vykodlak

[vykodlak]

Cyprian centaur

[vykodlak]

Severin's full portrait

[vykodlak]

there's a rabid fuming dog-like hatred in me that I reserve solely for comedians

[vykodlak]

2024 bath water collection

[vykodlak]

if you like incense smells, cinnamon ghoul by death and floral smells just like the orthodox church i went to as a kid !! Unfortunately they’re closed right now but they have some really cool scents

I think I've heard of them! If the shipping isn't astronomical I'll probably nab a few samples at some point

[vykodlak]

this book is from the 80s so i know this is its way of gay-coding this man

[vykodlak]

Just me and the fluffy tiger headband my bf got me to keep my hair out of my face because I hate hair ties but it's too tight for my big pumpkin head and is kinda constricting the bloodflow and ripping my hairline out. against the world

[vykodlak]

desperately trying not to turn into one of those blogs that just reblogs gifs and photosets of professional wrestlers in various risqué positions in the ring

[vykodlak]

how did you learn to render realistic light/volumes so well? your work looks real to my eyes in a way i cannot wrap my head around

I mention having studied as a sculptor for 4 yrs a lot when I get asked about my process but I really do think it was extremely helpful to my 2D art progression (more than anything else, really - I kinda sucked at sculpting).

It hardwired my brain to think of everything I make in 3D terms. Even when we were doing figure studies on paper, it was emphasised that we imagine the figure in three dimensional volumes, and pay attention to how the light and shadows wrapped 'round each individual form. Now, when I paint, I think of "sculpting" the painting out with my brush - when I add shadow to a cheekbone, I imagine I am smoothing the form away with my thumb in order to make the plane of the cheek curve more towards the darkness, and I imagine the different values within that shadow area as well. When I carve out a piece of the nose to form its shape, I think of how this new shape affects the shadows it is casting on the cheeks or mouth. Knowing exactly where your light source is from the start is very important for this.

And I know "think of everything in 3D and imagine the light/shadows wrapping around an object" is super common advice, but I don't think a lot of people mention that it's not just a mindset you can slip into immediately, it's something you have to train up just like any of your other art skills. You kinda have to brute force yourself to ignore that you're working on a flat canvas, and let go of all shorthands (instead of only visualising the nose as a flat image, as it exists in profile in the image you're referencing, imagine how it might look if suddenly the model turned their head towards you. Think of how the planes of the nose are curving away from you to create that rounded shape of the tip, think of what you can't see but you know exists on the other side, etc.)

But of course, it's hard to do this if you've never studied what a nose looks like at different angles. You need to build your mental library so you can enter that space easier. So 3D reference in general is still very important to me; I work better when I can spin something around and see how the light changes or curves because it helps me understand it, rather than just copying what I see in flat 2D ref. I rarely guess at anything I'm not sure of - whenever I need them, I either take references of myself or someone I know, and sometimes I use a simple head sculpt I made in blender ages ago when I'm lazy/need to figure out a more complicated lighting situation. I treat every drawing as a learning experience and try to solidify more of my existing knowledge through it. I even had a small head I'd sculpted in real clay for a while. When I'm in the mood for doing studies I'll sometimes set up a bunch of different lighting scenarios with the 3D head or a 3D-printed skull I have and do quick micropaintings, to refresh my memory. One of the other things I do, for example, is take a flat reference imagine whose lighting I like, re-create that lighting in 3D, then turn the 3D head around to see how it would look under that light source at different angles.

I'm also constantly observing things in the real world. Whenever I'm watching movies my eyes and brain are immediately drawn to the lighting and colors, how the shadows change whenever someone retreats from dark into light etc. I make notes of these or screenshot to do studies later. Whenever I'm hanging out with people and I notice an interesting lighting situation happening I ask them to let me take a picture so I can study it later, or add it to the reference vault. I love to people watch, I look at nature, I'm probably the spaciest person to hang out with but it's helped with the art lmao. Again, this is also something that you can consciously train yourself to do, it didn't come innately to me.

And uhh, honestly sometimes I think it helps that I use a lot of dramatic lighting in most of my portraits. It's easier to sort of "cheese" three dimensionality when you have such a defined separation between dark and light. The first thing I do is paint in the darkest shadow on any painting, then work outward from that. You can use things like the shadow's penumbra, the terminator shadow and ambient occlusion to push the three dimensionality further.

Anyway in relation to this I think of painting more in terms of value rather than color. I don't paint in b&w but over time I've come to learn the values of colors instinctively, though I sometimes apply a black and white filter on top and toggle it on whenever I wanna check if I'm on the right track. Then on top of that, apply colour theory such as different coloured bounce light and sub surface scattering, the colors in different zones of the face, etc.

To summarise, it mostly comes down to studying a lot, training yourself to visualise everything in a 3D space, being observant, making every drawing a learning experience, and training yourself to discard what you 'think' an eye or mouth looks like so you don't fall back on those shorthands whenever you're drawing something more realistic. Grab some clay and make a ball, do some studies of it.

Hopefully this helped shed light on my thinking process in some way; explaining things is usually when I remember english is my second language, I never know if I'm making any sense haha.

[vykodlak]

Would you ever consider doing a portrait painting tutorial? I’ve been trying to learn how to blend like you but I cannot figure out how you do it it’s like magic to me. You’re extremely skilled btw it’s amazing

Thank you!! & Yeah, I might make a process video at some point. I'm kinda bad at explaining stuff but maybe the vid could explain it for me. I have some of these old step by steps of some studies but I don't think they'll be very helpful on the blending aspect hahah;

[vykodlak]

only reason I'm still going to the gym is because i'm addicted to the post exercise cold shower. then i get to slather myself in body lotion and pretend I'm this thing

[vykodlak]

just listened to suede autofiction & assorted songs almost all week... I manifested this new album

[vykodlak]

speaking of incense smells, we wanted to go to the local church to buy some frankincense and candles so we could get that nice smell in the apartment (which I am slowly redecorating into a medieval dungeon) and I realised I don't have a single shirt that won't gravely offend everyone within the entire area there

[vykodlak]

which incense fragrances do you like? did u already post about this, sorry <3

Noo it's ok, sorry it took me 500 yrs to reply.

I'm a simple man I love incense BOMBS and idc if they're super nuanced or not 😔 Unfortunately there's not a lot of incense perfume being sold so I haven't tried some of the ones I really wanna try like paysage d'enfer or some of the serge lutens incenses but mayb in the future.

Anyway some I like: CdG's Avignon and Zagorsk (I wanna smell Kyoto too but they're so hard to find) are probably the most well known raw churchy incense and I like 'em a lot, Amouage's Opus XII Rose Incense which smells churchy but also very bulgarian granny (I got to smell both the new and old versions and I think I like the older archive one better but I couldn't buy it at the time, rip). Their Memoirs also. And two soapy ones I like are ELDO's Rien (super aldehydic and sharp) and Memo Paris' Tiger Den (bf said this one smells like a tiger after it's taken a shower?)

[vykodlak]

Not to be weird or put pressure on you or anything but it has been so nice to see you start posting art again ♥️ I've always loved your art style

Thank you!! No pressure at all, I'm always super happy to hear that people are still here for my art even after all my yapping and occasional art hiatuses

[vykodlak]

bf's parents gave him a handheld vacuum and I've become a menace with it lol this is me at the dust now