Renn's Fingerpaint Art! 👉👈

[S.J.]

Dump of stuff (this is what I have been up to when I'm not on TBT):

More head studies:


A DTIYS of this cool cloud princess character:



A fanart of Queen Sonia from TOTK (I'm hoping to make this a set of 4 for printing, one for Sonia / Zelda / Rauru / Link, but I'm not sure it's good enough for printing yet):


And I couldn't sleep last night, so I had some fun painting a realistic version of my AC rep:


I have a lot to improve on, and feeling a little lost, but my goal is to build a big enough catalog or following to table at a local anime convention next year. I've always wanted to try it, but I have to approve of my own art before I dare to show it to people for their hard earned dollars, plus it's a significant investment on my end as well.

Er, hol' up. Renn! We're just going to need to take a hot minute. Where did these come from?!?! They are stunning. So amazed by your light and shading. You have been so busy (being amazing). ️️ Would give you all of my hard earned dollars.

 

[jadetine]

Maybe it's too early to call it, and maybe not, but I made it through half of Inktober this year.
My house got hit with a cold, and so my desk is covered in tissues and I've been in PJs for days, so it's not the best time to make art-- and I'm especially bummer that I had to cancel a trip with my family because we got sick. I'm solo parenting the kiddos in the meantime.

Here is what I made! My goal was to focus on characters, but I did squeeze in one landscape for a DTIYS event.

I was unprepared for day 1, so it was a quick concept of Sable. I learned that I should sketch the night beforehand for these kinda challenges... just based on my schedule. I know it is a "daily" challenge, but it didn't say I had to complete the project in a day, right?


Day 2: Spiderverse screencap!

I really love the art and the style in the movie; the street graffiti aesthetic was something I always admired and I also enjoyed the camper van vandalism event because I got to study a bunch of street art.

Day 3: Willow tree sprite-- the prompt was for just "Willow" but I wanted to sneak a character in there.


Day 4: Vash from Trigun


Day 5: Link from Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. I plan on making 5 pieces from this series and this is a rough concept. I want to make him look less amused, though, so we'll see how the final turns out:


Day 6: Gwen from Spiderverse


Day 7: The prompt was "ribbons" so I decided to make a gijinka of Sylveon


Day 8: A DTIYS for the prompt "book"

and the original image by ChrissaBug

She has a lovely textured style, and beautiful fantastical art, and a very supportive / empathetic personality. I don't see myself making art that looks as good as hers, but I really appreciate her work and what she represents in a sort of struggling industry.

Day 9: "Bird" was the prompt, and I was still thinking about TOTK, so I decided to animorph Tulin into a human boy. I should've chosen to make him Hylian! Missed my chance, ah well. They designed him with great colors and patterns.


Day 10: Saber - Lily. A redraw of one of my old attempts that I never delivered to a friend.

Here's the 2009 sketch

And a closer look at the rough:


Day 11: A landscape DTIYS, because I needed a break from faces, but then it turned out hella hard anyway. Landscapes are no joke!
My pink version vs. the original by Doug Murakami:



Day 12: Another rough layout of a piece I have planned for TOTK Zelda


Day 13: "Oni" was a the prompt and I tried to make a quick rough color of this DTIYS. Gotta fix the face, though...

Original by Bunny.Belle.11


Day 14: "Yuffie" from FF7

It was a scary wake-up call when I was hunting for References -- the one I picked looked like a real human that as airbrushed, but then when I got a good look at the hands, ofc it was all jacked up. I was trying to be careful, but my Pinterest is filled with AI art references. /sigh

Day 15: The starting sketch for the Sailor Moon redraw challenge:

It was on my to-do list for art goals this year (but I still hate my coloring and faces), so I have been hesitant to do it. It's time to just bite the bullet and GOOOO.
If you are not familiar with the Sailor Moon redraw challenge, check it out!

The SAILOR MOON Redraw Challenge Is Magical

These talented artists are putting their unique spin on the Sailor Moon Redraw Challenge

nerdist.com

And Day 16 before I caught a cold: Kuchiki Rukia from Bleach


Phew. It's my third attempt. I succeeded in 2018 and made it halfway in 2019. Inktober can be a bit stressful, but also pretty satisfying and a great learning experience. I think I'm done for this year, though. I want to work on my own projects now... and by my own, I mean the commissions I have waiting, lol.

 

[jadetine]

Another holiday, another frantic TBT event gone by!
Here's what I made:

Moonlight Masquerade: No new pfp or sig, just recycled previous years...

Vandal Visions (color the camper) event:

I enjoyed looking through street graffiti and food trucks for this idea. I tried to squeeze in a few more puns, but I realize the event wasn't about jokes, so there it is. I wish I had made the blue blobs more wisp-like.

