this character was inspired by viktor from arcane so I referenced some screenshots of him in season 2 for the lighting and background... but boy it did not make it any easier to make, I cut a few shading attempts from the video so it wasn't too long! I do think the colors turned out cool in the end though.
and if you haven't heard the rest of the cobalt core OST you should go check it out, it slaps...
the pikmin fanart... is finally finished!! hard to imagine I've been working on this one since march, but I took the reference picture in august 2023 so the idea has been sitting patiently in my head for even longer...
I really wanted to record some of the process for this one but I keep having trouble with that gooseneck phone holder I bought- if I clip it to my desk or the shelf next to it, it shakes too much just from me scribbling on my ipad (when I'm working in this style anyway, since I'm not using the fill bucket at all) and the video is not really watchable... might need to buy a tripod or just record the screen itself. instead I'll explain a bit about color jitter since I've been using it so much:
if we observe this noble dwarf bulborb, particularly the red part of its body, you can see that the hues are not uniform and seem to change for some strokes. that's the 'randomize per stroke' setting- with that on, the base color you're working with is tweaked each time you make a new stroke, giving it a look like you're using paint that's not completely mixed. that shimmery texture to the red is the 'change brush tip color' setting, which tweaks the color mid-stroke. I changed the settings a few times while working on this so it doesn't look the same throughout but the pictured settings are pretty close if you want to try it out! I think using this helps add a bit of spice and prevents that flat feeling that digital art can have.
despite this style being so time consuming I've been really enjoying working in it... I always thought I wasn't the kind of artist who enjoyed painting a billion details in a piece, but with this brush I can apparently do anything lol. I think the slow meditative process of it has been healing in the face of being bombarded with AI crap and quick consumption media too. as for my feelings on pikmin: pikmin 1 is actually my favorite because I played it as a kid and am still obsessed with how it feels like such a strong thematic story wrapped up perfectly in its gameplay, but I wanted to draw oatchi for this. I might try to draw another piece for pikmin 1 eventually but I think the next big piece will be more birds!
2025-06-07 11:09:28 +0000 UTC View Post
study with euphoria βοΈ chill dragon age library ambiance π
I listened to a lot of tales from earthsea while I drew this, after reading language of the night also by le guin, so I was also studying... the short story "bones of the earth" from tales of earthsea might be my favorite from the bunch. despite being the shortest and simplest, it really hits you emotionally with a grumpy old wizard...!
these characters are from a fear and hunger themed roleplay- it was fun to do some creepy portraits and really fun to do the meat texture on the walls lol. these tips for drawing meat were very helpful!
I almost did a terrible job with the armor as you can see before I went and found a reference for it... always use references my dudes...
the last couple of commissions from last month! the big tree in the full background commission was a challenge, but I really enjoyed figuring out the bark after I went looking for inspiration and rediscovered the backgrounds from the sword in the stone- I really like the distinct patches of colors and selective detailing in the trees:
I wanted to stick with cool colors like the night scenes in princess mononoke and totoro as you can see in the wip shots, but I had to add some warmth in the end... cool color schemes are a mystery to me...
I was happy with how the colors and hair texture turned out in this one (: I also tried color jitter with my dither brush for the first time in the background for the stars and in the trees- it didn't work out in the trees here but it has an interesting effect I might play with later...
hope you guys are enjoying my song choices for these <3
a bit of trial and error in the sketching for this one- I wasn't feeling it and had to give up and come back the next day to do the final sketch. but it's always a treat to draw sorochiey designs!
I got pixel art timelapse videos back! π
this one was cracking me up because I totally forgot I did an observational drawing of a raccoon in the middle of sketching to understand their face structure better so it looks like she just became so realistic suddenly. like a spongebob gag.
here's the design process so far for a creature I've been toying with! these are in chronological order with the first drawings of them in the first image. they're for a little story idea I had after watching this video about flight in hayao miyazaki's movies and then rereading the nausicaa manga. I watched all of his movies growing up and was really enamored with the way he portrayed flight and I'm still obsessed with nausicaa's glider specifically... so I was thinking about a story where someone who makes gliders or small aircraft is inspired by the flight mechanics of an elusive dragon.
no idea if I'll keep developing it or not but I'll always take an excuse to design creatures. I haven't seen many winged raptor type dragons so I thought it might be a fun configuration to try to make a design out of, though they might be a bit clunky for their intended role in the story. I don't think the design is done yet but I'm getting somewhere with them...
2025-04-18 16:13:34 +0000 UTC View Post
I thought I'd start posting some wip crops as free posts here, so here's the pikmin fanart I'm chipping away at right now!
I also finally put my inprnt together with old and new stuff! this pikmin drawing will go up there when it's done too. looks like there's free shipping on orders over $30 this weekend!
https://www.inprnt.com/gallery/arboret/
2025-04-11 14:16:50 +0000 UTC View Post
a surprise treat for everyone!
