Hello there!

OC-tober Day 17 - Serene

Art from September technically but it fits and I never posted it here despite of how good it looks...

do you love yuri? gorgeous art styles? sick ass action scenes with unbelievably stupid stakes? a solid mostly female main cast of characters that play off of each other really well and are also funny as fuck?

Introducing "Love Bullet", the GL manga about cupids! with GUNS!

The series isn't officially localized in english yet, but luckily fan translators are hard at work on a real-time english translation (I won't share a link here, but you can find it easily enough)

*flowey voice* huh? why am i doing all this? because love bullet is at risk of being cancelled!

the author's said she already has the entire story planned out, but due to bad marketing and a lack of official english translations, the sales for volume one have been pretty low, and the story risks being discontinued

the chapters out so far aren't many, they're a relatively quick read, and really entertaining all the same. i am DYING to see more of these characters, they're loads of fun and there's some genuinely interesting hypotheticals about love, romance (and lack thereof) the series could get into... but only if it stays running!!

so please, give this story a shot (lol) and if you like it, consider supporting the original mangaka. other fans of LB have been resourceful enough to put together a way for you to do that, even as a western fan, so it's the least i can do to spread the word.

do it for yuri... and also insane women and heart grenade launchers

★

meowdy, and here's a little art challenge for december my minnows and i have been cooking up! i know month long art challenges can be kind of intimidating to some people, so i figured making a week long one could encourage people to give longer challenges a try!

morpho books

figure drawing for all it's worth (+ creative illustration)

framed ink

will eisner comics and sequential art

will eisner graphic storytelling and visual narrative

understanding comics (+ making comics)

folder of various animation production art

burne hogarth drawing dynamic hands

perspective for comic book artists

michael mattesi force drawing

the animator's survival kit

color and light james gurney

1. identify what's making you draw so slow. can't figure out pose/anatomy? too perfectionist about inking? getting caught up in details? indecisive coloring?

2. timed gesture studies. draw a loose figure w photo reference in 10 minutes. do that a bunch of times. then 5 minutes, 3 minutes, 1 minute. train yourself to omit as much detail as possible while keeping the figure recognizable.

3. the dot/line exercise, sometimes called the "target practice" warmup. draw two dots, then a line connecting them. keep moving the dots farther apart while drawing the line as fast as you can while keeping it STRAIGHT (not wobbly!) and hitting the second dot. the line is ONE stroke. it's harder than it sounds. this should help you get an idea of how fast you can make a controlled stroke

4. look up tutorials on coloring more quickly in whatever art program you're using if you do digital art. chances are there's a tool or setting that can make it easier to fill in shapes. i almost never color by hand, i fill bucket everything

5. free yourself of "clean line art"... 9 times outta 10 people think sketchy lines are more visually appealing anyway. it's faster and they have more life. in my opinion at least

6. use lots of references. spending hours on a complicated pose from memory instead of just looking at photo/3D model reference isn't impressive it's just stupid and unnecessary

7. study with intent. if you struggle with leg anatomy for example, do lots of studies from photos (eyeballing and tracing), then try it freehand/from memory, rinse and repeat 9000 times until it's not something you get stuck on when it comes time to do an illustration/comic page

8. less detail. simplify. you can have ultra detailed art or you can draw fast. pick which is more important to you

9. bullshit it... draw ugly and bad but do it fast. done is always better than perfect

10. thumbnail. it's not just for comics. do a teeny tiny sketch of your drawing beforehand with colors. then use it as reference. helps to finish the actual piece faster when it's planned out

Just in case you forget this exists.

You can browse the most popular ones or search for certain colors, themes, and even specific hex codes!

When you find one you like, you can download a wallpaper swatch of it and also select the specific colors it uses to look at more palettes that use those same ones.

Bounce light is something I didn't cover but I adore it!

Gamut Mask

(image via )

James Gurney is an absolute master and gives really good clarity on colour techniques. Yes, it is traditional paint focused, but the principles are the same. Yes it is informed by the environmental colour but as a painting technique it is achieved this way!

While it's not super important to know about the mathematical side of blend modes, I think it's worth knowing at least enough about how each of the categories of blend modes works and why they do what they do; if for no other reason than having a starting point when you start experimenting with them in your work.

An overview of the basic blend modes and how they work from Genevieve's Design Studio: Accessible with minimal color knowledge; practical and illustration focused. https://youtu.be/kMc87hQrJd0?si=TWCB365pKSfWS8p0. (16 minutes) This creator also has a ton of free resources you can download, including a Blend Modes cheatsheet, but fair warning: you have to create an account to get them!

@muntiller2

tl;dr putting aside the talk of blending modes and All That, you find this out basically by experimenting with the contrast of relative colours within a restricted hue (this is how i do it, anyway). Digital art is great for no-stakes experimenting because you never run out of paint or canvas.

In your red shirt under blue light example, you treat it as a new palette - this time in shades of blue and hues that are close to blue (purples, etc) Your job is to match the contrast of the red shirt's original hue with the new palette you have. If you get close enough you just trick the brain into going "Well fuck it, that's red under blue light ain't it?" and you're good to go.