Tumgik
#challenged myself to do a painting with no reference
small-spark-of-light · 6 months
Text
Tumblr media
day 10 was to draw something with 1 pt perspective
15 notes · View notes
creatediana · 1 year
Photo
Tumblr media
A half-assed whiteboard imitation of Evelyn de Morgan’s The Love Potion (1903), done in a few minutes in Expo marker on 12/05/2022
10 notes · View notes
anistarrose · 25 days
Text
I want to make my posts more accessible, but can't write IDs myself: a guide
[Plain text: "I want to make my posts more accessible, but can't write IDs myself: a guide." End plain text.]
While every image posted online should be accessible in an ideal world, we all know it 1) takes time to learn how to write image descriptions, and 2) is easy to run out of spoons with which to write IDs. And this says nothing of disabilities that make writing them more challenging, if not impossible — especially if you're a person who benefits from IDs yourself.
There are resources for learning how to write them (and if you already know the basics, I'd like to highlight this good advice for avoiding burnout) — but for anyone who cannot write IDs on their original posts at any current or future moment, for any reason, the there are two good options for posting on Tumblr.
1. Crowdsource IDs through the People's Accessibility Discord
[Plain text: "1. Crowdsource IDs through the People's Accessibility Discord". End plain text.]
The People's Accessibility Discord is a community that volunteers description-writing (and transcript-writing, translation, etc) for people who can't do so themselves, or feel overwhelmed trying to do so. Invite link here (please let me know if the link breaks!)
The way it works is simple: if you're planning to make an original post — posting art, for example — and don't know how to describe it, you can share the image there first with a request for a description, and someone will likely be able to volunteer one.
The clear upside here (other than being able to get multiple people's input, which is also nice) is that you can do this before making the Tumblr post. By having the description to include in your post from the start, you can guarantee that no inaccessible version of the post will be circulated.
You can also get opinions on whether a post needs to be tagged for flashing or eyestrain — just be able to spoiler tag the image or gif you're posting, if you think it might be a concern. (Also, refer here for info on how to word those tags.)
The server is very chill and focused on helping/answering questions, but if social anxiety is too much of a barrier to joining, or you can't use Discord for whatever reason, then you can instead do the following:
2. Ask for help on Tumblr, and update the post afterwards
[Plain text: "Ask for help on Tumblr, and update the post afterwards". End description.]
Myself and a lot of other people who describe posts on this site are extra happy to provide a description if OP asks for help with one! This does leave the post inaccessible at first, so to minimize the drawbacks, the best procedure for posting an image you can't fully describe would be as follows:
Create the tumblr post with the most bare-bones description you can manage, no matter how simple (something like "ID: fanart of X character from Y. End ID" or "ID: a watercolor painting. End ID," or literally whatever you can manage)
Use a tool like Google Lens or OCR to extract text if applicable and if you have the energy, even if the text isn't a full image description (ideally also double-check the transcriptions, because they're not always perfect)
Write in the body of the post that you'd appreciate a more detailed description in the notes!
Tag the post as "undescribed" and/or "no id" only if you feel your current, bare-bones description is missing out on a lot of important context
When you post it and someone provides an ID, edit the ID into the original post (don't use read mores, italics, or small text)
Remove the undescribed tag, if applicable. If you're posting original art, you can even replace it with a tag like "accessible art" for visibility!
And congrats! You now have a described post that more people will be able to appreciate, and you should certainly feel free to self-reblog to give a boost to the new version!
403 notes · View notes
teaboot · 3 months
Note
Your post about art vs content got me thinking about the differences between the two. To me there is no difference besides the mindsets. One is of creator and the enjoyer, the other is content and consumer it removes the personhood, the joy/emotion, from the equation. Like a writer or video creator may not see their work as art so content creator maybe a way to refer to themselves comfortably but it sounds so machine, emotionless and lifeless, like a cookie cutter recipe mass producing something verses people lovingly crafting something...then again Disney uses a cookie cutter recipe for the most part and it brings out bangers cause people lovingly make it their own so maybe I'm thinking too hard on this
Does my long-winded rant make sense?
see, I get what you mean, but I still feel like the willingness to entertain calling art of any kind "content" reduces it to the facet of consumption where in reality, the experience of consuming art is not the sole defining trait of it.
Reducing arts like music, writing, painting, dance, voice acting, theater, etc. to the role of "content"- a thing created to be consumed, measured and valued by how pleasant or easy it is to digest- I feel that it was our biggest red flag to herald the incoming tide of AI "art".
Because if art is "content", if arts are nothing but consumable matter, then obviously the key to success is to produce as much soft, tasty, edible paste as we possibly can at the lowest possible expense.
It's the same issue I have with "meal replacements", diet culture, nutrient slurries, twenty-step skincare routines, 24/7 body padding and shapewear and laxative teas and "grind culture". It's not a cause, but a symptom, of the disease that is late-stage capitalism.
Things must be produced at low cost and remain in high demand forever. Things must be perfect and palatable and the new hit trend forever. People must pay hand over fist to consume without asking anything in return, and if they start dropping like flies at the unending unrewarded thankless demand of it all, then that must be treated as a weakness. We should all take pride in how much we can spend, pay, give, produce, and think as little as possible about what we ask for ourselves.
So, who cares if, of two identical paintings, one was made by a person and one was made by a computer program? It's the same work, so what does it matter? What does it matter?
I am an artist. I make art. I ask a question, make a statement, declare something horrific or challenging or upsetting or wrong or grotesque, and when you respond, we are together experiencing a conversation. We are existing, two people living one life and reaching out and touching across time and space. No matter the work, you're at the barest minimum saying, "I'm alive, and you're alive, and at one time or another we shared this same world, and at the end of the day we aren't too terribly different. My heart is worth sharing, and your heart is worth the struggle of understanding."
An AI-generated piece, a computer-generated voice, a CGI puppet of someone long since dead and gone, they cannot speak. They have no voice. Ay best, they are the most chewable, consumable, landlord-beige common denominator possible that you can sit and listen to like the lone survivor of a shipwreck listening to the same three songs on a broken record, and at worst, they're the uncaring vomit of an empty, unloving, value-addled hack wearing the skin of someone I know over their own.
When you abandon art to say that you make content, that should not be a point of pride. That's an embarrassment. That's not sitting down for an intelligent discussion with an equal, that's kneeling at the feet of the crowd and saying, "what do you want to see me do? I can be anyone you've ever loved. I can be them, I can be anyone, as long as you love me."