I've been working on this entry to the current clip studio contest this week and after enduring CSP groaning and moaning and autosaving every 3 seconds... I realized I'd accidentally left timelapse recording on so I have the full process video! which explains that haha. please wish me good luck in the contest so I can get some money to buy a new ipad lol π
I wasn't sure about whether I'd be able to make time to enter the contest but I'm glad I did- I had a lot of fun working on something personal and I'm happy with how it came out too! combined with the video and songs it is sooo applemuttcore. but maybe we all need a little applemutt right now... I hope I can do more pieces like this and I hope you guys like it and the video!
lots of fun commissions this month! the second one was an experimental commission for forager on toyhouse- I'm grateful that they let me play around with the style and try to do something similar to the lion and bird pieces I've done recently. definitely want to work with this style and gold lineart more...
2025-03-31 11:08:06 +0000 UTC View Post
I've been working on lots of pixel art on the side lately! my friend laine very kindly offered to sell prints and stickers of my work at the conventions they're tabling at, so I sniffed around my files to find old pixel fan art to redraw for stickers. all the old ones are on the left, new on the right; I think most are from 2017-2018. it's been really satisfying going back over these, updating the technique and finally being able to draw spyro and sonic on model, haha. I'm particularly happy with the jolteon one because it was originally inspired by the pokemon tcg gameboy game sprites, and I didn't feel capable of matching the original size or limited palette before, but I managed to get the new one to fit those restrictions which was fun!
there's also a few original pixel art drawings I've been working on- the olive tree will be submitted as a cross stitch design to this fundraising bundle. the mythological creatures were all done to the pokemon gold/silver sprite specs- I might add more once I finish the second sphinx, feel free to suggest creatures!
2025-03-21 15:21:07 +0000 UTC View Post
I told helioangel a whileee ago that I'd put together some tips for doing lineart, so I wrote up all the advice I could think of! some of these are more foundational information but I thought I'd cover everything, I hope they're helpful!
draw on paper
drawing traditionally helps to improve your mark making technique, since it lets you work on your hand-eye coordination directly without anything like stabilization, your tablet, etc altering the marks you make. I did a lot of traditional art as a teen which really helped my technique I think. there are a lot of exercises out there for drawing with pen only to improve your confidence in putting down lines.
draw with your whole arm, not just your wrist
drawabox has a good page on this! drawing from your wrist gives you small and precise marks, which is great for details, but drawing from your elbow & shoulder gives you bigger pivot points to draw longer lines more easily. I remember it being strange to get used to when I first heard about this, but now I'm pretty comfortable drawing from my elbow.
ghost over lines before you draw them
drawabox has another great page on this. I'm trying to be looser with my lines so I don't do this so much atm but it can really help with precision.
rotate the canvas
this is mentioned in the last drawabox page too- you can see me constantly rotating my canvas in my process videos while I'm doing lineart. try rotating the canvas so that the line you're making feels more natural- you have to feel out which angles work for you. I know this is a lot easier on an ipad than on a computer, but you should be able to make keyboard shortcuts for rotating the canvas!
pull lines instead of pushing
you might have more control drawing your lines pulling toward you, rather than pushing away. sometimes there are exceptions and a line will come out fine being drawn away... if I'm stuck on a line and have drawn it a billion times, I try a different approach- rotating the canvas another way or starting from the other end of the line.
either draw a really clear sketch, or blur it out
I usually find it easier to do confident lines when my sketch is very refined and clear, so I don't have to do any guesswork. on the flip side, I once saw an artist recommend blurring the sketch before lining it so you aren't paralyzed trying to get your lines to exactly match the sketch, using it as a vague guide instead.
adjust your line weight & pressure sensitivity
this is a personal preference, but for my lines, I use a brush with very little line width variation and very light pressure from my hand.
I find it a lot easier to make smooth lines when I'm not also worrying about line width and I can set lines down with a very light touch, so I'm kind of skating around the screen rather than digging the pencil in. if you're finding it hard to balance line smoothness and width, try adjusting your pressure sensitivity!
adjust the stabilization settings of your drawing program
a higher stabilization setting will mean your program is smoothing your lines out more as you draw them, so there's a trade off between smoother lines and more accurate lines. I'd suggest starting with a low setting, so your lines are more accurate to the mark you're making, and increase the setting gradually to something that feels right.
make sure you're drawing at a big enough resolution
I usually shrink my art to 50-70% of its original size for posting - full sizes are generally around 2000-3000px for me, but if your device can take it then you can try bigger! shrinking your finished piece will smooth out small imperfections in the lines.
2025-03-17 16:28:09 +0000 UTC View Post
introducing my weird lesbian pokemon character wye π who has been around for a while but I only recently finished her reference! apollo and I decided to make impromptu characters to play as in scarlet and I ended up unexpectedly attached to her. the second and third images include the first drawings of her which are pretty old already, and you can see her go from kind of cool to much less cool- she started as a fossil hunter/thief type character and now she's a regular paleontologist/geologist who cracks bad jokes about rocks and is about as dense as one. the only pokemon I know she has for sure right now is omanyte, because look at the way he looks at her... I can't separate them now ...
next up we have a dragon character I made for a draw steel game with some friends! we only just had our first game session so she isn't very developed yet, but her name is thistle, and she was raised in the woods by bears. π
then there's a little redesign of riven, since we had a huge reshuffle with the story he was from and he didn't seem to fit anymore so he's his own thing now... might make him friends with the sphinx I've been toying with in the last two pics here!
