The year went by like that

 New year, new art goals. Also, I've decided that January will be me catching y'all up on all the art stuff I've been up to. Pic semi-relevant.

Anatomy Studies Overdue

 Quick arm drawing from imagination, wow I am way worse at this than I thought I was. Then again, I was never good with arms, especially elbows. 

Nice eyes

 

Just a drawing, didn't really have anyone in mind. Tried to go for something a little different on the eyes. 

Took about 30 minutes, still a little rusty.

Ly

This is Ly from Rayman 2: The Great Escape--my favorite childhood game. One of the first real 3D video games I had ever played too. My dad bought it for me along with a Playstation 1 and I was captivated. The plot or game design wasn't anything crazy, but the art was. Very dreamy and surreal, and it stuck with me ever since.

Ly is one of the first characters you meet, she gives Rayman his powers to take on the journey ahead of him, and also serves as his guide for the rest of the game somewhat.

 

oof

 One day of not doing something and resetting your entire progress of a year can really be daunting I guess XD.

Rough patch

 I've been doing a ton of modeling and rigging in Blender recently but haven't really been drawing much. I average about 35 hours a week in Blender which has been great and all but it's getting pretty exhausting learning so much. Also, my diet and sleep has been awful recently. Drawing this was a lot of effort but that's also because I'm really rusty.

Definitely came to the conclusion that I need to learn 3D no matter where my art direction goes. Even for 2D, it will be really nice to have a reference that is almost infinitely adjustable. Once you properly model and rig it, you can get infinite variations in realistic posing, lighting, angles, proportions, etc etc..

But... still.. that's no excuse for the lack of blog posts, I've decided I'll get back on that. Just don't expect a ton of high effort 2D stuff.

Have some soul...

 

Made in 1 hour with a flat rectangle brush, except for the iris'.

This was me experimenting with more painting techniques, and I can definitely see the appeal. From the start, it was much more relaxing than having to worry about contours and line quality. I realized this about 5 minutes in, and that's where I made up my mind to paint something relaxing as well.

An hour might sound a little crazy, but I think a good 10-15 minutes of that was me finding which layer I drew a shape on. This piece was roughly 50-60 layers or so... but that was what I was experimenting with after all. Also, I was enjoying it. I don't really do this kind of subject matter but always admired artists that did (especially if they were novice), I think it's endearing.

The best thing I learned from this, was how much impact painting in a simple shape could make compared to several lines. The basket for example: even with that super simple hand, I could paint in the handle and base, and you could instantly tell that was a basket -- maybe 5 seconds. You could also do the same with a pencil, but the sheer space that the shape takes up along with it's color, instantly communicates what it's supposed to be -- while feeling its full effect composition wise. You have to be more careful with a pencil, or it would look something like a thorny or hairy basket.