#my art style: trial and error

[yumiiyummech]

What's your process for rendering? It always looks so pretty!

maybe i should do a speedpaint video some day!

not really sure how to explain this without showing but my basic steps are

>make sure the base colors are done

>do base shadows using a really blend-able paint brush like clothes' creases and etc. I also add extra strands of hair around in this step

>merge all the color layers together

>clip and apply a multiply layer with a color from the background for that realism i guess

>erase parts of the multiply layer where you want light to shine with a hard eraser and then again in some areas with a soft one

>apply and clip another layer but its add glow with the color you want the lighting to be (if sunset, like an orange color for example) I usually never lower the opacity, just color over the light places lightly and make sure im not overdoing it on the add (my eyes) oh and i use a soft airbrush most of the time

>insert trial and error of a ton of blur and effect filters until it seems good. I sometimes like to add a gradient correction layer so that everything blends nicely and matches. Think of it like I don't want my character to be neon when the background is a dull monochrome lol

noise layer!

yeah idk sometimes this varies from work to work depending on what type of feel i want or brushes i use. Especially in a big work, i try hard a little more on the base shading and hair but usually this is my process lol

[saucybokchoy]

Monsignor 🦇 (his abhors the light is going crazy rn)

[inutiliacapra]

what’s the name of ur art style….

i made it up lmaoo

[cheriboms]

got a haircut the other day so i finally tried to draw myself in arcane style :V

[saragrekey]

i got some cute sketches to post tomorrow :O but I also might lore dump about my whole art progress thingy? cause tldr i only drew realistically from photos until december where I realized I wanted to draw comics and characters and it was kind of “learn this now or you’ll never have time for it again” so I’ll explain more after sleep but that’s kind of my intention here to kind of document that process? since instagram isn’t really a good place for that.

so anytime i draw something that looks like an actual drawing I’m like

[lunarfly-studios]

k so

admittedly asher's gonna take a while to release because he has textured hair (dreads) and I've never been able to draw that in a way that

Looked right

Was drawn properly

Curly hair, afros and dreads aren't UNVENTURED territory but I've yet to find a technique that clicks in my brain to make them look right, and i refuse to put him out without his hair being drawn properly so...

I need to find a way to simplify dreads enough for me to draw 'em in my style without looking wrong

[syxnewt]

HOLLY <3 <3 I LOVE YOU HOLLY

[rnoonsetter]

you ever make something so good it scares you? like yeah i put a lot of work into this and i love it but it doesn't feel like i made it. or it's a fluke. it's /too/ good. i just. i was pretty easily able to tackle things i had struggled a LOT with in the past, with /some/ effort, but like, not nearly enough. i've done similar work in the past, and it never turned out half this good. i'm not even done with it yet. i'm scared to make the changes i want to make, in case i somehow fuck it up, even though it's digital art and i can easily undo it.

this isn't a humble brag, i swear, it's genuinely anxiety inducing, i just can't put my finger on why. maybe that it's that i'll never make something this good again.

[loregoddess]

they need to invent a metal that is not so hard to shade

[gaykarstaagforever]

YouTube has this thing now called YouTube Playables (great name as usual, guys; it's not a children's snack pack), that are basically in-app "Flash games"-style things that are just enough game to keep you watching ads.

The ones of these that aren't direct ripoffs of owned IP (very specifically Zuma) are barebones exercises in that bog-standard FTP addictive mobile gaming loop we all know and hate but also LOVE, minus the in-app purchases (for the time being). Like, shallow systems that are fun for exactly 30 minutes, then get stupidly hard so you'll pay to win, though you can't do that yet, so...kind of pointless.

...I still spent FOUR HOURS playing these, because they tapped into my primitive lizard brain's desire to try and master an utterly meaningless task and then feel undooly smug about it.