Flickering Fiends (paper cube lantern): I didn't get a printer working on time and my traditional art skills are horrific, so I won't be showcasing this one here.

Creature Feature: "Ominous Giraffe"

I'm fairly proud of how this turned out; my original idea was to craft a large shadow creature looming over a bunch of my kids' giraffe toys, but that turned out to be more work and less visually appealing. Funny story: when I was 4 years old, we went to visit the zoo and while I was posing for a photo, the giraffe maneuvered his neck over and nipped my hair. Obviously they have stricter enforcement now to prevent animals interacting with the patrons, but I was definitely a little shaken and wary of giraffes for a long time after.

Forbidden Fortunes:

Mr. Resetti gets very little representation today; I'm not sure the ACNH players even know who this angry mole NPC is. He used to scare the bejeebus outta me, but I've grown to love him. When I was looking through common Tarot cards, I was inspired after I read the Hierophant-- a sort of strict holy man who stands for tradition and conformity. The other cards like high priestess and empress and death and the lovers were also plausible choices and I could see who I would choose to play each role, but I don't think any of them struck me as quite so inspiring.

I noted in my entry:

As with many tarot decks, the Hierophant is seen holding a scepter-like object in his left hand, while raising his right in invocation. His element is earth, and from the earth sprouts two pillars [commonly depicted on Hierophant art]. Here, his expression is impassioned rather than serene, a fervor meant to emphasize his message.

I gave his card border a more brassy / coppery earthy color instead of gold, because I felt that was more appropriate. I wish I had more time to work on the trees and to move my signature somewhere, but I was pretty much done stressing over the carnival dust and puzzles and whatnot.

That's a wrap! There was no way I could complete Inktober at the same time, so I did stop working on that to make room for the Halloween event. No regrets; I had fun and was happy to see all the amazing things people produced.

 

[Dunquixote]

Another holiday, another frantic TBT event gone by!
Here's what I made:

Moonlight Masquerade: No new pfp or sig, just recycled previous years...
View attachment 520413

Vandal Visions (color the camper) event:

I enjoyed looking through street graffiti and food trucks for this idea. I tried to squeeze in a few more puns, but I realize the event wasn't about jokes, so there it is. I wish I had made the blue blobs more wisp-like.

Flickering Fiends (paper cube lantern): I didn't get a printer working on time and my traditional art skills are horrific, so I won't be showcasing this one here.

Creature Feature: "Ominous Giraffe"

I'm fairly proud of how this turned out; my original idea was to craft a large shadow creature looming over a bunch of my kids' giraffe toys, but that turned out to be more work and less visually appealing. Funny story: when I was 4 years old, we went to visit the zoo and while I was posing for a photo, the giraffe maneuvered his neck over and nipped my hair. Obviously they have stricter enforcement now to prevent animals interacting with the patrons, but I was definitely a little shaken and wary of giraffes for a long time after.

Forbidden Fortunes:

Mr. Resetti gets very little representation today; I'm not sure the ACNH players even know who this angry mole NPC is. He used to scare the bejeebus outta me, but I've grown to love him. When I was looking through common Tarot cards, I was inspired after I read the Hierophant-- a sort of strict holy man who stands for tradition and conformity. The other cards like high priestess and empress and death and the lovers were also plausible choices and I could see who I would choose to play each role, but I don't think any of them struck me as quite so inspiring.

I noted in my entry:

I gave his card border a more brassy / coppery earthy color instead of gold, because I felt that was more appropriate. I wish I had more time to work on the trees and to move my signature somewhere, but I was pretty much done stressing over the carnival dust and puzzles and whatnot.

That's a wrap! There was no way I could complete Inktober at the same time, so I did stop working on that to make room for the Halloween event. No regrets; I had fun and was happy to see all the amazing things people produced.

I love them all! You did a fantastic job on all of them! The Mr. Resetti tarot card looks perfect and I think he fits the Hierophant role really well!

 

[jadetine]

It's that time again! My self-review of my art progress over the year.
Here is a snapshot of my favorite artwork from each month (template found here as the "clock" layout, courtesy of Taxkha on Twitter)

I will swing back and edit in the December item once the Secret Santa artworks are revealed-- mine is going well and I want to keep it a secret in case the giftee visits this thread, haha.
EDIT: I'm so happy to reveal my December favorite! A lotta love went into making this Secret Santa piece and I'm so proud of how it turned out!

I also had to load the censored version for May, since she is noticeably nude, but I promise it wasn't crass. I realized that nudity isn't particularly distressing from an art perspective and I'm often starting with the base form of unclothed characters anyway, so it wasn't that far-fetched.

