watermelonaddicted-blog

[watermelonaddicted-blog]

Local family somehow fails every perception check.

[watermelonaddicted-blog]

The Art of Kienan Lafferty

(Image credits: Kienan Lafferty)

Kienan Lafferty is a YouTuber who used to work for Riot Games as a splash and concept artist. He used to be a lead artist doing “Art Spotlights” before Riot began using more than one artist for splash arts. Now, Kienan started a series of videos on YouTube called The KNKL Show wherein he shows tutorials and techniques in drawing and painting. He has gained a lot of followers and fans over the years.

His art style is unique in a sense that it can switch between something cartoon-like to semi-realism. The colors he use for his paintings are neatly harmonized and the way he does the composition is easy for eyes to follow. Let's talk about his two main styles.

First is the cartoon/anime-like style he draws in. The characters usually have large, doe-like eyes that frame the face shape well. The anatomy is quite unrealistic due to the wide hips and tiny waists but unlike the usual bodies of cartoon and anime characters, Kienan still follows the basic proportion a body should have. In painting, he also allows lines to remain in the actual work. He often paints them with a matching color as the part it is drawn on so it's not too harsh for the eyes.

Next is the semi-realistic style. The characters are more naturally proportioned and the anatomy is close to realistic. In this art style, he puts more details in them such as textures, the blending of the colors, and how light and shadows interact with the painting. Here he takes away the line art to encentuate how the shapes and colors itself harmonize each other.

There are main points in his works that catches my attention. One of those points are how he effectively uses colors to portray his work such as creating the right atmosphere and emotions. Another point is how realistic his shading an creating highlights are. You can see that it is the right balance of soft and hard strokes in order to get the effect. Kienan also uses backgrounds and empty spaces to allow the viewer to focus on the main focal point while also giving them a bit of a story.

Overall, his work quality is excellent and can fit in situations wherein he needs to use one of those two art style for work

[watermelonaddicted-blog]

Onions for Drawing Class

"Onion?"

- Sir Onion

Let's start off with a short introduction about me. I'm Nickel Montejo, 17 years of age, and a current student at CIIT College of Arts and Technology. I have always been interested in drawing and painting which is why I've spent most of my high school years homeschooled so that I can focus on my passion. This year, however, I have been enrolled to a school that offers Animation as a strand. Boy, I remember the first day of class and meeting the drawing class teacher for the first time.

For this blog, I'll call him Sir Onion. The room was completely silent when he came in. It seemed as if the class was intimidated by him. I think I could guess why. Maybe it was because of his stance, or how stern he looked, or how his voice sounded like, or maybe because if you get called, you have to draw something on the board. Needless to say, he is a great man and a humorous one too. I found him extremely comfortable to be with since he could toss in a few jokes with the other students and he would just sit at the front of the room and sometimes chat with us.

My experience in drawing class is quite unique compared to the class I attended back at First Academy of Computer Arts. The most noticeable thing is that we have a new plate every class we have with him. Now, I don't really mind that. What I do worry about is that we don't really get to learn what we have to draw. We mostly study it ourselves and hope to get it right. That's what I've been doing for the past months. I just feel a bit unsatisfied with drawing class now because I've been expecting to learn more new things. It doesn't really seem that different compared to when I draw at home back when I was homeschooled. It just feels like there's a competition for grades now.

This doesn't mean that I did not learn anything during all of my classes. For instance, I learned how to measure proportions using my thumb and a pencil. I didn't know much about that at first and I’ve always assumed that it did have something to do with measuring. I also learned how properly using perspectives can make the piece look a lot more natural. I've learned a lot of things though I mostly learned about them on my own.

After saying all that, it doesn't entirely mean that I no longer look forward to the drawing classes. In fact, I still am interested in the class with the hopes of someday, Sir Onion will use the board or tv to show us how to draw something. I have high respect for him and I genuinely like him as a teacher.