I didn't get any ads, because I'm a stooge that pays real money to Google every month for this, because once you go adless, you CANNOT go back. Which kind of negates the whole point of these, as addictive time-wasters that keep you glued to the platform and its commercials? But I already pay for YouTube and STILL got caught in these, so I suppose everything is going according to YouTube's plan either way, and I need meaningful human relationships.

But THAT isn't going to happen any time soon! So let me waste another evening on these by reviewing some crap garbage games for idiots that no one cares about, on Tumblr dot com!

1. Totemia: Cursed Marbles

It's Zuma. That's it. With a couple minor tweaks that make it harder and more annoying.

Just license Zuma, YouTube. I think you can afford the, what, $25 that would cost atm?

2. Sword Play

An on-rails sword slashing game (you don't control the movement, just the slashing), and you kill plastic doll guys before they kill you.

At some point they get projectiles that move really fast, that you can only destroy via specific directional QTEs that don't register properly half the time, because this is all relative finger smearing across the screen.

It was fun before that. The guys fall apart specific to how you slash them. That's something.

3. Dessert DIY

This one sucks. You're just picking from very limited options, then doing specific motions to trigger animations that create desserts that don't even look much like the promo art. People request different things, but early game all they ask for is "whatever you want to make" and "do one out of poop with bugs on it to make someone I hate throw up."

And then there's an animation of someone accepting what is obviously poop with bugs on it from their sworn enemy, they eat it anyway, then vomit.

The only fun part about this is the shameless inclusion of NPCs that look like celebrities, specifically Billie Eilish, Kanye West, and Donald Trump.

If you want to make a poop ice cream cone with bugs on it and feed it to Trump until he vomits all over his desk, this is the game for you. Otherwise, this is meh even for one of these meh games.

4. Bowmasters

Dueling Angry Birds, but you have no control of the camera and it focuses on you so you have to trial-and-error the degree of angle and throwing force to figure out how to hit and kill your opponent before they hit and kill you.

There are many colorful pop culture-inspired combatants to unlock, with a huge variety of projectiles of different weights, sizes, and behaviors. This is the most "very nearly a real, good game" one of these.

...Except that the level progression forces you to do Bonus Rounds, and one of those is "knock fruit off the head of an opponent without hitting them, and you have to do this like 5 times in a row, and we move you further away from them another 30 yards every round, and you have to use a wildly different unique projectile every round, and you get 3 chances, and that includes if you miss entirely."

It is basically impossible to do this, because your ever-changing location makes calculating arcs and force, with the ever-changing projectiles, impossible, in this limited amount of attempts. It turns into grinding it out until RNG randomly makes you win.

Which is a shame, because otherwise, this is fun. But you WILL get stuck on a stupid fruit round and stop playing this.

5. Mob Control

You have a cannon that launches blue guys. The NPC opponent does red. You both are trying to bumrush the other's base, taking advantage of buttons and switches and bonus gates that speed you up or slow you down and multiply your number of guys. Guys annihilate each-other when they run into each-other, so you need to overwhelm Red before they overwhelm you.

It's fun until it gets so fast that it becomes a chore to manage where precisely to launch guys specifically to annihilate other guys.

6. Merge Master

This goddamn game. This was 3.5 hours of my 4 hour playtime.

You have a grid board, with you at the bottom and an opponent at the top. You both have an army of warriors and dinosaurs, and a team HP bar. You click go, the warriors fire projectiles and the dinosaurs melee the nearest enemy, and last man standing wins.

Before each round, you can arrange the placement of your army, and use money you won from the last rounds to buy more warriors and dinosaurs. But the kicker is, you can combine like warriors and dinosaurs to make more powerful units, which you keep at the end of every round. They don't gain XP or anything, but as you make more money, you can buy more 1st-level units (that's all you can buy), and gradually combine them and then combine the combinations, and on and on and on, making incredibly powerful new units. And you need a mix of low-level and high-level units to have enough melee dinosaurs and projectile-throwers to overwhelm high-level enemy units, or draw fire away from your own, against the ever-changing enemy army each round.

