Koko

it just sucks that the reason I happened to find your blog was because I saw an art thief account reposting a bunch of your art without credits and I searched for the original artist. I'm sure you already know this is a problem, but man is it disheartening for me to see and I can't imagine how frustrated it must make you feel.

anyways, your art is so insanely awesome to look at and I just wanna say thank you for putting it out there for all of us to see, even with all the risk of art thiefs and AI scrapers. I wish you didn't have to deal with any of that BS :(

hi!! Thank you so so much for such a kind message <3

I find it so interesting to hear how that seems to be the case for people where a lot of the art I make and have been liked, they don't notice it's all by me! But I'm always so flattered to hear people like aspects of my work ;_;

It does suck that, the joy of sharing is ruined by those who take advantage of it for their own gains... and there's not much I can do but rely on the kindness of others to not be so selfish! Because the reason I post is because I'm equally inspired and love people's work - sharing is the fun in creativity I find!!

hi!! yes, my twt was suspended back in feb time(?) when a bunch of bots got purged!! I filed an appeal, and despite the suspension being lifted, the account is stuck in limbo because the system thinks it's still suspended o(-(

Hi! Thank you so much for taking the time to share such a sweet message TT__TT/ and welcome back to STH!!

also, you seemingly underrated Sonic artist

Hii anon!! Thank you so much! <3

silmephi gijinka

- astro

Ahh, really? Thank you so much for taking the time to leave such a nice message TT__TT <3

I'm kinda flattered to hear that too, and it's cool to hear you've seen my other stuff before!

In regards to my art process in general;

Theme; what am I trying to tell or convey? I've developed a backlog/library of aesthetics or ideas from everything I consume over time (photos, other artists' work, games I've played etc.), so each piece has its own foundation for reference images or theme behind it! I would say my ideas are conversations/metaphors I want to try and illustrate (usually!)

Composition; I'm going to be honest, since this is mostly a hobby to me it's just "I think it looks good" as the mindset - only I have visuals I've developed over time that I tend to stick to? I've noticed I use a lot of circles and white space to draw the eye:

Picking these older pieces as a consistent example: p1; white space mostly, obscuring eye to add some mystery and distance to Sonic. Bird silhouette to add "movement" and further the sense of distance?? p2; Again using white space to illustrate "wings" but they are clouds! Metaphorically just to portray how Sonic moves around freely in the world. p3; again with the white birds, but the theme here was "blue bird" (as it's captioned originally) but it's based off the "blue bird of happiness" - where Sonic here is the "blue bird"! Hence why I had the birds close to him to resemble wings.

When building up the ideas, it's mostly sketches and rough colours before the lineart and final render!

Picking these pieces out for the shapes I choose!

p1; originally it was an undersea piece, but I scrapped it and opted for an outer space one (due to skill issue LOL,, and I started to dislike the greeny colours from the colour roughs I had initially). I just like circles a lot it seems?? p2; I wanted to create the shape of an eye in the sky! The theme was based off the Sonic + Shadow calendar story Toyoda-sensei wrote! Created the shape of the eye and kept the details simple so it wouldn't be overwhelming! p3; Again with white space and shape! The inspiration was the line from "Break through it all", "You'll wake the beast inside" - but moreso Unleashed's werehog form! ... only, inside, the only beast is Sonic as he's an indominatable spirit. So I chose to keep him rather relaxed to illustrate how he can be a threat simply for being present too.

But for lack of other words, my process in just mechanical art terms: Preliminary sketch > colour rough > lineart > flats + render > any final edits like adjusting contrast

Love your art <3

I haven't drawn Espio before!! His design is fantastic, and I love his personality though... there's a lot of characters I don't draw despite loving them (Amy, Jet, Metal, Blaze etc),,,

A gijinka Espio is a fun idea... he has such good aesthetic...