I can make content. I can be consumed. What do you want to consume? I'll make myself consumable. I'll make myself just like anything you like. And I'll make so much of it that you'll never have to go anywhere else, because it'll all be right here, and under all the cut-and-paste schlock you've seen before I will sit alone in the dark and the silence and I will know that I am safe, because I am valued, because I am desired, and I need to be desired or else I am worthless like a factory that no longer churns out steel or a hen that no longer lays eggs or a cow that is too old to make milk.
Content, the most literal meaning, is something which is contained inside a container. What it is doesn't really matter, and the best it can hope to be is something worthy of being scooped out and used.
Art is an experience that transcends value. Art is something you can eat without paying for. You can make it out of anything and anyone can do it. It can be crude and vulgar and bad, and that's a strength because it means something. It always, always means something, and it doesn't matter if you like it or not. It's not content because it doesn't fill anything. It's a living, breathing thing, and whether you want to birth it or eat it, then you're going to have to be willing to put the fucking work in
345 notes · View notes
basiatlu · 4 months
Text
On Theft in Art
Tumblr media
First: thank you to the anon here and the other many people who brought this to my attention! I know you did it out of support of me and I love you for it.
I was ready to keep it private as I didn’t want anything negative to come up and be associated with my art. But as I was asked across different platforms concerning the art in question I realized it really bummed me out. I’m here to have a good time in the fandom and create with you all. We have a good thing here in the community and I didn’t want any smoke with another artist - a mutual even.
So to help me feel a little better about it I want to turn this into an opportunity to teach others on the differences between Reference, Inspiration, Reinterpretation, and Theft
Reference: (usually) a visual source of information in order to better understand something. Example here is of my reference board and the art I am currently working on.
Tumblr media
My favorite example of a professional using reference photos is by Hirohiko Araki (creator and artist of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure), who uses fashion editorials and photoshoots ALL the time it’s awesome - tysm @yumiaiyuma for showing me this goldmine
Tumblr media
Study and Inspiration: here is a great example from the wonderful Stephanie Pepper. Notice the caption stating these are studies, the movie it is from, and I will even go on to say that this artist is influenced or inspired by the prolific works of J. C. Leyendecker (but what’s key is that Stephanie Pepper has developed and practiced to the point of deviating from his work and become a style of art completely her own - and she’s so recognizable in my opinion!)
Tumblr media
Personal Example for Inspiration:
Tumblr media Tumblr media
An Example of Reinterpretation: note - Both these classical artists whose works are being recycled are dead and no longer missing out on potential work and income. Where stealing ideas and art from current artists hurts them financially and mentally and emotionally. Howl as The Fallen Angel by _mimimaru on Instagram is an interpretation of a 1847 painting by Alexandre Cabanel and is now considered public domain // the Mickey Mouse self portrait was by Charles Boyer and is a parody of the famous illustration by Norman Rockwell and was commissioned by Walt Disney, himself.
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
Now here’s the part that is concerning to several people, myself included.
Recently, an artist found the reference I used, and decided to draw Andromeda, Bellatrix, Narcissa, and Regulus staring at Sirius getting supposedly punished by Walburga Black off screen.
Tumblr media
Let’s be clear: this isn’t a matter of tracing or claiming my image as their own. I do not mind at all if myself and another artist end up using the same reference. It happens all the time. Referencing and studying is not stealing. Reinterpretation is great for meme art challenges and paying respect to old classics. Even being inspired and doing one’s own version of another artist’s idea is totally cool, especially if you tag and/or shoutout the artist that inspired you.
I genuinely love and appreciate everyone who has brought this to my attention and who has been supportive and defensive of me with this. That reaction means more to me than anything else in this whole ordeal, if I’m being honest. So thank you all so much, with all my heart.
In closing: Do I hope this is all one gigantic coincidence? Absolutely. It’s one of those very uncool things that hurts my heart as an artist. I just want everyone to enjoy art and inspire each other so we can all grow. I do not want any malice to come from this either. I just wanted to inform everyone that I am aware of this, and give some of my thoughts on it. I also wanted to use this as a way to educate everyone on artistic process and why these things might happen sometimes.
Edit: me and the artist have chatted and we see it as a silly coincidence ♡ and honestly I'm happy and so relieved with that. But I think a lot of this info is still good to be mindful of in a creative community where we circulate ideas and content regularly.
134 notes · View notes
ribbonetteart · 2 months
Text
Tumblr media
Tribute to one of my favorite movies of all time + the franchise that has me in a death grip 💖
a bit late for Christmas but at least Valentine's day is around the corner ^^;;
Process below if that interests you:
AS I SAID EARLIER, I had been working on this piece as early as December of 2021 😱!!!
Tumblr media
This was the original sketch! I was inspired after learning about Blaze's own design inspiration coming from Takarazuka theater, as well as it being the Nutcracker season so this film was in bouncing around in my head.
and this was allllll the way back in 2021 ^^; I had put the idea to paper to capture the image in my head immediately. But the idea in my head was extravagant and beautiful and would certainly take time to complete, as well as the patience and skill to work with watercolor 😔 I've certainly done my share of watercolor, both physical and digital, but I still feel like my physical watercolor work is a fluke, and I was still a novice digital artist at the time of this sketch.
In short, I was confident my skill could live up to the vision.
So I would put this on the back burner. It wouldn't be ready in time for Christmas, and I could use this as an opportunity to hone that digital art experience so it could be ready next year!
2 Years Later...
It's December 5th. Fuck it. Let's crack this open again, I tell myself.
SO starting with the line art, it's actually 2 different brushes layered over one another.
Tumblr media Tumblr media
I also changed Sonic's expression to be more love struck-looking, because I'm a sucker for romance.
The image on the left is a watercolor line brush, while the right is a pencil brush. The reason I wanted a water color look was because I thought it would make the illustration look dreamy and fantastical, and I wanted that to extend to the line art as well. However, my usual lines on traditional usually veer more towards thick and cartoony from years of studying the Sonic art style, so I really felt like I was working against myself here. I had also asked friends for their input and they preferred the lines on the right as well. If my followers actually do read these blog posts, I'd love if you could comment which line art style you prefer drawing or looking at.
