Eggtober 7th 2023

"Easter Already?" or "A Study in Fall": Painted Egg in Vaguely the Style of Van Gogh.

A gift for a Friend. (AI Prompt for inspiration. Clip Studio Paint, Gouache brush, Overlay, Linear Light, and Multiply adjustment layers, Pencil brush for some details. 21 Colors. Roughly 1 and a half hours.) Was surprised to get a request to draw an egg by a friend of mine. It's a birthday gift for their mother, and the reference image they gave me was an AI prompt of a painted egg in the style of Van Gogh which you can see in the speedpaint. Still my style, still my work, obviously, but I feel like it sets good and realistic expectations to clarify where the reference material comes from. Honestly, I think this is one of the better uses of AI. "Hey, can you draw something kind of like this, but make these adjustments?" Honestly 5 billion times better than just having the AI do the final product after a million iterations and tweaks. Ah, if only AI was simply a tool to help more patrons communicate their desires to the real human artist whose art they like and not, you know, the content-stealing garbage algorithm it is, being used as a "free labor machine that spits out art" so people that don't understand art can get stuff for free.

I had a different Eggtober piece set up for today, since my sleep schedule was shifting so I was catching up, but now you have to wait to see that one since I have ANOTHER different egg planned for tomorrow~

I wonder how the breadbugs will deal with this one if @lady-quen alerts them to the presence of treasure...

As ever, tagging @quezify, the King of Eggs.

Enjoy the little birthday message I hid in the scribbly background. Someday I may have to do a proper study of Van Gogh's Style. But until then, the sunflower is a nice homage, no?

Eggtober 19th, 2023

"Vampire Season" Pavlova with Strawberry Jam.

(Clip Studio Paint, Gouache Brush. 7 colors. 45 minutes)

Back on my bullshit with all shiny and no cast shadows and no scene. I just like SOFT egg and item in void. It speaks to me. I will learn to draw full scenes eventually. I'm getting a biiiit better at rendering complex forms but because it's all organic shapes there's a lot of wiggle room. I will learn harder stuff, eventually. But Eggtober is for fun and after drawing the Cipriani cake yesterday I was like "I liked drawing the meringue but trying to toast the edges is hard and trying to render a full scene is a challenge. I wanna do that again, but just the fun parts. At the point again where I'm having to learn and it's awkward because I just wanna goof off. When I finish more personal projects after Eggtober I might come back for Drawcember and finish some OLD AS BALLS pieces I started as a teen and use them for longform learning and subject studies. But the perk is... if I can draw a pavlova like this, it means I can draw roses too. Which means you're gonna see me painting them on random shit eventually. XD Hopefully @lady-quen's breadbugs don't get too sticky with the syrupy jam!

Big thanks to @quezify for organizing eggtober. Is it obvious that my favorite part of the egg is the yolk and that my favorite part of an egg dish is any shiny stuff I can put on it?

Speedpaint Time!

Not a 1 to 1 render. I try not to copy 100% because part of art is learning to draw what you see. But when I do that 1 to 1, I call that a study. When I make art that isn't a study, my goal is to capture but iterate. And I thought that one big drip up front looked much more dramatic by its lonesome than with the other drip. Also extra shiny. But I did take a lot of direct inspiration from this one. I like that big floppy petal-looking stripe of meringue on top and those creases at the bottom where the edges overlap and make little channels... so hopefully I rendered all the most dramatic pieces well for you all!