#thefoxesoftheelements

[lauramayscreative]

Aaaand here's three Lera expressions as I don't have time to add a fourth... As mentioned in my previous post, these were part of an expressions exercise where I drew my characters emoting using stills of actors for reference. I used Amanda Seyfried as reference for these. I really love the one in the bottom left! She looks so much to how I imagine Lera to look. For these sketches I drew her with the fur that's supposed to mimic long hair as per her early designs. It was something inspired by the same feature in the vixen character designs in The Animals of Farthing Wood animated series, which I loved as a kid and still do now. I think I've found my new favourite colour to digitally sketch in! Also I am going to use actor references as much as I can to draw my character's expressions from now on. I think it's really breathed life into them! #ocart #sketch #instaart #characterdesign #characterart #lauramayscreative #drawing #drawingexercises #draw #foxcharacter #foxart #animalart #cartoon #artistsofinstagram #thefoxesoftheelements #fox #originalcharacterart #tumblrart #digitalsketch #digitalart #huiontablet #art #instaillustration #artofinstagram #artstagram #drawingexercises https://www.instagram.com/p/BxIsIWyFXFk/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=nwcg0zbsmpti

[lauramayscreative]

I was going to be good and work on my final project today (I was even stressing about it a lot last night and this morning) but instead I ended up (predictable me) doing my own thing for the entire day... Anyways! I discovered a few days ago that the 6th year anniversary for TFOTE's 3rd draft falls on the 25th of this month and so I've been getting stuck in with doing art to celebrate it. This afternoon I felt like drawing my characters doing different expressions. I tried a few just freehand before watching @bageldenizen 's new video on expressions and deciding to an activity he recommended where you draw your character using an actor as reference by using a still from a movie or TV show. I thus used several videos on Youtube to do sketches for the exercise using my OC (and beloved boi) Silver Paw! The top left and bottom two are using Mark Hamill in the Star Wars Original Trilogy as reference (I personally love his expression in the close-up when he sees his adoptive family murdered). At the same time I remembered how I used to think Silver was quite like Luke (Silver's more timid now though) so it kinda made for the perfect reference. ...And the top right is exaggerated from Christopher Egan playing Charlie in the Letters to Juliet Trailer (which I was using at first to use Amanda Seyfried as reference for drawing Lera). I'm glad I got to pay homage (albiet in a quirky way) to Star Wars-even if I'm a day late! This exercise was also a lovely breath of fresh air for me-especially since I've have quite a bad case of same-face symdrome. #ocart #sketches #artstagram #instaart #art #expressions #animalart #characterdesign #originalcharacterart #thefoxesoftheelements #artoftheday #artistsofinstagram #lauramayscreative #tumblrart #drawing #draw #huiontablet #drawingexercises #tumblrart https://www.instagram.com/p/BxGEwBfF0L4/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=aseszwben9d

[lauramayscreative]

Scrolling through my Instagram feed last night a vision came to me of Silver and Lera personified in an anime style. I rushed to grab my sketchbook and pencil and start to bring it to life. I had to look up a few references-with this being the first time I've had a proper go at trying the anime/manga style. I think it ultimately ended up being a bit of a mix of said style, washed down a bit with my own-especially with Lera. It took ages for me to get her right; I struggled with drawing her visible eye and couldn't decide how I wanted to design her hair, but I found something I liked in the end. I've been thinking more about costume design recently (I think looking at The Robins really awakened me to it) and so I tried to design their clothing to express what element they are. (I also figured Silver could wear a Turtle neck because in Universe Ice foxes' natural body temperatures are cooler than normal) Aaand Silver is wearing a hairband just...because it came to me like that and because he wants to. I really enjoied drawing this and designing Silver and Lera as humans! I think this picture gives them a lot of chemistry. 😄 Since I've drawn it I think now that I would change their designs a bit more (Silver especially-he needs longer, less spiky hair) but all the merrier to tempt me to draw them together again like this! I'm really so happy with this and it warms me just looking at the two of them.😁 (Who knew I could actually draw human characters well?) #thefoxesoftheelements #drawing #draw #design #characterdesign #characters #characterart #OC #ocs #couple #anime #animestyleart #artoftheday #instaart #artstagram #sketchesofinstagram #sketch #sketchbook #foxes #foxcharacters #love #myart #sketchoftheday #artofinstagram #artistsofinstagram #lauramayscreative #creative #art #artstyles #pencilsketch #pencildrawing #elemental #humanized #ice #earth #earthelemental #iceelemental #couples https://www.instagram.com/p/BsoUn1dBclh/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=wl0hc11kc7n9

