PROCESS VIDEOS(!): load + gently + nectar // nsfw

this process post is a bit different than normal. i was looking at the video replays for my latest three pieces, trying to choose which one to show you. but it proved difficult to decide, so rather than writing a lot about just one of them, i decided to show you all three videos and just make some brief comments about what i think is the most interesting aspect of each. i hope everyone’s okay with this! <3

from left to right, the three drawings are ‘load’ featuring march and charlie, ‘gently’ with weshau and minoru, and ‘nectar’ with tha’ra and soha.

the first two pieces (‘load’ and ‘gently’) showcase a subtle update to how i do my refined sketches, aka the sketch stage inbetween the rough (pose) sketch and the precise lineart. i still do my pose idea doodles and rough sketches much as usual, but what’s new is i discovered this delightful procreate brush—‘gloaming’ under the ‘drawing’ header. it responds beautifully to pen pressure and mimics very dynamic brush strokes in a way that makes the lines look so vivid and ‘fleshy,’ in lack of a better word—it doesn’t make limbs and body parts look as stiff and rigid as some other brushes i’ve tried. 

so lately i’ve been using the ‘gloaming’ brush for doing a more or less refined sketch right before i draw the lineart proper (for which i still use a tiny graphite-y brush). i still clean up the sketches a bit, set all my sketch and lineart layers to ‘multiply,’ lower the transparency, and change the colour of the lines (both sketchy and fine) to something that suits the characters' colour schemes. yet even with all of that being business as usual, i feel like the ‘new look’ of the refined sketch layer makes a subtle but lovely difference. 

another note on ‘gently’ is that i initially found myself struggling with the colour scheme. i normally love putting colours together in a beautiful palette but that day i just couldn’t figure it out. i tried to make it work but my brain wouldn’t co-operate and i just felt like the colours looked dull and uninspired. now that i think back on it i don’t know why i had such issues, but sometimes when we art our brain is just making nonsensical duck noises, you know?

anyway, i decided to abandon the idea of staying true to the characters’ actual colours and run with a very stylised palette instead. this way i didn’t have to stick to the canon and could use pretty hues that didn’t need to be very anchored in reality. i started experimenting with airbrushed gradients and layer effects, mostly adding hues of blue and setting the layers to ‘colour dodge’ and ‘screen.’ the colours ended up more muted and i had to go over the lineart again, but it all worked out wonderfully—the end result kind of looks like they’re underwater and since weshau is partly water-themed it’s right up their alley.

with ‘nectar’ i challenged myself to step a bit outside my comfort zone and do a very bold background. i’m not sure why i felt compelled to do so, but i think i want to experiment more with fun ways to make even simple backgrounds look a bit more striking? tha’ra and soha are associated with bright red flowers, of a hue that goes so well with their combined colour scheme, so it made sense to try a red backdrop for this artwork. after deciding to make the background red, i had to adjust the hues of the characters a bit, so they wouldn’t look too muted or out of place against the vivid backdrop.

towards the end of the process i still felt like they looked a bit mismatched, though, so i started playing around with neat effects. turns out the solution was to add a yellow gradient to two different layers, both on low transparency with one set to ‘colour burn’ and the other to ‘subtract.’ this simple move accounts for the sudden and drastic change towards the end of the process video. it renders the colouring of the characters a bit more darkly saturated in a way that really works against the blood red background.

so i guess my main points are...

1. falling in love with a new brush that elevates your style is wonderful, and that’s why it can be so rewarding to experiment and try new things/tools/techniques;

2. if you can’t figure shit out, try a stylised approach. break your own rules and have fun. instead of thinking about how things ‘should’ look, tweak stuff until it looks cool;

and 3. stepping out of your comfort zone can be scary but the result can be super neat. try a bold background colour or a funky effect.

i’ll leave you with that, but if you have any questions, or if there’s something you want me to elaborate on or clarify, just comment below <3

// art + march + tha’ra + weshau © me; charlie + soha + minoru © kubi.