied the homework and I didn’t even know??”

Technique-wise, I’ve been keeping an eye on Art Nouveau styles that I discovered through the anime called “GOSICK”, which then introduced me to the works of Mucha, who is arguably THE poster man of Art Nouveau. I got acquainted with them in my very early teens, which is nice for familiarity. But due to even poorer understanding of fundamentals at the time, all I ever took from it was really:

'...very thin line on the inside, THICK BOI LINE OUTSIDE'.

A bit of a silly and insulting understatement to the nuances of the technique, but this simplified understanding did help fixing my shaky, shaky lineart through the years to now, hereーhelping me not go completely nuts over advanced class Art Nouveau complexities I won’t even pretend to understand.

And from there, inspiration for colors burst out from newly-released movie posters smack dab in the duration of the commission; like

“Disenchanted”’s,

and even “Everything Everywhere All At Once”'s.

And then mid-lineart fixing, I got hit with “RWBY” Volume 9's start with the V9 Opening (”Inside” by Cassie Williams and Martin Gonzales), setting the tone with all the colors and all the madness.

It was my weekend hype man.

Although what I was working on was quite far from these in overall concepts/tone/themes (which, lowkey recommendations, btw-), they still served as a nice color setter inspiration + something that just made me keep remembering to continue working on my own colorful composition through the distracting days.

Aaand finally:

it’s most likely my unrequited love for miniatures that started and shaped this composition from the beginning + stayed after the ungodly amounts of revisions at the top!

The fact that the entire premise of Violet Goes to the Beach is pretty much enabling this obsession of mine? makes me feel like it was destined to beeeee (if you believe in that kinda thing anyway). I’ve pined for the concept even before knowing what they were actually called or how to spell and pronounce the damn word.

And I’m starting to think it’s the reason why I’m super drawn to the tiniest of details, be it in my illustrations or other fields with unnecessary hyper-everything.

As a lonesome nut in a cramped household, my hobby has always been staring at everyday objects and filling the rest with my imaginationーmaybe tiny plants growing on it? Or turning them into furniture for any and all small-enough creatures; anythingーI'll imagine a whole dang ecosystem growing or interacting with anything I can find, and then put myself in there to imagine what would it be like to just...vibe on top of gigantic everyday objects with all the space I could ever need and more.

This was essentially my standard as well for finalizing the composition of miscellaneous flowers in the piece:

"Do whatever you feel like, as long as a mini-you would wanna move in it; swim in it; jump on it? or be a e s t h e t i c c enough to be considered ‘instagramable’ or... or something. ﾍﾙﾌﾟﾐ- ”

The moment something felt off through a closer look, or disagreed somehow with its neighboring details, it got erased and rethought of until the vibes are decidedly pleasant enough for an imaginary miniature village of mini-me’s to live in there.

I think they’d all be screaming regardless.

③　―　BREAKDOWN　―

no, not of the mental variety-

I’m not exactly sure which place this piece goes on the ranking of detailing levels I’ve ever worked on, but it’s definitely one of the most detailed, by far. Took 4 months for goodness’ sake lol

Similarly to what I did to the previous big piece also featuring Harley and Violet (*I’ll write about that next + link it here later!), I deconstructed the parts into multiple parts to make it easier to digest as I went.

I kept previous versions of the color tests/sketches as a reference map of sorts while finalizing certain details, so I don’t keep going “wait, how did I want this to look like again” all over again.

I also made frequent “test runs” for certain techniques I want to/plan to apply in certain areas before finalizing them. Not that I’d really be in big trouble if I didn’t, since I can ctrl+z just fine... but it might just be a traditional illustrator-doing-digital’s habit at this point haha

In a nutshell quickly drawn with a mouse, this is how the layering went down in my poor, overworked, one-too-many overlayered drawing software:

While I absolutely do not recommend layering as extremely as I tend to do, I will say this:

Layers (can) help!

When it comes to hiding each different sections to focus on something behind or above it, having separated everything into non-intersecting layers make it easier to navigate through a big piece.

If you have a similar approach to linearting similarly to how I do mine as well, layering will help when it gets down to cleaning/refining the details, since no lines belonging to different parts/objects intersect with one another in a single layer.

Tedious and fatigue-inducing as heck, but I personally find parts of the process oddly therapeutic.

❹　―　NEVER FINISHED　―

You might’ve noticed that throughout my nonsensical ramblings with occasional pictures, said pictures contained preview of the unfinished drawing enclosed within a square frame when the actual finished product is in some curly...burly...shaped...thing.

That’s because the outer shape has changed multiple times:

When I looked at the first revised shape with the rough color test (square frame), I thought the entire scene looked kind of cluttered? I also wanted to especially put more focus on Violet, so I repositioned things and decided to go the lineart-heavy Art Nouveau route to make the details really stand out from one another and not blend together in a single blur of colors.

And so, on top of everything else, I decided to cut the entire illustration into sections visibly seen and presented to the audience, outside of the actual layered sections of the illustration we broke down from earlier.

I was satisfied with the shapes overall, except for the very top part. It looked very flat and almost... incomplete? So, I experimented around giving the shape a fashionable tippy top hat.

I liked A, but I disliked how the teardrop-shaped gem at the middle was jutting out compared to the rest of the surface.

B retained the flat top, but this time with an added section cut at the upper-middle part, as an attempt to also draw more focus on the moon.

C is the start of the brainrot for a “fish tail” shape.

D tried to just go with a smoothened semi-circle shape for the top, but was the start of the “now THAT’s a moon!” formation that I definitely preferred than what was originally planned.

E wanted to mix the new moon shape + fish tail shape together. I really liked it, but there was something that felt unnerving when looking at it from a distance together with everything else.

F tried bringing back the flat surface together w/ the new moon shape.

and finally, G saved the day (and my sanity). I went back to A and said “dang it, I still want that gem somehow though”, and figured all it really needed was a bit of trim to slot right in the corners and no longer be jutting out. The addition of the yellow and pink on each of its sides were in honor of the fish tail shape. It looks a lot less like one now, but I hoped the teardrop shape at the middle sliding in between two side-twisted oblongs might resemble a fish? haha

the plan vs the done

And, there you have it. By this point in time I’ve yet to upload the finished illustration here on Tumblr (*I’m still not done migrating my older stuff from dA to my main tumblr blogs orz) but I’ll update with a higher quality of the final version here as soon as everything’s caught up!

Thank you very much for stopping by, and I hope you have a wonderful day ahead! ヽ(*・ω・)ﾉ I’ll see you in the next one?

― AKI SHOURIKAWA・APR 2023 ―

let’s end it on the note of how I discovered two fibonacci spirals kissing is actually a heart

I actually do not understand how to use the fibonacci, was just taking the piss out by making cool shapes

#drawing process #drawing journal #process #step by step #overview #art breakdown #analysis #violet goes to the beach #vgttb #behind the scenes

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