hello, trouble

I traced over the base of the first picture because did I want to figure out this pose when all I wanted to do was try a new rendering method I learned from Lotusbubble? Nope. Does that make it any less my art? Also nope.

So, what did I actually learn and consciously think about while drawing Lyra?

During the sketch and lineart phase, I definitely see bits of my latest study and Kalisamii’s influence, especially in the flowing hair. Even though I absolutely refused to draw every individual strand, I still tried to make the hair flow naturally and give the overall silhouette more movement.

For the hair rendering, I went back to drawing in some individual strands and giving the hair shape with a pattern brush (Adele Dunand), but I also added deeper shadow masses underneath and erased parts of the rendering to create individual strands, similar to what Frostbite does.

I never merged my lineart during the rendering process. Instead, I kept the body and hair on separate layers so I could paint the hair over the body’s lineart, if you know what I mean. I don’t really know why, but it just feels right. I hate seeing an eye line continue underneath someone’s hair.

I did, however, color my lineart in the end and added some spot blacks like I learned from Frostbite.

Generally speaking, during the basic rendering process I was probably influenced by Frostbite the most. I constantly caught myself thinking:

„Make the face as detailed and beautiful as possible, then keep the clothing and hair much simpler. Just make sure everything works together.“

Once that was done, I added the lighting and glow using Overlay and Add layers, just like Lotusbubble taught me.

I didn’t use many different colors while rendering, nor did I really pull colors from the background. My reference background was black, so I simply stuck with that. I’m still not entirely comfortable with color, so that’s probably why. During my studies I often color-picked directly from the artists to understand where they liked to sit on the color wheel, but this time I didn’t. Without anything to lean on, I actually think I did a pretty decent job with the rendering.

With Kalisamii in the back of my mind once again, I tried adding a tiny bit more visual noise and decorative details at the very end. I’m still lazy though. Lol.

Short conclusion:

I learned so fucking much during these two months.

I studied each artist for at least a week, produced countless “failed” artworks that only some of you ever saw in DMs, and then, two weeks later, messaged you again saying, “Never mind, scratch that. I’m starting over.”

Over the last month, I probably drew around 3–4 hours every single day, and to be honest… I feel a little burned out.

That’s why I won’t be pumping out quite as many drawings from now on. I want to focus on the things I actually want to draw instead of constantly making little doodles, because as much as I love yapping with all of you about your OCs, I’ve realized it gives me this weird feeling that I always have to give something back. Every piece of art I receive immediately turns into another drawing on my mental to-do list, and eventually that only makes me want to stop drawing altogether.

So shoutout to @sunkissedtrampolin3 once again for reminding me that it’s perfectly okay to simply appreciate art without feeling like I have to answer with another drawing and that we can still yap about OCs the old-fashioned way: completely unhinged headcanons.

So while I’m definitely not disappearing, I also want to get back to writing my fanfics. Writing was what originally brought me into this fandom, and I still love it just as much. It just steals a lot of time away from drawing, and I haven’t quite figured out how to balance the two yet. But I will.

If you’re interested in my process, I also included the timelapse of this drawing. It‘s only the 30 seconds because this takes an absurd amount of storage.

And, most importantly…

…my beloved Liquify tool.

What would I even be without you?

Other than in the short comics I draw, I normally color my lineart. Kalisamiii, however, does not, so neither did I and honestly? It was incredibly freeing. I also started adding extra lines to create visual noise because that was the biggest thing her style gave me after trying to dissect it. Add comic-like lines that build shadows without really being hatching. Sort of. Kinda. But not. Idk.

Also, hair isn’t painted. It’s drawn. Armor isn’t rendered. It’s designed through linework. “Can the drawing still look beautiful if I remove all shading?” That felt like the core question behind her style.

And yeah, she puts an absolutely ridiculous amount of detail into her lineart, and I tried to copy that as best as I could without going mental.

Then there are the silhouettes. Every character has an instantly recognizable shape, whether it’s the loose flowing hair, giant wings, dramatic fabrics, or elaborate accessories. Nothing sits still, which makes her art so alluring because not only the lineart, but also the shapes themselves create so much movement.

It is all about the hair.

Hair is rendered using large, simple shadow masses with lineart defining individual strands. The hair almost behaves like fabric. There is very little messy texture compared to my previous studied artists. It frames the face and really draws your eye exactly where she wants it to go. Tried that with Lysara and I absolutely love how she turned out.

But while I absolutely adore the overall hair shapes, I don’t know if drawing every individual strand is going to stick with me.

It was annoying lol.

The color palettes I used were surprisingly easy and limited, so in a way I got to return to my roots but with a completely different application, and dang, I loved it. It felt cozy.

She also uses soft value transitions, with black mostly reserved for backgrounds while still maintaining strong contrast. And as you all know, I have a serious commitment issue when it comes to contrast, but I tried to push it with stronger light sources and some Add layers. We’re slowly getting there.

As talked before there is a hell lot of Decorative elements, extra lines, and sparkles everywhere. Kalisamii uses a ton of ornamentation in her work and, ummm… I am very lazy.

Honestly, the hardest thing to imitate wasn’t the rendering. It was learning how to think like a fashion designer and an Art Nouveau illustrator at the same time.

And yeah… while I could make it work with relatively simple HL characters, drawing armor or weapons in this style? No thank you.

In conclusion: I’m too lazy for this art style, but dang, do I love it. Maybe a few extra lines and sparkles will stick. We’ll see.