I'm happy that I was comfortable drawing males, females, and creatures. Everything is just shapes, so from that standpoint, I think I can almost draw anything! Maybe not well, but I am happy to try anyway.

I made much less art this year than in 2022-- I'm not sure how life got so busy. I also struggled with art block and artistic self-hate in the latter part of the year. I had plenty of ideas, but nothing was coming out right, so it felt terrible to look at things I've spent 4-10 hours on only to despise the outcome. I literally only slapped down a pixel space whale for August... Hopefully I get over it, soon. I'm just working my way through by practicing the basics (sketching forms and gesture drawings) right now.

What I think I improved upon:
1. Workflow -- I think I found the brushes I'm most comfortable with and I have a good understanding of Procreate and how to find resources, now.
Uh, so... I think I backslid on everything else. I think my coloring and line quality declined in particular. I guess I have a slightly better understanding of hair, so I did approach that goal, but the other items from my 2022 summary wishlist (clarity/rendering and anthros) were not approached at all.

What I want to work on next year:
1. Clarity and rendering quality. 100%.
2, And toward the above goal, shadow shapes and a better understanding of shading.

Bonus goals:
I didn't complete any of my bonus goals from last year (though I suppose there's still time)

Bonus goals I want to hit next year:

• Make an "about the artist" summary image
• Make some actual OC's
• Storyboard my dream webcomic project (just dive in!)
• Clean up my ko-fi shop and make an actual banner / profile image; Unify my social media accounts (not that artsy, I know)
• Paint that Sailor Moon DTIYS meme

But I did conceptualize some OC's (just didn't get them drawn up) and I did sketch the Sailor Moon DTIYS to get started. I won't be adding any bonus goals this year, but I did want to try selling products at a local anime convention. I will be fiddling with stickers and prints a bit. My sister offered to help me table and set up-- this is me living my adolescent daydreams, haha. I have until March to build up my catalogue and we'll see if I'm accepted in the Artists Alley or not. I have been watching a bunch of YouTube artists explain the pitfalls of the process and hopefully I'll be prepared. Inkwell has been a useful resource, for anyone else interested in videos discussing selling art.

I want to end this on a positive note of encouragement-- even though I wasn't happy with my art lately, I'm still trying. I closed my tbt art shop here, but there's still a queue, so the pressure is still in the back of my mind, but I think it was a good decision. I've started organizing my approach to art improvement and I am hopeful for the direction I'm going, so I'm mostly proud that I'm still trying. I don't dread drawing and making art-- I think about it all day while I'm doing other tasks. I still love the pursuit, so I've accepted that the struggle is just part of it. I can make it!

 

[jadetine]

Ah, the Stole-idays. What a delightful, relaxing, minimal event.
...
Do I need to add the /s or can you tell that I am kidding?

I made this ridiculous board game for the All Aboard Animal Crossing / Winter themed board game event.

A summary of my reactions in a low-budget, janky meme format:

​

According to my program, I spent almost a full 24 hours on this monstrosity.

using this reference board:

here is the whole process in 30 seconds:

I am very satisfied with the overall look; and my favorite parts are the train, the fisherman, and the judgy looks from Gracie and Labelle on the Dumpynista card, lol. I know my technical skill is still lacking on some points, but I like to think that I make up for the gap with my sense of humor.

While I wasn't particularly fond of playing The Game of Life as a kid, considering the game options, I felt that it would be the best for capturing the nostalgia that Animal Crossing represents. AC is a game that you can play over and over and have these happy lil moments happen, and none of the other board game options really stood out to me as a good template for capturing that. I think aesthetically, Candy Land would've been my 2nd choice, but the fact that the mods used it as an example made me not want to choose it. I like to surprise the people. When I saw Firesquid's rendition of Animal Crossing Candy Land, I was so flabbergasted and inspired that I jumped out of bed, threw down my imaginary night cap, and started coloring like mad.

I also wanted to showcase characters and events and ideas from old AC games (like the perfect fruit and Gracie). Animal Crossing brings me such fond memories, and I hope that feeling is evoked for everybody who sees the board game. The last thing I attempted was adding text to the squares-- I didn't know if I would have enough time for it or if I would have enough ideas to fill the board... but somehow it all came together.