The happy medium was to just combine the 2. Here's a better look at that:
Tumblr media
I like it! I think it combines the solid line with the rustic water color grain. Best of both worlds :]
For the actual painting, The most notable thing I can say is that getting the right pastel-y color was VERY difficult to achieve for someone like me who often loves to use bright and saturated colors in her art. I feel like I really set myself up to do one of those "evil art style" or "opposite art style" challenges I've been seeing around. I had to repaint Sonic at one paint because the blue of his fur was WAY too saturated for the style I was going for:
Tumblr media
I started with painting Sonic and Blaze in first and then working on the background. I think that's probably the backwards way of doing it but one of the perks of digital art is you can do stuff any order you want when you have layers.
The background wasn't actually as difficult as I thought it would be. I wasn't going for any difficult perspective, and I was using a reference so that could be it. I'm usually averse to backgrounds but I really wanna tackle more of my weak points in art. I actually had way more fun than I was expecting, painting the sky and adding texture to the grass. I think I had the most fun rendering the water coming from the fountain (which you can't even see too well anyway, lol).
Funny enough, I had just about finished painting the characters and background by early January. So why am I posting this in February?
The Flowers...
In case you don't know. I love flowers. I love looking at them, I love learning about flower languages, I love drawing them. so seeing that my reference image showed flowers circling the fountain, I was excited! I was already having more fun than I expected to be, working against my usual style, rendering a background, so how could this be a pain in the ass?
Well, I am my own worst enemy 😞I couldn't exactly identify each flower offhand from this screenshot alone. The texture of the flowers is kinda grainy, since I don't think the animators were expecting viewers to look too closely at the set piece to use as reference for my lovingly crafted crossover fanart. If anyone has this in high quality though, please tell me.
Tumblr media
(I think I actually got this reference from a tumblr post but I can't find it on my blog for the life of me nor can I find it in the tags I'm so sorry)
I'm a huge stickler for details so I really wanted to be as "accurate" as possible in my illustration. I can hardly identify some of these flowers with confidence. I think there are roses in there? or tulips? I'm not sure if those yellow flowers are roses or some kinda petunia or if I'm way off.
I'm sure these details won't matter to most viewers but it was EATING AWAY AT ME. Eventually I decided to try drawing in flowers that might look similar to the ones in the reference. Or some based on their flower languages. I was certainly overthinking it ;;;; It led me to going "fuck it" and just throwing in whatever I wanted. There are no irises visible in that screenshot but I made it the centerpiece of the flower ring. Who give a shit.
Tumblr media
I made some guides for me to follow: The blue ring was so I could make sure the flowers make a half circular border around Sonic and Blaze. I was envisioning how it could look as like an icon or sticker or something, which is why it's framed this way. then the second guide is the sketch of the flowers I made. I always do line art and I'm not great at just improvising with color to paper, or color to screen in this case.
The rest of this process is then just working on each flower piece by piece (with the help of the mirror tool of course) with varying degrees of detail. Some flowers are more abstract than others, and I had debated if that would look jarring and disrupted any kind of harmony I was trying to maintain with the style parameters I set for myself. And then I decided I was overthinking it once again which is why this was taking me nearly 2 months to complete.
Tumblr media
At some point during this process, my wifi went out for a whole week! Of course, I could still work on this illustration offline, but I had a lot of tabs open with a bunch of reference images on there (plus I like to listen to music while I draw otherwise I lose focus and I had neglected to download a varied selection on my phone or laptop 😭 Learn from my mistakes).
The most tedious of this process was making each set of gladioluses a unique color.
Tumblr media
Was it worth it? You tell me! I think they're pretty, at least.
Along the way, I repainted the grass because it wasn't symmetrical (It didn't need to be but I had been using the mirror tool for a lot at this point and it was bugging me). I made other little final adjustments, like color adjusting the leaves on the flowers, lowering the flower ring border, and so on.
Ultimately, I'm extremely satisfied with the final product. I had my heart set on doing something like this for a long time. I had so much fun just experimenting throwing on color or not worrying about technical stuff. Of course, I did do what I usually do and overthink it at some points, but I'm working on it!
I've wanted to do an extremely indulgent AU illustration and other drawings for a Sonic x The Nutcracker story for a long while. I will be totally honest, I'm still a little embarrassed to share stuff like this, even after years of posting fan art online. It feels like the more self indulgent something is, the more people might judge me for it ^^; But I wanna practice what I preach and kill the thing inside me that cringes at my harmless attempts at joy and whimsy.
I would love to do some more drawings for this AU, but maybe post them around December when it would be more seasonally appropriate. I hope you'll stick around for it!
If you read this whole thing to the end, thank you. Whether you follow my blog or not, I hope you have a lovely day :3💝
55 notes · View notes
radcowboylad · 2 months
Text
Tumblr media Tumblr media
This is a gift for an angel.
I don’t like to be very open about my personal life and I’m not too fond of PDA but this painting is something particularly special. We always share our interests and every time that happens, I feel it only makes our bond stronger, especially with Good Omens. We both feel so connected with these characters individually as they seem so similar to us. I remembered a particular lovely idea he mentioned involving the two of them, so I decided to make it into a painting for him.
Process:
I’ve doodled Crowley a few times before because David Tennant facial structure is just a bit interesting to me, but it also posed a little bit of a challenge to capture his likeness since he has a few features that i haven’t drawn like his ever before; I had to force myself to forget some of my typical techniques of drawing things (mainly the chin and the lips, and subtle facial details of muscles I don’t know the names of) I still think there’s more to improve and stylise for his face but it’s the best I could do.
This was my first time drawing Aziraphale however, but it didn’t give me a difficult time. I think there’s a bit more room for improvement for his likeness, but I’m happy with it.
Colours for this painting was so satisfying and fun, a lot less hellish than I expected too. I did an orange underpainting since I thought it would contrast well with the green/blue background, and aid me in picking the right values and tones etc etc. the flashes of the undertone showing through is just one of my favourite things.
Surprisingly after I had blocked out the background colours I didn’t need many colour references at all, I went with my instincts and applied the things I’ve learnt about colour theory over the years which led me the whole way.
I also used a slight hue, saturation and brightness jitter to replicate how tones shift in real life on my brush as a new technique—even though it’s extremely subtle zoomed out, it made it feel so much more dynamic and pretty. I think I’ll be doing this more in the future.
Near completion, it was just a grassy background without tree roots until I showed my friend for feedback. They thought that the blue shadow was water, and I was like “shit, well that means I need to add more context to that blobby shadow…” and in the end I think it definitely helped not only the context of the shading, but the final composition by making it more interesting.
Anyway, thanks for reading my ramble on this process. I am now feverishly awaiting season 3.
56 notes · View notes
fobnsfwdoodlesbackup · 2 months
Text
New painting!