It's a process of slowly adding more units and combining them to make stronger and stronger units, and as many of them as you can get, accounting for the limited board space. Also the price of units rises exponentially each round, so you may have 1 trillion gold, but at this point a new 1st-level dinosaur costs 245 billion.

I couldn't stop with this. It just got me. I wanted to see new exciting high-level warriors and dinosaurs, and see how fast I could take the other army down. There's more than zero strategy at work here, and battles can vary substantially from round to round, depending on what mix of units the enemy brings to the board.

It's still a rudimentary Flash-esque game, and very much akin to those shitty mobile boss rush games that raid our shadow legends. But it's not PTW yet, and the graphics are a charming and distorted replica of early 2000s 3D games, like Age of Mythology or GTA 3. It felt like something, for awhile.

It isn't, and I wasted valuable battery charge on this stupid shit. But I was having fun. And sometimes, that's enough.

...And posting about it here. It's something to talk about that isn't the world eating itself.

And we all need that sometimes.

[vetyr]

hi, i ireally love your work and i don't know if you've answered this before but, what kinds of studies do you do or how did you learn color theory? i wanna get better at rendering and anatomy but im having trouble TT TT

Hi! Long answer alert. Once a chatterbox, always a chatterbox.

When I started actively learning how to draw about 10 1/2 years ago, I exclusively did graphite studies in sketchbooks. Here's a few examples—I mostly stuck to doing line drawings to drill basic shapes/contours and proportions into my brain. The more rendered sketches helped me practice edge control & basic values, and they were REALLY good for learning the actual 3D structure behind what I was drawing.

I'd use reference images that I grabbed from fitness forums, Instagram, Tumblr, Pinterest, and some NSFW places, but you could find adequate ref material from figure drawing sites like Line of Action. LoA has refs for people (you can filter by clothed/unclothed, age, & gender), animals, expressions, hands/feet, and a few other useful things as well. Love them.

Learning how to render digitally was a similar story; it helped a lot that I had a pretty strong foundation for value/anatomy going in. I basically didn't touch color at all for ~2 years (except for a few attempts at bad digital or acrylic paint studies), which may not have been the best idea. I learned color from a lot of trial and error, honestly, and I'm pretty sure this process involved a lot of imitation—there were a number of digital/traditional painters whose styles I really wanted to emulate (notably their edge control, color choices, value distributions, and shape design), so I kiiind of did a mixture of that + my own experimentation.

For example, I really found Benjamin Björklund's style appealing, especially his softened/lost edges & vibrant pops of saturated color, so here's a study I did from some photograph that I'm *pretty* sure was painted with him in mind.

Learning how to detail was definitely a slow process, and like all the aforementioned things (anatomy/color/edge control/values/etc.) I'm still figuring it out. Focusing on edge control first (that is, deciding on where to place hard/soft edges for emphasizing/de-emphasizing certain areas of the image) is super useful, because you can honestly fool a viewer into thinking there's more detail in a piece than there actually is if you're very economical about where you place your hard edges.

The most important part, to me, is probably just doing this stuff over and over again. You're likely not going to see improvement in a few weeks or even a few months, so don't fret about not getting the exact results you want and just keep studying + making art. I like to think about learning art as a process where you *need* to fail and make crappy art/studies—there's literally no way around it—so you might as well fail right now. See, by making bad art you're actually moving forward—isn't that a fun prospect!!

It's useful to have a folder with art you admire, especially if you can dissect the pieces and understand why you like them so much. You can study those aspects (like, you can redraw or repaint that person's work) and break down whether this is art that you just like to look at, or if it's the kind of art that you want to *make.* There's a LOT of art out there that I love looking at, probably tens of thousands of styles/mediums, but there's a very narrow range that I want to make myself.