2025-03-14 15:53:06 +0000 UTC View Post
I did remember to record timelapses this time, but for some reason out of nowhere the video quality of my pixel art timelapses has completely tanked so they're unwatchable... I can't seem to find a solution so I'm going to contact support for clip studio and hope they get back to me.
I listened to the broken earth trilogy by NK jemison while I worked on a lot of these, which was so good- one of those really hard hitting series, with very cool worldbuilding and deep characters.
2025-03-07 15:10:37 +0000 UTC View Post
I got the idea for this drawing from goyagoat's adorable drawings of her merlin app recordings, mixed with some inspiration from mystery of the missing migrants by charley harper which I have a postcard of on my wall! these are all birds I've picked up on the merlin app myself on our walks- including the eurasian wren, goldfinch, great tit, bullfinch, long tailed tit, magpie, song thrush, starling, and buzzard in the back. the sizes are rough from memory, but part of what compelled me to finish this is the size difference between the buzzard and the songbirds- the buzzard felt like a huge aircraft to me while I drew this.
I pecked at this for weeksss but I'm really enjoying using this brush with color jitter- next I want to work on a pikmin fanart idea I've had for actual years and have been too intimidated to start, but will be really fun to make in this style I think! I'll be putting this bird drawing on inprnt soon with the lion drawing and some older stuff and hopefully that pikmin fanart later too!
2025-03-01 09:06:33 +0000 UTC View Post
I call this batch the smiling grinners facing left collection...
the background for this piece is based on this photo of cape flattery, the specific setting the commissioner asked for! I tried something new for the foliage and water details here and I'm pretty happy with how they came out- I often struggle with water in particular but I'm looking forward to using this brush for it again.
I wish I could have recorded the timelapse for this but my ipad is barely happy to work on big pieces without recording lol. I just bought a gooseneck phone holder though so I can try to make some nicer process videos now!
2025-02-13 14:37:35 +0000 UTC View Post
I completely forgot to record any of the timelapses for these so I threw in all the sketches! I think the first big sprite for wanderfell might be my favorite big sprite I've done in a while- they provided the pose & composition idea. really enjoyed working on the floral pixel portraits recently too!
also absolutely wild to see the difference in my style between these new pouflon and vespire bases for the 10 year anniversary and the last ones I did a few years ago...
2025-02-06 14:36:46 +0000 UTC View Post
one more timelapse from last month's batch of commissions! I was really satisfied with how the denim jacket turned out in this one... I've always struggled with highlights on fur and hair so the fur highlights were a challenge here but a good step forward I think.
also, quick question- should I keep posting videos to youtube and embedding them here or should I swap to posting them directly on patreon? youtube refusing to play videos unless you're logged in has been pretty annoying for me, but has it been an issue for you guys?
2025-01-31 14:51:31 +0000 UTC View Post
I've been messing around with a new character based on the demon marchosias- thought it would be fun to save every drawing I did on the way to solidifying their design (though I haven't included all of them here because I don't want to mark my patreon as 18+ atm lol) but the first image does cover the point that I figured them out (the three rightmost drawings). I am going to change their horns though, maybe to the spirals in the fourth pic here.
then we have some more furry character drawings, an older Δiro and her cousin rath messing with her, and a surprise new development in my quest of making a sphinx character- her design came to me randomly one night and I think she's cute...
2025-01-23 15:42:59 +0000 UTC View Post
the commissioner provided the thumbnail for this one- I thought it was a really fun concept for joined portraits!
I wish I could have better captured the specific expression of the sketch for this one... it's especially hard to do with pixel art sometimes because of the tiny resolution, but I do like the final version too!
I have to say I was very happy with how all the pastries turned out in this one haha. maybe I need to draw more pixel art food...
loved working with the colors of this one and filling in the leaves!
the last of 2024's commissions! mostly pixel art and the finished youtube thumbnail for simplysnaps. most of these have timelapse videos so I'll be posting them too!
happy new year everyone, thank you for supporting me here over the last year! β€οΈ
2025-01-02 11:27:58 +0000 UTC View Post
two christmas gift drawings I made for friends this year- there's hess and her dad canoeing in sort of a linocut style, referenced from this unsplash photo, and a traditional drawing of my friend's fursona!
2024-12-26 16:16:07 +0000 UTC View Post
tried to focus on creating depth with the shading in this one!
also listened to a lot of the audiobook for sunbringer, the sequel to the book godkiller, while working on this, and I'm mad because my libby hold elapsed before I finished it- but I have to say I love the character kissen in the first book. she kills malicious gods, similar to a witcher, and she is very gruff and rude β€οΈ
warning for blood in one of these sprites! I tried a couple different poses in the first few here, the dancing one was particularly fun!