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
For this fic! I believe it's by @shark-myths (if this is you hello I need to talk your ear off for 20 years about this fic)
A couple of weeks ago I read the fic I'm A Wing I'm A Prayer on AO3. I don't have a lot of experience reading fanfiction or fantasy, and I was completely floored by the craftsmanship in this story. I'm still (clearly) reeling from how moving it was. Art begets art and I couldn't stop thinking about painting the fic, but especially the graveyard scene.
I think part of what captured me about this scene is that I have often felt like Pete. Sleep deprived, run ragged, working faster than a human should but still never fast enough. Stinging hands and a difficulty communicating.
But where words fail and connection feels full of red tape, sexuality is a path back to feeling human. A language I can speak. Slow and intimate and silent, plucking clothes off one another like swan feathers. Sex as a confession of devotion, sex as a forgiveness to the self for having desires or wanting love. When the world is spinning out and you don't have control over your body, sexuality as a reclaiming of your vessel.
And I love the scene for the symbolism it's layered up in its story telling. Swan song comes to mind as this is the final act of humanity before losing each other. The beauty of the feathers falling among the graves and moonlight and stinging nettle, among the constant reminders of death. The difficulty Pete has with his hands, and the choice to use them anyways. The insistence that when the world doesn't recognize you I do. When you don't recognize yourself I do.
I want to grow in art so badly, and so I've challenged myself to use more references and to push meaningful details when painting. You can watch the process on my reels but it doesn't show how I was jumping between images of graveyards, swans, hands, Pete and Patrick, stinging nettle, bodies non stop. I really feel like it paid off and I'm happy to feel like for the first time I have a painting where the environment is equally show cased and adds depth to the subject. Thank you so much to the writer of the scene not only for telling such a beautiful story, but for making this moment so visually and emotionally full.
Alts:
Tumblr media Tumblr media
55 notes · View notes
thecoffeerain · 5 months
Text
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
Week 2
Decided to do a 30 day speed paint challenge, I’ve given myself no more than an hour for each of these, and am so far really happy with my progress! Using references of random photo portraits from Pinterest.
Week 1
73 notes · View notes
shelandsorcery · 2 months
Text
Astronomics Game Art : Designing Mining Equipment!
Gonna talk this week about designing mining equipment for the sci-fi game Astronomics - demo on steam right now! - And I thought I'd start with a little conversation about research and process (...that doesn't really have on a much art in it but just stay with me) and maybe get to tap in a little bit into how someone like me who doesn't do a lot of technical design learned a lot about how to get excited about that whole field through the research stage of this game.
Tumblr media
So when I say research I really do mean fairly old-school research — and this is probably gonna be a theme with a lot of the posts about this game in particular, because I don't think you can build sci-fi without some understanding of engineering systems and current scientific realities to then play with, you know?
Tumblr media
As you may gather from the trailer, Astronomics is a game about asteroid mining, among other things. Which meant that we had a lot of need for legit industrial feeling props and tools for the player to use, things that felt functional and believable without feeling complicated or delicate. I really enjoy the challenge of adding appeal to something that maybe people don't always think about being appealing or fun or cute (this is never an absolute statement — there's always somebody already able to see more appeal in any given subject and I could ever imagine) so part of the research stage is going and looking for that appeal. So above you can see a sheet of loose rough sketches I did in clip studio paint from reference that I gathered with the rest of the team and by myself that seemed relevant to some of the designs we were pursuing.
Tumblr media
If you've had the chance to play the demo, you'll know that it's not just surface mining but we are going to be letting you mind gases and liquids and underground mineral veins as well — these are all things that people do in the real world of course, so process one was taking a quick look at those actual industries and then figuring out how I could condense that activity down into a pretty simple and easy to understand machine.
Tumblr media
So turned out what we needed was something that drilled and dug, something that pumped liquids, something that sucked air, and all of these things needed to then produce some sort of container to hold what they had collected.
Tumblr media
In a videogame you really need to communicate to the player why each act they do is significant and different from the others, and as the art director it was my job to figure how to do that through visual design of the tools they're going to be using. So that meant that even though you could certainly store liquid and gas and solid resources in the same kind of box, I wanted to try and find ways to keep each thing feeling different. Best case scenario is that you're able to look at a prop we've designed and know in a split second which of these three states of matter it will be containing; in the research stage one of the things I'm looking for is any existing visual language that we have (in this Western English-speaking North American videogame audience culture) that already solves this problem.
Tumblr media
The great thing about industrial design is that they indeed have very intentionally tackled this problem. Part of it is purely physics optimization that the field of engineering has been working towards for human history. For example, when you're storing liquid and you want to remove all of it from a container you probably don't want something with corners — that's how you end up with cylindrical liquid storage. When you're storing a gas you're likely keeping it under pressure, which means you need a shape that will withstand pressure evenly, which means you're looking for something with literally no corners or edges ideally — and that's how you end up with bubble-shaped gas storage like a propane canister. And then when you're storing something solid and you want to use the space most efficiently and be able to stack whatever it is that you have packed it into, you have a box.
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
Real good news is, a box and a cylinder and a sphere are all wonderfully visually distinct shapes in a fantastically strong place to start when it comes to solving the question of storage. So then we get into the challenge of the machines themselves — what distinguishes a drill from a pump from a vacuum?
So that's the beginning of some of the questions that you have to answer when you're designing props for a game — in the research stage is only one of bunch of different ways you start figuring out these answers. But I want to talk for just a second a little bit about how I personally wrangle my research, because I am definitely not telling you this is the only way to do it. It seems like it may be worth explaining what I get out of this process and see if anything here make sense for you!
One of the reasons that I have this huge page of sketches, big and detailed or tiny and loose, all laid out in one place for me to look at, is because I personally learn and remember things more strongly by taking notes. With my hand holding a pencil ideally. And when they're abstract concepts or verbal or numerical then I'll use writing and I won't have a problem with it, but my job at this stage was not to figure out abstract concepts or to find themes — my job was to solve visual problems. So my first order of business was visual research specifically. Now for me, that involves lots of things — I have a Pinterest board for any sort of subcategory of stuff I'm researching to just do enormous broad research with; then I probably bring most of those images into a huge working .PSD file and move them around to create groupings. And then I start drawing.