[lauramayscreative]

I ended up deciding to to have a chill day today and it felt really good to sit at my desk and relax. I watched two of @aaronblaiseart 's lessons from the How to draw Wolves, Coyotes and Foxes tutorials-specifically the fox characters and proportions videos. I had the idea yesterday to create some sketches exploring shape language to express character personality with the full original cast of #thefoxesoftheelements. I decided I would try Alphai first, and ultimately drew this headshot re-design of him using the previous digital art I've made of him as references. One of the things that Aaron Blaise emphasized was the need for characters to be clear so that they would be instantly recognizeable. My old fox character designs feature characters like Alphai having ear tufts (Alphai also originally has a beard), and aside from this you can't really tell exactly what species they are sometimes because of their head and body shape looking a bit like wolves especially. So I decided to omit the tufts and beard and used what I learnt on drawing Fox faces from the tutorial so as to try and make him look as recognizeable as a fox as possible. I wanted to keep in his grey cheek fluff because that was an interesting feature of his design. This time I changed his face and the said fluff to be more square so as to communicate his toughness. You can also see that I added features such as tiny scars to his face to show that he's been in many battles (as leader of a fox 'pack' in the original canon). I also came up with the idea that Alphai might not necessarily be an 'old' fox like the original story-but instead like (in human years) a 40 year old with premature aging due to stress. I really like how he turned out! I think he certainly looks more like a fox. I'm considering painting him! I think his deep blue eyes will look great coloured in! #foxes #foxart #foxcharacter #animalart #animaldrawing #animalcharacter #lauramayscreative #OC #myart #artstagram #tumblrart #creative #art #instaart #sketchesofinstagram #sketch #sketchbook #pencilsketch #draw #drawing #characterdesign #traditionalart #artoftheday #artofinstagram #instaartist #ocart https://www.instagram.com/p/BsglEg_h5BA/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=2e0c3vhlw1mt

[lauramayscreative]

Doodles of my fox OCs Silver Paw and Lera as humans (again!). So, I was drawing and sketching for around 4 hours early this morning and decided to try (inbetween studies) to update my design for a humanized Silver Paw. After many headshot attempts (where I realised just how much I've been opting for similar facial features in my male characters XD...) turns out these doodles at the end made the frustration worth it. I realised quite soon after my first picture of them humanized that Silver would look quite different. I wanted him to have longer, fluffy hair (rather than it being spiky and short) and-because he's a sweet, kind, timid boii-I wanted him to wear the baggy cardigans. His hair was the main bit of his design that I had to keep iterating over and over. For some reason I knew how I wanted it to look in my head-I just couldn't draw it right-so I was SO happy when I was able to get this out-and even happier when I managed to add Lera in there with him in the first pic. I'd like to imagine they're in Uni together smiling for a photo. I've been in a real SilverxLera mood recently and getting deeper into the Miraculous Fandom so I feel like drawing some cute stuff right now. ^.^ #ocs #humanized #originalcharacters #sketchbook #artstagram #myart #thefoxesoftheelements #lauramayscreative #instaart #sketchesofinstagram #artoftheday #couples #cuteart #cute #love #drawing #art #sketch #draw https://www.instagram.com/p/BwxgHmkF8cw/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=zgjtr5rbw8n2

[lauramayscreative]

(Swipe for close-up!) I've been working on this off and on for the past 3 weeks (Woah-it's really been 3 weeks?! Crazy!) and finally had the time to finish it off yesterday. It's not anything too spectacular, nor am I that proud of it, but I wanted to paint Silver Paw again after what I've learnt from my recent studies and tutorials. It was one of those pieces where no matter how much I tried it only seemed to stay the same, or get worse. The lighting was definately a huge contributor to this problem, and so I'm definately taking note to always plan out my light sources before I start painting. In the end I went for a diffused lighting source since I wanted to portray Silver on a cold, foggy day in winter. (You can bet your life that I listened to 'Let it Go' from Frozen to get me in the mood aaaaaaahhh XD) I do like the blue effects I put in there yesterday though c: I think Silver would best be portrayed facing the camera, since it showcases his eyes and nose marking better. (I'm actually also working on a face-on piece but in a different style...) Might turn this into a speedpaint for the channel! #digitalpainting #ocart #digitalart #animalpainting #artstagram #instaart #thefoxesoftheelements #Silverpaw #lauramayscreative #tumblrart #artofinstagram #artistsofinstagram #foxes #foxcharacter #foxart #foxpainting https://www.instagram.com/p/Bv9QOurlAqT/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=19chrzpk6wmo2