Some things I wish I had more time for:
- coloring and cleaning the line art
- adjusting the text of the tiles to have better positions and aesthetic
- showing the side and back views of the character tokens-- I had planned for the villagers to have an open backpack that could carry the pinwheels
- showcase more card designs (I had brainstormed flea-flicker for saving villagers from fleas, etc.)
-rework the tiles to grant or revoke pinwheels to make the game more playable
- correct the anatomy of the rainbow trout (missing some under fin thingies)

Still, this sort of collage is one of my greatest projects. I love having so many Easter eggs hidden in the image. It's fun to review, kinda like the Highlights hidden image puzzles from my childhood. I am so relieved I finished. I had started the project on Christmas while hosting company and the sketch took days to coalesce. I am so happy that I didn't wreck the sketch with my coloring skills...

---

I was also a little shocked about my White Elephant prompt "Stinky Yule Log"
My original prompt was "Triangular Myrrh" which was even more challenging, IMHO. I needed a useful noun, so I strategized to get Yule Log from an inactive account, but I had no idea what adjective I was going to end up with.

I had a great time looking up stinky foods to cook up my Yule Log with; and then at the last minute, I remembered that there was a villager named Stinky. I love when I can make my entry Animal-Crossing-themed.

It has been a long time since I've been satisfied with my art, but with the Secret Santa and these past two event entries, I think I'm back in a good place for my self-esteem when making art.

---

I also made a paper cutout for a tea candle holder in the ornament event, but crafting is not my strength, and I feel like I didn't make the most of my options there, so I won't bother showcasing the art for it.

 

[mocha.]

Loving your art, Renn!! The patience you must have had for the board game… orz
But it definitely paid off, it’s gorgeous. As is the stinky log! I always love seeing your thought process behind it and I’m so glad you’re happy with the work.

 

[jadetine]

I've withdrawn from the TBT marketplace for a bit to work on my own art things.

In trying to pursue my own personal style, I have been fickle about the use of lineart. I decided to give it another try, so I sat down and organized my Procreate brushes the other day. I tested a few of my favorites to see which one I liked the most for the "feel" of how much ink it laid down and how quickly I could make the strokes and the overall shape and results.

I have loaded multiple free brush packs from different artists I follow and I seem to come back to the same things over and over. I decided for a painterly style with thin outlines, I like using the Coloring Brush (by Designed for G) at 1 pixel size.
And then for more cel shaded projects with thicker lines or more inky / graphic styles, I'm happy with the Procreate default Technical Pen brush at 20.

---

I also tried making some pixel art for the collectibles organizer tool that my husband and I are working on.

---

And then I did something I almost never do: I made some fanart for myself:

It's Jinshi from The Apothecary Diaries-- I've been following the manga for at least 8 years. He's masquerading as a eunuch and the frog is umm... is a comedic approach to the subject of his manhood in the manga. The anime adaptation has been pretty satisfying, but for anyone used to shounen or thriller action genres, I warn you that the pacing is very slow and deliberate.

Some of you may recall that I hate drawing Chibi characters... I'm still not over it, lol.

---

And then I was on a purple kick and decided to play with the colors for designing my own OC:

I mostly wanted a new pfp on Instagram. Here's her intro:

Hey, this is Vio (pronounced VEE-oh), my teenage OC from the early 2000’s. She enjoys skateboarding, chatting on AIM, and collecting keychain virtual pets. Her favorite Pokémon is Haunter. Her pet peeves are posers and wannabes, when her gel pens run out, and when her CDs get scratched. Hope you like her. TTFN

 

[jadetine]

I've been feeling kinda lost in my art process lately-- like many of the pieces I'm churning out aren't as lovely as ones from previous years. I've also been hating the feel of my brushes and I'm not too sure why, so I've started trying out different brushes. My colors just seem dull and upping the saturation hasn't been productive...

So I saw an artist advertising her free brush set, but it required joining her discord server to download, and while I was there I received an interesting OC art request. Using the new brushes, I drew my first black character:

The reference already had some set color schemes, and unique details like diamond-shaped eyes. I hah other poses I liked, but because this OC is shy, we went with a more closed-off posture.

Sketch phase 1:

Sketch phase 2:

I stopped at the color planning stage, so the highlights might not be accurate (especially the hair), but I think it was good to try new brushes and a new process. I want to draw so many things, and my darn hands just won't make what I'm seeing in my head! (　｀д´)9

 

[Balverine]

I love looking through your stuff, it's all so pretty

 

[jadetine]

I love looking through your stuff, it's all so pretty

That is SO flattering, thank you! I was already having a pretty good day, but this makes it one of the best! Art is so satisfying-- and I'm glad you host the holiday exchange every year. Thank you for being here!

Post automatically merged: Yesterday at 7:12 PM

I also forgot to drop this frantic animation I made for @/Kevinnn

I'm not sure how to stop the blinking, and I wanted to make it a full signature size, but until I can get the gif colors under control...