Trying out new tech.

The earth is spinning off the last tarry plaque of 2021, hopefully dissipating it into the embrace of space to never be remembered again.  My end of the year will be spent hiding under a blanket with an ice-cream bucket on my head with the word "WAR DOME" written across it in glitter-pen.

Today I wanted to try out some new updates that Clip Studio released recently.  If I were a normal artist I'd be going out of my mind that CSP has a liquify tool, which I do think is neat, but my main jam was the fact that they released a series of 'primitives' natively available in the program itself.  These primitives have a fair few sliders, and buttons, and can even take textures on them.  All sorts of thing that would only be interesting to myself so I won't go too deep into them.

I try not to use 'props' too much when I'm doing artwork.  Often I'll pull in a few of the 'drawing models' the program has just to get an idea of heights in comparison to other characters, or if I need (as I often do) help drawing weird hand gestures, and even then that tends to only be if I just can't get the digits to look right.  

I've been chided by a distant friend who's worked in the industry that using everything from photographs to models in artwork is standard in the industry.  Hell, concept artists rip whole cloth patches of images into concept works and have a fine ability to paint and light things to make it all look entirely natural.

But as I try not to rely on too many detailed models unless its things like machinery or vehicles or even modern weapons, I do _love_ the idea of primitives.  Using simple objects with divisions to create a scene and draw linework based on the perspective it offers.  It allows me to place more complicated objects in a perspective grid and be able to draw it without doing about three extra steps to get it to sit right.

Above is a rudimentary setup of an image.  In this case, the 'Horse-Fox-Gnome' trio specifically.  I dropped in the models in their default poses to merely get the height differences correct, especially since one would be sitting, another would be standing, and the third was not only short, but standing on a lower step not on the base plane.  What isn't seen is the set of perspective rulers that importing the primitives give, which allows me the ability to actually draw along those lines without much worry.  Essentially its taking the 'taping sheets of paper across a drafting table' work out of getting things to look right.

After grabbing a basic 'fence' from the online library, I got to work on sorting out how I wanted things to work.  I usually do a set of thumbnails then worry about all the fiddly bits after, but in this case I'm just trying out the new tools, so I'm not worried about it being the most detailed image I've ever done.

I admit, I liked the result.  It was incredibly fast to just set up a bunch of primitives and default-posed figures and draw out a scene from all of that.  I ended up drawing an image of the trio arriving at the 'resort town' that they visit in warmer months.  Its around -31C (feels like -41C with wind) here today, so dreams of warmer, balmy weather was in order.

And a topless mare.  Because I'm hopeless.

I think I might doof around with the primitive tools a little more.  I like the idea of doing simple brick or even roof tile things that map to them, which would act as guides for some of the more incredibly tedious parts of doing artwork like this.

And with that, unless I can get the next sketch I have lingering done in time, this is the last post of the year.

This has been a wild ride of a year.  Everything from family health issues which nearly saw my father wander to the low lands, to the ongoing pandemic, to running between medical professionals.  There were some bright spots as well, but the dark really did just feel like it loomed over everything.

I want to thank all of you for sticking around, even during the 'lean' months where I was deep in trying to get my father's health and affairs in order.  To the ones who kindly pledged only briefly, to those of you who have been around from the start of this odd little art-wall on the internet, I really can't thank you all enough.  It didn't just help financially, it helped keep me grounded, and reminded me that some folks have my back no matter what.

I hope to be able to to keep getting more colour work out in the next month, and will be picking up the patron sketches again.  I had to take December off just due to the sheer amount of stress the holiday brings, and at some point I might even take a couple days off as well, to try and recharge for the upcoming span of yearly numbers.

May you all have a peaceful new year.  May the days ahead be kinder to you, and if they are exciting, may they be exciting for good reasons.  

I think I'll head off and gnaw on some turkey leftovers, and just space out for the next day or so.

And wear festive socks.

-T.J.