[lauramayscreative]

So...I made this thumbnail today! It's of my fox OC Silver Paw with his mate Lera sitting on a sunlit hill overlooking one of the mountain ranges in Saridentian.  (I didn't see Lera in there originally but I thought it would be cool to add her in since I rarely draw them together). I also originally imagined the scene at a different angle-but I think this one also works to emphasize the sense of space in the landscape. I've never really done a coloured thumbnail as detailed as this and I'm very pleased with how it turned out! A big shout out to @lulusketches as watching her background tutorial a few weeks ago has inspired me to try and incorporate backgrounds in my art. I also want to get into the habit of doing value and colour thumbnails for my bigger pieces so I think this is good practise! I was mainly trying to focus on using the colours and lighting in an atmospheric way. (And I wanted to paint atmospheric perspective on those mountains sooooo badly after the image popped in my head) This honestly gets me excited for how I might be able to draw illustrations like this in the future! It also reminds me of when I wanted to be a visualdevelopment artist last year. Also a shout out to @lain.dsn who gave me encouragement whilst watching me draw this for a litte bit today! Go check out her work too! It's really cute. This took me 2hrs on Photoshop CC 2018. #visualdevelopment #colour #instaillustration #illustration #artstagram #lauramayscreative #photoshop #digitalpainting #thumbnails #visualdevelopmentart #myart #instaart #artoftheday #tumblrart #creative #landscape #thefoxesoftheelements #saridentian #art #digitalart #digitalillustration https://www.instagram.com/p/BvfJv8AF3Qp/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=s1zqs7gu5ey9

[lauramayscreative]

Photo study of a fox from a photograph by Martin Hicks, which I painted from the get-go to look like my Earth elemental fox OC, Lera. Definately the most detailed picture I've done to date-so much so that I worry I might have included a bit too much! After my first fox study I wanted to push myself more and try and do one where I had to choose my own colours. I also wanted to continue with trying to portray my elemental fox characters realistically. The right side of her body and the background were the most challenging parts, but I'm glad I pushed through as I really like how this came out! Whilst I painted I listened to game soundtracks; notably the OST of Ori and the Blind Forest as it got me into just the right mood. 😏 As a bit of trivia here-in the draft of TFOTE I go by as the original story Lera's eyes are described as being an "Emerald" colour so I used a reference from an Emerald to pick out the colours for her eyes. They're my favourite part of the painting... I will be making the process of creating this study into a speedpaint video. Look for it to come out around the 28th of Feb! #thefoxesoftheelements #photostudy #digitalart #digitalpainting #animalart #foxes #foxart #originalcharacters #foxcharacter #foxcharacters #lauramayscreative #study #studentart #art #artoftheday #realisticart #realisticpainting #photoshop #animals #instaart #artofinstagram #artistsofinstagram #animalpainting #tumblrart #paint #artstudy #elementalfox #elemental https://www.instagram.com/p/BtUKem0FXUm/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1b9oumrt3h456

[lauramayscreative]

So-I had the idea a few days ago to draw a map of Saridentian, the Island were the TFOTE universe is set! So glad to get it out onto paper after having it in my head for 5 years! I edited it from the original by changing where the island is placed on the world and so I had to edit the placement of two of the biomes so that it made more geographical sense. The southwest looks a bit bare because that entire section used to be the Ice Plains. I also needed to add a glacier in the middle for the source of the rivers (there were never glaciers on the island before! XD) I've mainly focused on the north, centre and east of the Island for the TFOTE drafts, so the rest of the Island is a bit bare. Silver lives around the area of the old oak, Lera is originally from the "Redwood" (placeholder names-it's a redwood dominated forest) and Ajer (Air elemental) is from the location marked "valley". Meanwhile, "Black Peak" is a homage to Uturu's lair in the original stories. There are also more smaller rivers on the Island of course, but they would be too small to draw. #thefoxesoftheelements #saridentian #lauramayscreative #map #worldbuilding #island #art #artofinstagram #artoftheday #instaart #draw #sketch #pencildrawing #pencilsketch #storyart #story #creative #islandmap #drawing #fictionalworld https://www.instagram.com/p/BtJuMFnB8Zj/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=14japy8g5af3s

