Get Ill

Homo Algus

by Sophie Prestigiacomo

These swamp creatures are sculptures created by the French sculptor Sophie Prestigiacomo. They can be seen at the Nature of Séné in the Gulf of Morbihan (France).

I GOT YOU, FAM! 

It’s ironic that I work in education but I don’t know how to make an art tutorial, so here’s my sad attempt! Forgive me if it’s useless.

I LOVE drawing hair, it’s always been my favorite, although I’m a bit of a perfectionist and therefore hair is usually the part that takes me the longest when I work on a piece. It involves a lot of experimentation and drawing the same lines over and over until I get the right shape or flow and it requires a lot of patience (at least for me). Is there a right way to draw hair? Of course not! That’s the beauty of it. Every artist is unique and will have their own style, it’s all about trying new techniques to see what works best for you. *blows kiss*

Okay here we go! 

I generally have three main steps: a loose sketch, a more refined sketch to build a cleaner design, then the final lineart. I also tend to make about 3 or 4 sketches to find the right hairstyle or flow. (I’m also indecisive as f**k)  

Things I think about:

Action, dimension, shape, flow, movement and how it’ll interact with the body or what’s around it

Is there wind? Is the character outside? What are they doing and how would the hair respond to that? Is it pulled behind the ear? Wrapped around the neck? Tied up? 

Texture, length, hairstyle. Thick hair? Thin hair? Curly? Straight? 

References and inspiration - I always use a reference of some kind just to remind myself what I like or what I want to see, it’s the best tool to keep myself on track. Sometimes I even use my own art just to see what how I’ve done it before and what I liked about it. Don’t be scared of reference! (Example: Alphonse Mucha’s art is a major inspiration, I LOVE his use of line weight, shape and flow)

Using Gladio’s face from a wip I’m currently working on, I tried to draw some of my process out:

 (Is it blurry!? Did I screw this up? Oh well, let’s keep going!)

Steps:

Sketch - Loose and messy gesture lines to show the general shape and movement. It’s okay if your sketch looks like a hot mess, it’s supposed to!! I have a hard time staying loose myself, so I’m working on that. Usually my sketches are very dramatic haha. 

Refined Sketch - This is where I start to actually define the strands and the general shapes. By using my sketch as a guide, I can then build the design and the more individual strands and how they interact with each other. This can take a while (like it takes me hours). I try to go slower and I’ll end up reworking it a few times before I’m happy. Tip: reverse your canvas! It helps you see if your hair is more or less balanced or if something looks off. 

Final Lineart - At this step, I strengthen my lines and erase lines where I want the flow to be more continuous. I also add detail lines and extra strands or flyaway hairs for a more interesting or complex design. The example above is still too messy or simple for what I normally like, but that’s okay. Also, what the heck is up with that messy bun? What am I even doing? 

Final points:

Find inspiration and examples of what you like! This can be from other artists, movies, nature - literally anything. References are your best friend.

Experiment and try new things - I’m always trying to push my designs further and learn new skills

Keep your sketches loose and messy! I like to warm up by drawing circles, ovals or like the infinity/8 shape over and over again. 

Play with line weight and thin vs thicker hair strands. Have the hair interact with something, whether it’s an ear or a shoulder or itself. Push yourself for an interesting design. (Gotta push myself too! It can be a frustrating process)

The more you practice, the better you get (cliche, but it’s so true)

Honestly, I don’t even know what I’m doing half the time and my skills have a long way to go. So we’re on this hair journey together! <3 

BONUS!

Here are a couple Gladio sketches that I never posted on tumblr as an example of a messy sketch vs a more refined sketch 

The Kaz II is one of many “vanished crew” mysteries. Three Australian men were aboard the boat when they disappeared without a trace, the boat found on April 20, 2007. All of the men were above the age of fifty and experienced at sea. However, when it was boarded by police the boat was found devoid of life, the engine left running and various items, such as a running laptop and a plate of food, left behind. One of the sails was badly torn. A video tape was also found, showing the three men alive and well just before their disappearance. Foul play was immediately ruled out, as other than the torn sail there were no signs of a struggle.

The Wow Signal

The ‘Wow! signal’ was received at 11.16pm on August 15, 1977 - the night before Elvis died — as a radio telescope in Ohio swept its gaze through the constellation of Sagittarius.—

It lasted 72 seconds and was earned its name because of the message of disbelief Jerry Ehman, a researcher with the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence (SETI) programme, scrawled next to the printout recording it.

The characteristics of the signal - a rise and fall in its ‘loudness’ were exactly what the alien-hunters had been told to look out for.

The signal had the trademark of an artificially produced interstellar broadcast. 

Vinegar Valentines

These cynical, sarcastic, often mean-spirited greeting cards were first produced in America during the late Victorian Era. They were given on Valentine’s Day and featured a caricature and poem which insulted the looks, intelligence, or occupation of a person. 

A glass bottle filled with rusted nails may not sound like much of an archaeological find. But this Civil War artifact could represent a type of talisman that was popular for warding off evil spirits: a “witch bottle.”

Researchers found the bottle at a site known as Redoubt 9, a fortification built in 1861 by Confederate troops and later occupied by Union forces. Remains of the defensive structure lie on a highway median between exits 238 and 242 on Interstate 64, in York County, Virginia, representatives of the William & Mary Center for Archaeological Research (WMCAR) said in a statement.

An ancient drawing of a demon blamed for epileptic seizures has been discovered on a 2,700-year-old Assyrian clay tablet.

University of Copenhagen Assyriologist Troels Pank Arbøll was examining a tablet of ancient writing at the Vorderasiatisches Museum in Berlin when he noticed the drawing of the demon — portrayed with horns, a tail and a snake-like forked tongue.

The tablet came from the library of a family of exorcists who lived in about 650 B.C. in the city of Assur, now in northern Iraq, Arbøll said. But it’s likely it was copied from a much older text. 

Bennett College for Girls

Bennett College was founded in 1890 at Irvington, New York by May F. Bennett. In 1907, the college moved to its final home on 22 acres in Millbrook, Dutchess County, New York.

Mysterious “witch marks” that were carved into a cavern’s walls centuries ago to ward off evil are getting a public viewing, thanks to 3D modeling and animation.

The marks were discovered earlier this year in Creswell Crags, an enclosed limestone gorge in the United Kingdom that houses a cave used by humans during the Ice Age, Creswell Crags Museum & Heritage Centre representatives said in a statement. But humans were also using the cave during the medieval period, covering its walls and ceilings with so-called witch marks as a form of protection against evil spirits and witches.