I really think that drawing is integral for me at this stage. I don't think I could do this without drawing as part of my research. There's so much that I just don't bother noticing if I'm not going to be drawing the thing that I'm looking at; even the worst, fastest, sketchy as drawing makes me pay infinitely more attention to something then I do when I am simply collecting information mentally. I'm phrasing this in a somewhat exaggerated, self-deprecating way, but I really can't exaggerate how much more I get out of things when I sit down and draw them. They talk about drawing is a way of seeing, and for me that's a practice I've intentionally pushed and explored in my life.
The other thing, though, is that visual problem that I need to solve. Sometimes solutions to the problem aren't obvious until they are visualized — it can be very easy to get distracted by things like surface details and miss the silhouette language, or vice versa, but when you are doing the drawing you have to wrestle with the silhouette and the details and make decisions about them. Visual trends appear way more clear when you are drawing something for the 10th time as opposed to simply seeing it for the 10th time. And all of the layers of cultural meaning and context that clutter up a photograph can be simply ignored as you transfer only what you need to a drawing, where you might discover something that everything else hid until then. Beyond that, one of the things you may notice about the sketches is that they are somewhat cartoony — I'm certainly trying to capture important details and be representational to a degree, but much like gesture drawing the human figure, researching this way lets me start finding out what the gestures are of these different sorts of subject matter. This is something that I knew about creature design, and about flora design, and one of the real joys of this game in particular was proving to myself that this gesture approach applied to industrial machines and technology as well.
Tumblr media
I mean, I knew that there were cute trucks out there, but gosh.
I think if you are in need of something to reinvigorate a particular piece of subject matter for you — if you're designing something that you are just not that excited about, or if you don't feel challenged by the work in front of you — I really think sitting and sketching from reference can open up the complexities and help push you and your work farther. It certainly works for me and I know that the learning I did on this game is something I carry with me to future projects as well.
Tumblr media
That seems like a pretty strong place to leave this post in particular, but I'll be back later this week with more breakdowns and screen caps of the actual design process of all of our adorable mining equipment!
I would really love to hear from folks if you also engage in similar research processes before going into full design mode — or if you have a completely different way to get your mind revved up and ready to go, I would really enjoy reading about it!
In the meantime, if you're curious about mining asteroids but it's cute please feel free to check out the Astronomics demo on steam, I made an awful lot of visdev art for this and handed it off to some incredible game creators who have done some really impressive stuff taking their ideas and my ideas and running to honestly some pretty new and exciting places with them.
Tumblr media
34 notes · View notes
hawkland · 6 months
Text
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
Art Masterpost: Solitudes
Story by: ilovehowyouletmefall (@angelinthefire) Art by: sidewidner (@hawkland)
It's October and that means it's @deancasbigbang season once again! This year makes for my third time around for the event, although this year I only managed to participate as an artist (I'm still in a bit of writer's burnout since the summer). But, that meant I could put all of my focus and time into doing these four pieces for @angelinthefire's wonderful story "Solitudes." I'm gonna talk a little bit about my ideas and process and share some progress pictures behind the cut in a way that might be kind of spoilery, so if you want, just go read the story now! And then you come back here later to find out more if you wish. All works were completed in watercolor with some digital effects and filtering after completion.
I was really drawn to the imagery of the architectural elements of where the story takes place (an abandoned brutalist mansion) vs. nature and decay...plus the way light and shadow seemed to play such important roles in the visual descriptions. Dean and Cas spend so much of the story separated by supernatural forces even when they are in the same room I wanted to focus on that as well: being so near yet so far apart, not quite connecting or even able to look at each other without barriers.
I started on the banner art right away, thinking of Dean in despair (for reasons in the story) and Cas yearning/wishing he could reach him. Behind them both is the concrete wall covered in mold and moss (which was a LOT of fun to paint). The actual final watercolor painting came out as so:
Tumblr media
(This is one of my favorite Deans that I've painted. His face can be SO hard to get right!)
Working with angelinthefire's suggestions I ran some different digital filters on the photo to desaturate/emphasize the light and dark for the final banner, and then with that in mind tried to keep the other pieces in a similar color scheme and tonal range.
The atrium painting was the biggest challenge. I knew I wanted to do a piece to capture the feeling of the house, the light coming in from an open skylight falling on brambles growing out of an old fountain spot. I was thinking of the Roman villa ruins I've visited combined with some actual Brutalist/modern homes I looked up. My original drawing plan was a bit more complicated and simplifying/taking out some elements definitely makes it more creepy/mysterious looking and less like a funky modern home.
Tumblr media
You can see the vanishing/perspective point is right where Dean is looking at Cas.
The light falling down from above was partially painted with some interference/shimmer watercolors, but I amplified it (along with the shadows) with some digital effects at the end. This was before doing any digital magic:
Tumblr media
Dean reaching for Cas: I made myself so sad working on that piece! It was also quite the challenge to get the likeness right at that angle and do the lighting the way I wanted, so again I used some digital effects at the end to really intensify it. Painting before filters:
Tumblr media
I think my favorite part of that one is how I dry-brushed the ash wings in one shot and they came out just how I wanted! My main reference was, heh, that old classic shot of unconscious Cas being poked with a stick. I used my own hand for Dean's reaching out to what he sees through the harsh angled light.
Tumblr media
The final piece is a direct companion to the one above it, and one I'd been thinking about for weeks, trying to map it out mentally before tackling it. Dean's face can be so much more challenging for me to try to capture well compared to Cas's and I really wanted to get his shock and horror in that moment while also being able to show (the real) Cas in the background/shadows...this was the third drawing pass before I finally started painting it. There's only a light bit of filtering over the final piece to push Cas back in the shadows (I didn't want to do with the paints for fear of muddying the colors...plus I was already painting Cas so small any wrong brush stroke could shift his likeness/expression.)
Tumblr media
Overall I really like how unified these pieces all ended up feeling and I hope they manage to complement the story in a way that it deserves!
78 notes · View notes
altraviolet · 3 months
Note
Hi! I was reading the most recent chapter and was wondering on some clarification about something.
This part when SW and Rodimus are talking says:
"Mourning and grief washed over Rodimus. “Oof.” He smelled ash and buildings burning. Screams rose in his processor. Emergency escape protocols primed for action. The flat palm pressed against Soundwave's chest curled into a fist. Each finger dragged a tiny sliver of blue paint with it. “Holy shit.”
Soundwave retracted his field. Its sudden absence whiplashed Rodimus from smothering grief to echoing hollowness. He vented quickly and dismissed the emergency protocols. Soundwave said nothing. His visor displayed a faint wireform of Rodimus, as it often did when they were together in private. Reticles centered around the form's face and chest.
