os0re

It was a lot of work to put my art gallery together and get it working, but because I didn't see literally anything on creating such a gallery (other than ready-made templates) I decided to write up a tutorial hoping it will help others who want to code a more robust art gallery that goes beyond just using a simple slideshow/lightbox. Each image is its own post, like how deviantArt works.

This is a draft of the page where I copied my existing posts just to fill up the gallery and see how it fits:

and this is what my individual post looks like:

Oh man SO so much of it is just practice, and you're not alone! I honestly think everyone struggles with a sort of "generification" of their characters' features the more they draw them, even seasoned professionals. There's a tendency to just sort of average everything out into an unrecognizable mush over time, and it takes a lot of conscious effort to push back against that.

Here are a couple tips and tricks that I've found to be helpful over the years:

Make turnarounds and model sheets. There's a reason animation/game studios do this, and it is because we are all still bad at drawing a consistent face. Despite being gainfully employed. What are we, graphic novelists?? We wish. Anyway it's a great way to familiarize yourself with your character's face from multiple angles, and it gives you a single source of truth to return to anytime you need a refresher:

Gather real-life reference. Anytime I'm designing a character I'm pulling together a ton of reference of actual people who look, to some degree, like the character in my head. It's always a collection of analogues, never just a single person, but it can be a great cheat sheet for understanding how your character might move, emote, etc:

Make a 3D model. I know it seems daunting, but with the advent of programs like Blender and Nomad Sculpt it's becoming remarkably more accessible. Heck, even James Gurney was sculpting maquettes out of clay for Dinotopia back in the day! It doesn't have to be particularly detailed—just a sort of proportionate lump will do—but it's another great way to have dynamic reference that you can rotate and light accordingly:

Practice, practice, practice. Make expression sheets for your character! Either right there on the spot, just start drawin' expressions, or you can slowly collect drawings of your character that you like, as you draw them, and compile them all in one place for your own reference. Need to draw your character's head from a weird angle? Maybe you've already drawn it before and you can copy your own homework! Doesn't count as stealing when the call's coming from inside the house 😎

Your art is so beautifull, the way you sketch is so delicate and bold at the same time its hard to discribe. The perspectives and dynamic lighting is delicious💓😎 the Regis and Geralt art gives me life and desire to draw them again🫡

I just wanted to ask do you scan your sketches or take a photo of it to paint over it? And do you extract the line art with some application?

Thank you in advance!!

Thank you so much, it makes me so happy, genuinely!!😭

And I do scan my sketches! Then I detach the line from the white background and start coloring underneath! I used this video a long time ago to form an application for photoshop that does it, I hope it's helpful!

Hiii! I'm opening commissions again and will keep them open for the foreseeable future!!