I've mentioned it in some ask reply in the past, but I really do think looking at other artist's work is such a cheat code for improving your own skills—the other artist does the work to filter reality/ideas for you, and this sort of allows you to contact the subject matter more directly. I can think of so many examples where an artist I admired exaggerated, like, the way sunlight rested on a face and created that orange fringe around its edge, or the greys/dull blues in a wheat field, or the bright indigo in a cast shadow, or the red along the outside of a person's eye, and it just clicked for me that this was a very available & observable aspect of reality, which had up until that point gone completely unnoticed! If you're really perceptive about the art you look at, it's shocking how much it can teach you about how to see the world (in this particular case I mean this literally, in that the art I looked at fully changed the way I visually processed the world, but of course it has had a strong effect on my worldviews/relationships/beliefs).

Thanks so much for sending in a question (& for reading, if you got this far)! I read every single ask I receive, including the kind words & compliments, which I genuinely always appreciate. Best of luck with learning, my friend :)

[art]

Creator Spotlight: @mimimar

Hi! I’m Michelle (Mimimar), an illustrator born and raised in Venezuela, currently based in Italy. I enjoy making colorful illustrations that reflect the things I love: fairy tales, fantasy, tenderness and queer (especially sapphic) stories. Occasionally, I also make paper dolls, comics and animatics. I have a lot of interest in book illustration and I’m currently developing my own stories that I hope to share as an author-illustrator someday!

Check out our interview with Michelle below!

Did you originally have a background in art? If not, how did you start?

I always enjoyed drawing when I was a kid, but it only became a hobby that I did almost every day when I was around 11. At first I only used traditional mediums, but I decided to make a serious effort to learn how to draw digitally when I was 15, and once I got the hang of it I never stopped!

I didn’t go to art school so all of my learning was done through studying the tutorials and resources that other artists generously share on the internet and lots of practice / trial and error.

How do you want to evolve as a creator?

I want to do many things but what I want to do the most right now is work on books! I want to make art for other authors’ stories and also my own stories as an author-illustrator. I want to grow as a storyteller and create art and stories that will really resonate with people emotionally. I’m always striving to improve my skills as well.

I also really love dolls, so working on doll box art or as a doll designer is something I would love to do someday. I actually have been designing paper dolls on my Patreon for the past few months, it’s been a fun project that is still ongoing right now!

What is one habit you find yourself doing a lot as an artist?

Probably using a lot of purple! It’s my favorite color so I find myself using it a lot. If I can find a way to sneak a little bit of purple into an illustration or a character design then I will.

Congratulations on finishing your��Ivy Comic! Did the outcome turn out like how you expected or were there some unexpected bumps along the way?

Thank you! It’s a project that I worked on very slowly in between other art because I wanted to really take my time with every spread and make each of them a fully detailed illustration. I thumbnailed the full comic before starting but I kept changing the sketch for the final spread until the very end! Overall I’m really proud of the end result. I sprinkled a lot of hidden details in every page that I hope some of the readers will notice. For example: the meanings of the flowers in each page represent what the characters are feeling in that moment, and the colors of their wardrobe become gradually lighter as the story progresses to represent their emotions, as well as the changing of seasons.

We’ve noticed that you have created some amazing cover art for TGCF. Is there another series you would like to do something similar with? 

That was another passion project that took some time to complete. Initially, I didn’t intend for them to be specifically covers, it was just a series of illustrations based on the 5 books/main arcs of TGCF. But since they were well-received and I had people telling me they wish they could use them as covers for their books, I decided to rework them into dust jackets for the english translation of TGCF!

I haven’t thought of any other specific series but I love doing cover art so maybe I’ll do something similar again in the future!

What’s your favorite part of your style? Why?

I’ve heard from other people that there’s a delicate quality to my art, this is something that I like a lot! I like pretty things, fairytales and vibrant colors. I think all of these things probably reflect in the art I make as well.

If there is one thing you want your audience to remember about your work, what would it be?

I hope that they remember how it made them feel. Feelings and colors are the two things I give priority to in my work. Most of the time I like depicting tenderness, softness and emotional intimacy. If that could reach the viewer and stay with them it would make me very happy. 