Rodimus touched the bottom of Soundwave's visor, where his fingers had once pulled away wet with blue. You saw Nyon and you cried... because you knew what it meant to destroy something you loved. “It hurt.”"
Does this mean Rodimus was aware that SW has seen his memories of Nyon?
This moment was intriguing to me because it feels like they're both brushing into deeper emotions (especially SW). Its really cool we get to see Rodimus's perspective during this conversation. Is there anything you can share about how SW was feeling during this moment?
Hello!
>Does this mean Rodimus was aware that SW has seen his memories of Nyon?
Yes. In ch 43 we see Rodimus's thoughts:
“Are you afr- afraid of m- me?” “Nah,” said Rodimus. He tried to lift his spoiler. Only the right side rose. He forced cheer into his voice. “You kidding me? As far as I can tell, you pulled something out of me that killed a god.” And you cried doing it. You saw Nyon and you cried. Rodimus swallowed. “How cool is that?”
That's the first instance of "You saw Nyon and you cried."
It comes up again in the most recent chapter, in the excerpt that you have above. We see that thought continued/concluded: You saw Nyon and you cried… because you knew what it meant to destroy something you loved.
They are indeed brushing into deeper emotions here. SW has shared one of his most devastating memories and Rodimus now has a reference point for SW's pain.
Writing this part in Rodimus's POV meant that we didn't see SW's struggle from the inside, as we usually do, but I had challenged myself to do an all-Roddy POV chapter.
I'll go through the scene and tell you what SW's thought process was :)
We start this scene with Rodimus entering SW's room. Rodimus has been avoiding SW, so SW is equal parts excited and nervous to see Rodimus. These emotions are shown to the reader via Rodimus noting how his tentacles are moving (Soundwave's emotions come out in his body language more and more as the fic goes on. Differently than his LL friends, of course, but due to their influence on him. He even wondered if he would start doing that in a previous chapter). Rodimus invites him to pick a game, but SW doesn't want to do that. He wants to... talk. He wants to hold Rodimus while he talks. He arranges his tentacles in the shapes they take on when holding Rodimus, so he can show Rodimus what he wants instead of having to say it.
Once properly settled, it takes a bit for SW to get into it, but he's bursting to share the garden with Rodimus. He plays the sounds of the stream and the dripping stalactites. He shares the crystals and data with Rodimus, explaining a few in detail. He enjoys sharing this.
Rodimus asks for clarification re: the garden.
“This is the garden you told me about a long time ago? With... Megatronus?” “Affirmative. I was made to destroy my life's work with my own hands.” The cyphers froze and went out. “I could replay the explosions. I mapped them all precisely. I do not want to.” “Don't. You super don't have to do that.” The tentacles slid around Rodimus. He squeezed them gently.
This tentacles sliding represent SW's gratefulness at not having to detail the destruction of the crystals.
SW tells Rodimus it hurt. It's hard for him to say it, so he repeats the words. Rodimus kisses him, then holds still. The kisses are for Rodimus, the stillness is for SW. SW appreciates it.
SW says that returning from 2938 hurt. Rodimus takes a moment to get what he means: returning from 2938 hurt because the crystals exploded. The garden's crystals exploded and that hurt, too. One reminds SW of the other. SW is glad Rodimus has put the two together.
Rodimus invites SW to share his pain instead of holding it in. SW doesn't want to, because it hurts. He doesn't want to hurt Rodimus. He knows Rodimus has his own pain. Rodimus insists, so SW does so. He retracts his field when Rodimus says "Holy shit."
They have a little bit more convo. SW is very relieved when Rodimus tells him that if they can get supplies from 0001, SW will never have to build another portal (ie giant crystals) destined to be destroyed again.
SW is relieved to have shared the painful connection between the garden's destruction and the 2938 portal's destruction. The reason for being nervous is over: he has shared the difficult thing.
You didn't ask about Rodimus's admission after this but to summarize: when Rodimus said he didn't feel like he was good enough for Drift and he was afraid SW would leave him, SW was reminded of his own fears, and that Stardrive line that plays over and over in his head. He plays her voice in an attempt to show Rodimus that they both have feelings of inferiority. He doesn't speak to Rodimus's feelings (he doesn't know enough about the whole Drift and Ratchet/gray years thing to comment intelligently and he doesn't want to get mixed up in it) but he explains his own: he's so different, even his fingers are the wrong shapes. But, he proffers, maybe they're not wrong. They're just different. SW hopes Rodimus will agree. SW proposes that they shouldn't fear being inferior anymore. They should turn Rodimus's gift of ultimate understanding inward as well as outward.
Rodimus's suggestion of "Together: superior" absolutely delights him. He thinks it's hilarious because it's a play on his own personal mantra, but it is also true. They do feel better when they're together, and moving forward like that can only do good things. It cements Rodimus as a partner, in his mind, because he specifically used the word 'together.'
That's the rundown =) Thank you for the question! If I think of anything else, I'll reblog with additional info.
30 notes · View notes
la-sera · 8 months
Note
Ok I've been looking through your art for the millionth time and I just gotta gush about it for a bit hope you don't mind lol
Your style is gorgeous to look at every time, I enjoy the fancier paintings but the sketchy stuff is my absolute favorite. The line hatching combined with your wonderful sense of anatomy and posing creates a gritty realism that compliments our beloved Downfall Duo perfectly. I keep going back to your two-parter about Hyrule getting possessed, specifically these 2 panels:
Tumblr media
I get so excited every time I see this bro, the shadows and poses ground the boys in their environment so well. Perhaps I'm biased against my own work but I often feel like the characters in my art feel a bit too floaty and disconnected from their environments, so seeing your art is an encouragement and a goal to work towards! It's just so good lol
I think that's all I've got for now, can't wait to see more from you!! :D
I get compliments from artists as great as you? OMG I was so surprised and happy at the same time! I admire your work too.
And I'm even more surprised you like that comic. I drew a battle pose for that comic with reference to my own body, which was quite difficult to make >.<. I like to challenge myself by drawing different poses or POV. So I'm really happy if you like it that much ^^ Thank you so much!
I am very honored if you make my art as your art goal, I am happy if it can help you to be better. If you need help, and if I can do it, I will help you.
63 notes · View notes
Text
FEATURE | Into the Decadent Life of Dorian Gray: How Victorian Aestheticism Led to His Demise
Originally published as a serial in 1890 and in book form the following year, Oscar Wilde's only novel The Picture of Dorian Gray is one of the best examples of late Victorian Gothic horror. The late 19th century aestheticism and decadence are among the key concepts that Wilde creatively weaved into his novel.
