PROCESS: Purrminator // nsfw

look below to download the attached .zip for the process pack of my purrminator drawing.

i started sketching this because i wanted to draw akhuru's actual sphinx form. i've drawn him in the "standard were-creature way" before, with a feline head/face, and as much as i like that aesthetic it makes him look like a regular werecat rather than making it apparent that he's a sphinx, yknow? he's a shapeshifter, so he can do both forms, and i will continue to draw him with both a feline and a human face - but i gotta say, i think this is a good look for him. i love human-faced monsters in general, there's something so wonderfully strange and uncanny about an inhuman creature with a human face. 

my feelings about this picture went on a rollercoaster ride as i was painting it. it was a bit experimental in that i was trying to paint quicker than usual, using a more 'chunky' brush for much of the colouring and focusing more on the overall impression/fields of colour rather than getting stuck polishing every single little detail. i loved the sketch and the base colours (i'm really into minty hues right now?) but somewhere around step 6 i was really unhappy with the way it looked (i'm looking back at it now and thinking that hey, it looks pretty cool, why did it bother me - but i remember not liking the look of it at the time). i was tempted to abandon it and draw something else, but i powered through and my efforts paid off as it came back together around step 9. and i'm loving the final product, especially since it ended up looking fairly polished for something that i did manage to finish rather quickly (compared to many of my other pieces).

it goes to show that many pictures have an "ugly stage" where you kind of just hate it, and you're tempted to give up - but if you persist you'll often end up with a cool picture anyway. perhaps it'll even be way better than you'd hoped for, or perhaps you'll learn or discover something useful along the way? you know the whole idea of going outside our comfort zone and making ourselves uncomfortable in order to 'force' ourselves to grow, to find solutions to problems instead of avoiding the problem entirely - i feel like this applies to art a lot. experimenting with your art style and techniques is simultaneously the best and the worst thing. it's the worst in that it sucks when it doesn't turn out well, because not all experiments are successful, but it's the best when it turns out great and makes you improve your skills. i encourage trying new things all the time. try new styles, colouring techniques, shading methods, brushes, designs, poses, perspectives, photoshop effects, and so on. sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn't. don't be discouraged if it doesn't. you have everything to gain and nothing to lose. and don't worry about the "ugly stage" of a painting - try to work through it and get excited about what might come out at the other side of it!

wow, how did this turn into a motivational speech? i guess because i know what it's like to feel like you're stuck with your art and as if you're just doing the same thing over and over again without improving. 

TL;DR: experiment and try new things. a lot. 

// art + akhuru © me; ilan © kubi.