Inktober 2022

 Inktober 2022! A good exercise. Special thanks to my fellow artists for inspiring me to push through--Godiva Ghoul in particular. Her art is amazing and really influenced a lot of the style for these pieces.

 

The first one here is a huge milestone. This is a character designed after InCase's incredible "The Invitation" comic, which is what got me started on this journey in the first place. Being able to recreate a similar design and feel like it looks finished and professional really makes me feel like I've come a long way.

#2, #3, and #5 are studies of the models Morgana Stone, nano_nano, and Emily Yunicorn.

Note there were a ton of these I did that were pretty bad, so I don't feel like showing them. Sorry!

Himbo Cumbrain

 

Whoo! Another one.

Looking back on my work I can tell that when I'm not holding myself to a certain standard or schedule, I let my practice slip. So here I wanted to make something, and I wanted to ensure the work was as easy as possible. I knew that for this one I needed a clear goal in mind, inspiration, and reference. If I let myself sketch around a lot, I get sidetracked and start floundering, so with this approach I was able to go right from sketch to inks to flats etc.

As I keep working on these, I can tell that I basically have no idea what I'm doing when it comes to rendering. I can pick colors fine, I know the theory and how to put it into practice, but when it comes to developing a piece past flats I get lost. I particularly want to study from artists like InCase, ittla, D8, and rhabarberei/Maren.

Here's a quick sketch I did. I wanted to see how fast I could go from sketch to flats (like about 1.5h, for those who are wondering). It's ok. A little more graphic than I usually do. Didn't realize until after the fact the design is very similar to my "Gender" piece. Really happy with how subtle I was able to make the colors--IIRC the hair is on the blue side of grey but reads as kind of warm because of how the other colors communicate.

Again, got to get some sketches/sketchbook stuff on here.

Gender

 

  

 

 

Motivated by some @itttla works to actually make something for once. Probably took 2h total. Really pleased with basically everything here, from design to gesture to hands even.

While I'm constantly growing and practicing, I'm not actually making finished work. Unfortunately I've learned that without that structure to keep me honest, I don't make consistent finished work or even consistently study/sketch and get distracted. There have been months where I've rarely drawn. Drawed? Drew?

The most important thing I learned with this one is that I have to walk before I can run. Backgrounds are cool and IMO really make a finished piece, but if I try to do everything at once I'll end up with nothing at all.

The second most important thing was that I found an inking brush/method that feels good and has a texture I'm happy with.

I'll see if I can scrounge up some sketchbook photos or other studies I've done since my last dump and post them here. Better yet, I should make a habit out of it.