Behind the Aesthetic movement
During the 19th century, aestheticism was an art movement known as "art for art's sake" which favors the aesthetic value of the arts, literature, and music rather than their socio-political purpose. This movement focuses on producing art that is deemed beautiful rather than having a deeper meaning. Its philosophy is meant for escaping the ugliness of the materialism brought by the Industrial Age, thus only absorbing beauty and good taste. It also challenges the norms during the period where Victorians would often associate ethical and moral roles to any form of art, which is the very opposite of the movement's perspective.
While a critical reflection on the arts with the aim of getting through the hardships of a new age by recognizing the necessity of beauty in everyday life, the movement also gave rise to ethical questions–creating a conflict between aestheticism and morality, which can be perfectly observed in The Picture of Dorian Gray.
A stirring and provocative introduction
The novel probably has one of the best prefaces ever written. Novel prefaces during the Victorian age were usually crowded with characters, with long paragraphs that are thickly plotted. Prefaces invite the readers inside the book by stating the purpose, and Wilde was successful in doing so. He wrote the preface without complicated words, it was written realistically and with much thought.
In reference to the Aesthetic movement, Wilde asserts in the preface that art's aim is to only reveal art and conceal its artist. He also talks about the critics of art, who he defines as those who can translate into another manner or material. Detesting people who find ugly meanings in beautiful things, he calls them corrupt and uncharming; this is a fault. Those who are cultivated are the ones who can find beautiful meanings in beautiful things. Then, he ends it strongly with, "All art is quite useless."
Such an introduction will put the readers into deep thought, challenging someone's beliefs on the matter whether one agrees or not. And with the intriguing notions laid upon them, one may argue against it or further interpret the concepts on their own.
Navigating the tenets of Aestheticism in the novel’s synopsis
Opening with a vivid image of the setting, artist Basil Hallward paints Dorian Gray's portrait in his London studio. With them, Lord Henry "Harry" Wotton is smoking an opium-tainted cigarette while taking a shine to the fine young man with an "extraordinary personal beauty." Speaking in aphorisms, and in mostly profound manner, he slowly encourages Dorian to indulge deep into life's greatest pleasures, advising him to look constantly after new sensations in life despite Basil's begging that he should not corrupt Dorian with his words that reek of hedonistic values. Lord Henry, depicted as a manipulator as he picks a flower's petals one by one, would soon have a large role in Dorian's way of life.
As Basil finishes Dorian's portrait, the painting reveals such beauty and is praised by Lord Henry as being the artist's finest work ever done. Suggesting that it must be shown in the best galleries possible, Basil quickly insists that he does not want the portrait to be seen. He says, "I have put too much of myself in it."
Basil worries that showing his work will reveal so much of himself, that spectators may uncover more of his personal and artistic idolatry of Dorian than the fair subject himself. This echoes Aestheticism's principles, where artists must be dismissed; create only a beautiful work and not put meaning into it. He refuses to have his work be explored by critics, and be seen as a biographical expression.
Looking at the artist's finished work, Dorian marvels at how young and beautiful he looks. He wishes that he would always remain young, and that the portrait must become the one to age and wane. In order for such a wish to be granted, he even declared he would sell his soul. And this is the moment as if he has made a pact with the devil.
Dorian coddles with a life of pleasure, living a life with his gift of youth, just as Lord Henry has advised him. Soon he meets Sibyl Vane, a theater actress, and falls in love with her art–performing on stage with different roles embodying the aspects of tragic love: Cordelia, Juliet, Desdemona, and Portia among others. She artistically acts on stage, as if completely losing herself and fully becoming the characters she plays. This is what Dorian falls in love with, her art as an actress. Sibyl falls in love with Dorian, she then experiences real love and realizes the falseness she has been doing onstage.
Sibyl initially inspired Dorian to turn away from decadence. Dorian discusses with Lord Henry the emotions that Sibyl makes him feel, "Her trust makes me faithful, her belief makes me good. When I am with her, I regret all that you have taught me." But when Sibyl performs as Juliet on stage, she seems artificial. She hopes that Dorian will take the hint that she does not want to act anymore after falling in love. Disappointed and ashamed, Dorian stays the whole play after everyone has left. "You have killed my love," he mutters. And then he leaves as Sibyl pleads and cries on the floor.
Sibyl symbolizes truth and purity, while Dorian is nothing but deceit and selfishness. Dorian, once again, is swayed by the values taught to him by Lord Henry. Soon, Sibyl becomes like the tragic characters she portrays, she meets a bitter end when she takes her own life after Dorian turns her down for losing her ability to act. Without this art of hers, she is now meaningless. Henry tells Dorian about the girl's death and says, "The girl never really lived, and so she has never really died."
Aestheticism's values deeply affect how Dorian sees people around him, same with how he treated Sibyl. He only saw value in her knowing that she was a brilliant actress. He mourned for her when she died as Cordelia. But never did he feel an ounce of sadness, when she died as Sibyl Vane.
After Sibyl's death, Dorian feels there is nothing more to stop him from treading a terrible path of sin and immorality. He goes on with self-indulgence, and there is no coming back. Sin after sin, he commits all things hideous. His physical body remains perfect but his portrait changes, becoming uglier as days of sin go by. Shocked by the changes in the portrait, he locks it away in his house's attic. Once again, after ceaselessly doing immoral things, he looks at the portrait and an old, evil face is revealed to him.
A tragic but fulfilling ending
13 years pass by and Dorian remains young and attractive. Dorian shows Basil his secret, the portrait that he is hiding, and the artist is appalled by the sight of his then beautiful work. Dorian then stabs Basil to death. Sibyl's brother, James, also went to exact revenge on him but is shot by one of the members of his shooting party. These events continue to disfigure his portrait. He tries to believe that the portrait may improve if he starts to behave, but he looks at the portrait again and his old self remains with the face of an evil man.
Dismayed and outraged by the loathsome sight, Dorian shoves a knife into the canvas to destroy the evidence of his sin. The sin he wants to destroy is himself. So when the servants arrive in the attic after hearing a blood-curdling sound, they witness Dorian's beautiful portrait just as Basil has painted it, but there lies on the floor a body of wrinkled old man with a horrid face.