[lauramayscreative]

More sketches from last summer of the Old Oak and experiments with styilized fox designs. If you look closely you can see that I drew Lera in the bottom right hand corner. These sketches became the springboard for creating my digital painting of styilized Lera, whilst I think the Old Oak sketches here are some of my favourites. Sorry for not uploading recently! I've been meaning to upload this for a couple of days but on Sunday I downloaded a new app for my phone to control my app use and so I haven't been able to. I hope you enjoy! #thefoxesoftheelements #sketchesofinstagram #sketch #tree #treeart #oaktree #oak #oldart #artstagram #artstyles #animalart #animaldrawing #foxes #fox #foxart #foxesofinstagram #drawing #draw #pencildoodle #pencilsketch #nature #natureart #lauramayscreative #creative #saridentian #instaart #instaartist #artofinstagram #tumblrart #animals #character #foxcharacter #art #instaillustration #illustration #storyart #stories #myart https://www.instagram.com/p/Bqat1rSjW_S/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=yzrwanrsp0si

[lauramayscreative]

#tbt Sketckes from 2017 of a place in Saridentian (the Island where #thefoxesoftheelements universe is set) called the Old Oak. The Old Oak is one of the central settings for the TFOTE stories I've made. It acts as a home for some of the important foxes in the community-most famously a wise medicinal grey fox who I simply called "The Elder" (Should really change her name to something more original XD) . It is also houses the members of the fox council (who essentially act as both their government and jury) and also has several prison cells. (I recently had the idea that these could be surrounded by stone and guarded at the entrance or else a fox may as well have dug their way out of there). The Old Oak is a source of a mysterious power and the pine trees surrounding it noticably lean towards it. I drew these sketches after being inspired by walking in the #lakedistrict. Fun fact that in the main draft of the first TFOTE story I imagined there to be a blue light in the clearing on the floor like the forest Grovlye took his first Time Gear from in Mystery Dungeon. I don't put up many drawings of foliage so I thought this would be a nice change. #thefoxesoftheelements #instaart #oldart #art #artofinstagram #sketchesofinstagram #sketch #sketches #drawing #draw #nature #tree #oak #oaktree #setting #storyart #stories #natureart #treeart #pencilsketch #pencildrawing #roots #lauramayscreative #creative #settingdesign https://www.instagram.com/p/Bp6082NhvAe/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1ur1zoysnyt76

[lauramayscreative]

So! I've been wanting to redraw my first picture I ever did of Lera from 2012 (you can see it if you scroll down in my gallery) for a bit now; in the spirit of currently also re-doing a headshot of her I made in 2014 on FireAlpaca. I decided yesterday that I would knuckle down and go through a few lessons from @aaronblaiseart course on How to Draw Coyotes, Wolves and Foxes to learn how Aaron draws them. I especially wanted to learn how to draw their entire body since for awhile I've only been drawing the heads of my fox characters and not their bodies.  I got up to the Fox Gestures lesson before deciding to call it a day since I work with a mouse and therefore don't have pen pressure and sadly I couldn't find a way to make the dry brush that Aaron supplied for the lesson to work the way I wanted it. So I went ahead and drew Lera's body using what I had learned and some reference images from Google. I can see that her back forepaw doesn't really look right and it would make for a better pose perhaps if she was bending it but I was tired (and depressed...) and decided that I would keep it the way it was. I plan on inking and adding colour to the recent sketch in FA so I'll tidy up the inaccuracies with it on there.  I will be uploading the comparison picture I made using the Draw This Again! Meme on here tomorrow since Instagram currently crops it out and so I need to edit it. You can see it on my DA though (my username is Fang-And-I). Thank you @aaronblaiseart for your amazing course! And thank you everyone for your support this year. I'm feeling very sad right now overall but I wish you a happy new Year. Remember that it's your responsibility to take 100% for your life and make it a good year. So go out and smash it as @brendonburchard says. #foxes #foxcharacter #thefoxesoftheelements #artoninstagram #artoftheday #instaart #artstagram #lauramayscreative #elementalfox #elemental #traditionalart #remake #redraw #art #traditionalart #sketchesofinstagram #sketchbook #sketch #character #characterart #animalart #animalcharacter #aaronblaise #aaronblaisetutorial #tumblrart https://www.instagram.com/p/BsEW9j-hIPK/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1xvzq4c7ftaip