I make a lot of art with queer (mainly sapphic) themes because they’re the kind of stories I personally like and want to see more of, so whenever people tell me that my art has helped them in their journey to discover and accept themselves, or that they see themselves and their partner in my art, it is always extremely meaningful to me. When art that I made to give myself comfort can provide comfort for others, no matter how small, it reminds me once again that despite any hardships art is genuinely worth pursuing.

Who on Tumblr inspires you and why?

So many artists! To name a few:  I love @sakizo’s amazing eye for fashion and detail,  @paneeps’ gorgeous style and striking colors,  the sweetness of @bevsi’s art,  @vickisigh’s pretty colors and concepts,  @idledee’s warm and heartfelt art,  @littlestpersimmon’s dreamy wonderful art,  and @loish has been an inspiration for as long as I can remember.

Thank you so much for stopping by and sharing, Michelle! Be sure to check out their Tumblr blog over at @mimimar.

[akanemnon]

Your art style is amazing. my shaky hands could never

Oh they ABSOLUTELY could, anon!

There are artists out there who paint with their mouths or feet!

Being an artist and learning new skills in general inolves a lot of repetition and practice. It's mainly trial and error (mostly error) when you start out. But the only thing stopping you from trying is yourself.

[arrimorr]

Hello sorry to bother you, but would you mind sharing a little about your art process? I really love how you achieve almost a paper cut out style digitally, and I’m just curious how you go about it!

Hiii, usually, I just try to think in simpler shapes and paint in a way I would do it if I used actual traditional materials. If you look at some older children illustration, you can see that it was executed through a bunch of siluettes that had details added to them and I find this way of drawing way more appealing and fun than just meticulously rendering things

You can also look through this speed paint of one of my older works. It has so much trial and error that it magically becomes easier to follow than what I do now...

[prest0allay]

I absolutely adore your art style!! If it’s not too much trouble, could you share a bit of your drawing process? I want to get better at digital art and your art is so inspiring <3

First of all, how dare you make me tear up. Second, my style is a trial and error type of process. That being said, I'll try to explain my way of art🎨. Presto lecture yaaayy!!!🤓

[No background - use grey canvas)

1. Draw as many sketches as needed and then turn them to the lowest opacity so that your line art is accurate. (I always kind of hated my line art, so I began to draw over it)

2. Fill in with muted and even darker colours. Use brighter colours where the light would be or is the main focus. Don't be scared of using dark colours in shadows. Use a lot of greyish tones (grey is litterly the most magical colour to ever exist)

3. If needed, change the colour of the line art (red near skin).

4. Draw over the line art to create highlights or just to correct mistakes. It gives a more fleshy feeling.

[Detailed background]

If my bg is way too detailed or the characters are not central, I draw the bg first. It helps with the colouring in the long run. Otherwise, I use the same methods.

I don't use too many brushes (prob 4 - 7), even if the material differs. I recommend checking out "Neytirix" on YouTube, as that is where I take a lot of colouring inspiration. Also, I use shit ton of references (can't draw if I don't know how the light interacts😭). That's probably it, don't know what else to say...

That concludes the lecture. Presto OUT!!

[saragrekey]

ok So !! I started the crossover art I mentioned earlier and it was kind of going well but I was just hit with such an intense wave of “I need to improve.” which is GOOD cause I haven’t really had the drive since school started. Idk more specifically, I was seeing how my art style is currently and yeah I want to pivot in a different direction. However I genuinely don’t know what I want my art to look like, I’ve made lists and lists of artists and styles I like but I’ve yet to really visualize a concrete direction to follow. I think I’m going to really focus on investigating that so I can better focus my studying :O

Also I mayyyyyy come up with a little 30 improvement challenge to follow? Like that duolingo for artists joke, but it’s just an exercise each day that you can do in 10-30 minutes. If I do I’ll post it for anyone else who’s in the same boat as me lol