The ending scene, as tragic as it appears on the surface, is perfectly constructed. All the events in the story, each circumstance of the characters that have different values and especially Dorian's journey of sin, led to this very end–to his ultimate demise. An ending he deserves, the moment of his death with the magical portrait at the scene that displayed strong symbols–him being one with the portrait maintaining his immortality, the depravity in the painting that he longs to kill instead of facing it.
Dorian Gray and the demise of his Aesthetic life
Dorian's ending is a reminder that no one can get away with everything. He went about in his life with the values of aestheticism imparted to him by Lord Henry, and that brought his downfall at the end. The movement should have only been a means to distract oneself from the industrialization and the physical harms it had on people. But too much indulgence in just beauty on a surface level gets rid of other things that are also important.
Living this life must also take some inspiration. Creating art can be both for the art and artist's sake, so as creating meaning or not having meaning at all. Sibyl is not meaningless when she loses her ability to act, it is not meagerness to finally embrace and see oneself as who they truly are. Basil should not have been shamed for keeping something so precious to him. Dorian would not have been put into a life of decadence if only he considered both having youth and not having youth as a gift, if only he considered to also put value in his attitude as he does in his looks.
It is mentioned how there is conflict between aestheticism and morality which is discernible in the novel. The very conflict presented there is Dorian Gray himself, who is such an exceptionally beautiful-looking young man but has a crooked and amoral attitude–which led to his own downfall. What lies beneath the surface is more worthwhile after all.
Tumblr media
75 notes · View notes
tohellandback99 · 4 months
Text
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
………heeeeeeyyyyy!
I have been doing my stuff, as you can see. I had been gone… uhh, see;
I was getting top surgery. Mm 😌
Wendell and Wild’s one year anniversary had passed, but it wasn’t lost on me. I would like to share some words, my feelings for a moment
At the beginning of November last year, I had simply wished to watch something on Netflix for the first time in forever. I’m not much of a movie or tv show person-I’m more of a gamer. (Unless it’s a stop-motion film)
Anyway, I saw Kat’s picture on the front of the movie and my jaw felll to the floor because of, “how the HELL, did I not hear of this movie?” Which I’m only a little bit happy about because I like being surprised (ONLY when it comes to finding a good movie,) and in this case, was absolutely absolutely bewitching. Beguiling. Refreshing. but people in NETFLIX should not have thrown this to the wind. This can actually help people! I read that it was made by Jordan Peele working with Henry Selick, a duo I would never have imagined but understood from their works that they would be, a wonderful pairing. And I find myself lucky that I hadn’t heard people online say that it is like Coraline because it’s not… It is BEEEEETTEEERRR! 😍 IT IS LOVE! It is my childhood fever dream doused in chocolate and fucking cheeeese *slaps table* iwantmoreofit
It was quite an emotional roller coaster of a movie. It’s one of those films that you’d say, is an “experience” as opposed to a “story.” Kat and Raul are BY FAAARRR characters that I would have liked to see on television in my childhood years. Instead of Johnny Test, Chowder, Total Drama-anything-it’s-all-the-same, and Ed, Edd, and Eddy. 😤 Kat and Raul are people that I’ve been surrounded by in my life that I prefer, and have BEEN, in my life. So much so that I struggle to call them “characters” instead of people. And I can relate and see my child selves in both Kat and Raul, A LOT. (dressed in a punk style and grew up with and enjoy quite a bit of punk music. used to have a Mohawk when I was Kat’s age! There’s more but I don’t want to say,) It was terrifying for a bit because it made me feel like I don’t exist. I can’t
I cried when she found her source, her key. And gave herself a hug and how it became one with her. The “shadow Kat.” I think. My passed therapist calls a “source” or a “core” that holds trauma, the key. 🥹 That was so intrinsically true and relative to someone doing trauma work that I’m immensely grateful. Exists. In a movie like this.
My criticisms of this movie come out of love for this movie. If I didn’t like it I wouldn’t have cared to critique it. All I wanted was more, generally. More time, because there’s a lot of interesting things that were alluded to, but left out. And that’s all!
So my art is this time, this is an art journaling thing that was never supposed to be one but I lost control and before I knew it, realized what it was becoming. It’s chaos. I’m trying not to be embarrassed of that, eeehhhhhhhh 😓 mrrp, *squint* *chirp!* I had to improvise in a way that felt right.
I drew and painted Kat, and drew her almost entirely without reference. She’s not crying because of Raul! Absolutely NOT. I was going to do something with her but didn’t have the space so I made this as a practice and, I am obviously still needing to get better at painting her. I am so much happier with how I draw her now. I drew Sweetie because I needed some sort of guardian before I continue. (She was so easy) And then, this genderbent Oogie Boogie was stuck in my head and I drew and painted her too, all villainous and imposing. It made for a great challenge I’d say
Oh yeah, right yes… RAUL, has a purple winding stair case behind him. Of course… *sips tea* yes, that’s the appropriate way to get things done simply. You know who your favorite character is when your brain suddenly is like, “hey! Let me surround him with a winding staircase 🤩” 🤭 what the hell
30 notes · View notes
obsob · 9 months
Note
Hello! I just wanted to compliment your art style becuase it's so wonderful and comfy looking. I also wanted to ask, do you have any advice for other more beginniner artists?
If not, totally OK. Keep doing what you're doing!
:3
hello! tysm!!
idk what specific advice would be helpful for you, so heres some general stuff!
for my colour palettes i generally just generate palettes from paintings/art i like in procreate! idk if there are websites that can do this for u if u dont use procreate i imagine so? i dont often 100% stick to one palette for a piece, but sometimes i like to challenge myself to! its a good way of making you use colours u dont usually do. i find having a good range of palettes to choose from helps me decide what kind of vibe i want for a piece! something i always do when colouring is do a warm yellow underpaint under everything - this is partially so i can do 'alpha locks' for ease but also it gives everything a nice consistent undertone which helps! if im not sure on a palette when im doing the line art i will purposely not shade in sections to give me more wiggle room with the colour choices.
for drawing people i feel as though i should recommend doing figure drawing but i. do not do that so DJBSDKDB i hate figure drawing so much. when i draw people i just tend to take photos of myself in the pose i want and then if needs be look at some reference images of people w the body type i am drawing and then merge the two in my sketch. i like to look at shapes the body makes and exaggerate them - making things more round or more pointy. for both bodies and faces i dont think too hard about life like proportions - i just hve fun with it! whatever suits the character!
for general inspiration i use pinterest a lot - here are some sc's of some of my main insp board! and a link to my account if u are. curious i guess
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
66 notes · View notes