Secret Valentine 2013 - touched up

Secret Valentine gift for Kumashige on Deviantart. I still really love how this one came out. All it needed was a few small touchups to really make the characters pop. 

One random memory I have of working on this is adding some final touches when my computer crashed. All sorts of funky colors and buzzing noises. I still have no idea what that was about, but it never happened again.

A gift to you

 

Snowy Owl Forest

This is one of my all time favorite artworks from the 2010s and I would totally love to recreate it someday.

I don't look back on the 2010s with much fondness or nostalgia. What the heart recalls is a long spell of stagnation. But every once in a while I would put out something I liked.

Art style restoration: Toshiaki

Date drawn: August 2012

This was done for an art trade.

What do I like about this that I would continue using in my art?

• I made special note of this picture because I like the use of textures and ornamentation. The textures are a nice cherry on top. It's a subtle paper-like texture that helps give the artwork a little more oomph. This picture was a good reminder that I should use more textures in my art.

• I like the Japanese ornamentation influence. The clouds are represented by thick horizontal bands. I also like the subtle floral patterns on his robes- the white-on-white doesn't stand out much, but it still glistens. 

• I like the fern-like plants and the fact that they're all slightly different in color and brightness so they don't compete with each other. I like that the design is more ornamental than realistic.

• I like the colors used for the giant flowers. Minimal shading with shifting gradients and a texture overlaid on top. The whites are mostly represented by pink hues, and in the shadow they turn blue-purple. I also like the green and blue used for the leaves. 

• Subtle use of stock images. Probably some Photoshop brushes I downloaded back in the day. I would love to make my own ornamentation graphics that I can use whenever needed.

What didn't work and how would I have done things differently?

• I used a letterbox effect, but I wish some objects had popped out of the frame.

• Not a fan of the yellow/green shading on his skin and clothing. I would have given his skin more of a pinkish hue, especially for the darker shaded areas.

• OMG. Did I forget to color in one of those flowers/leaves? The one by his leg is neon green. I didn't know about Fill Layer back then I guess.

• The setting is vague so I'm guessing it was improvised. I want to improvise the things I'm confident in (colors, texture), but plan for things I struggle with, like composition.

Art style restoration: Kan-nah

 

Art reflection: Kan-nah

Date drawn: August 2012

What do I like about this that I would continue using in my art?

• A cutesy kawaii art style
• Very thin lineart and soft feeling
• The coloring style in general is fairly minimal. Mostly flat colors with soft gradients where needed, and the occasional hard shading used sparingly. 
• Soft pastel colors that bleed together. Lots of light blue and pink
• Hair is light blue but the glow of her skin makes her bangs glow pink. I definitely used the pin light filter when fine-tuning at the very end. I can tell because the lineart in that area is pink.
• This was during my blurry eyes phase. Honestly, I still love the look. It’s not everybody’s taste, but it’s certainly mine. I love the soft ethereal effect.
• There is a vertical letterbox effect, with some objects extending past the borders to give it a more 3-dimensional effect.

What didn’t work, and how would I have done things differently?

• I remember struggling a lot with the backdrop. Eventually I settled for an aesthetic that I’d seen on Pixiv, inspired by the artist Suou. Flat organic patterns with a fringe effect. If I did this again, I would give the plant backdrop more definition.
• I would give more emphasis to the dango motif with soft round shapes repeated throughout. Soft round shapes are a visual symbol for soft and cute.

Finding my art style: 2012

 This is where my coloring style perfected. I was on a roll in 2012. My style has changed a lot since then, and some characteristics have been lost over time. I made a list of the style choices I would like to keep / bring back.

• Notable characteristics

• I personally think this is where my art style peaked

• Perfected the art of soft, ethereal coloring

• Glowy special effects

• Floral and other ornamental patterns

• Drawing

• Thin linework

• Color and shading

• Pastel colors

• Small accents of more saturated color

• Shading is crisp and rich with color, but also subtle and soft

• Narrow range of values for shading

• Less important details blur together

• Soft, glowy coloring

• High contrast shading used sparingly

• Bleeding glow

• Face

• Cutesy art style

• Minimal shading

• Rich yellow tint for the skin

• Eyes

• Blurry eyes

• Emphasis on the eyes

• Hair

• Narrow range of values

• Bleeding glow

• Soft, subtle shading

• Minimal highlights

Timeskip Herrington gift art

An alternate design for Herrington where they're older and some sort of gang boss or something. I still don't really know.

This one was an art trade with TFOTR back in 2011. I really love the colors on this one. I remember the artist asking if Herrington was a boy or a girl. Yes.

Art by Lightshelter, done for either an art trade or DA gift exchange, also in 2011.