Enjoying the Trip
4K picture posted, click to enlarge
Hey, slowly but surely I'm continuing my experimentations. I filled many pages on my brainstorming (a libreoffice draw multipage ODG file) and I'm starting to get a better picture of where I'm going. I still need a little bit of time to train certain missing skills, or skills I'm unsure I can get.
In fact, it's easy to write something like "leave more brush stroke at a early step" in a brainstorming, but harder to have a workflow that leave interesting looking early brush stroke. It's all about that type of exploration.
I'm very near the completion of my research. I even already have a new full storyboard for Pepper&Carrot episode 38 that includes all the changes I want to perform. So, on this last set of test, I try to enjoy the trip, and I used my favorite test temporary metaphor characters to storytell that.
About my painting process, I'm not splitting the color flat and shading anymore, I try to paint the result directly and calculate all the shading on the fly. I learnt while having the previous workflow a valuable lesson about how I wasn't setting enough room in the difference of the value between keylight and shadow.
I also try to draw quicker pencil sketch without rendering the volumes. It's a bit frustrating, but I still trash the pencil layer early in the process to keep only painted shapes so better to not spend too much time on it. It's only an assistant to paint faster the first set of area of painting and get the composition and the main proportion mostly right.
I'll continue tests into this direction. Thanks for reading!
video of the process, thanks the Recorder feature of Krita (9MB, mp4, 1min27)
Picture of the process:
I had the idea of this artwork on my sketchbook, I quickly redrew it on a 4K page.
I'm feeding the canvas with large brushes, my goal being to capture a general mood and the direction of the light.
Then I try with a medium brush to 'block' all the sub-volumes.
The last pass (more than 50% of the full time) is spent on justifying details, and edge control.
7 comments
Wow, this looks awesome! I'm loving seeing your journey of experimentation.
First up, I want to compliment you on the beautiful lighting! It's very soft, but powerful.
But unfortunately, secondly. Secondly. I'd been admiring the increases in the textures between images, and.
On the "medium brush to 'block' all the sub-volumes" in-progress image, the bunny is a really cute, well-shaped bunny. But in the "last pass" image, it looks terrifying to me. The headshape from the previous stage has been lost, instead the whole head has been stretched and flattened into one big flat wide face, with two eyes on top (whilst a herbivorous bunny should have them at the sides) and what looks like a vaguely human-shaped mouth, and owing to the changes in the positioning of the hind feet, the creature's pose is more resembling that of a puppy stretching, rather than the bunny running alongside as was in the progress image.
Sorry if this comes of as unnecessarily harsh, that bunny has left me feeling highly unnerved.
Hey David, this is SO beautiful! Thanks as always for sharing your thoughts and process with us. Your lighting is just...*chef's kiss*. And I can't wait for the next episode of P&C, obviously!
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Oh, sorry, unrelated, I've just seen the furore around the latest thing dA have done, and that got me wondering what you would think of "Inkblot" [https://feedback.inkblot.art/announcements]? It occurred to me that you have both the solid ethics and the coding expertise to be a welcome voice there.
Thank you so much for the "Enjoying the Trip" summary of your new process steps. I've been struglling with color flats and shading for way too long. My end results just didn't feel right. When stepping back and assessing why, it was obvious that shading, or lack of skillful shading, was killing the results.
I wrote to you earlier about focusing on how much you had accomplished enroute to where you wanted to go...instead of measuring whether you were getting there. I'm finding that limiting my own schedule no more than three meaningful targets per measurement period is proving extremely beneficial.
Your blogs on what you have discovered are fantastic motivators and are helping reawaken previous skills, learning, and understanding as I move onto my next career as a digital artist and book illustrator.
Again, thank you!
Congratulations for what you've achieved: the points you clarified in your research and your progress with optimization of the painting process. It's great to read you're in positive mode again, after a phase of being frustrated and unsure back to joy and confidence. It would be sad to see you sunk in distressful emotions, and the fact you're getting through it, it's reassuring. Well done!
Besides, it is so inspiring to see you dealing with the problems you face in your work. You are so determined to resolve them, and so consistent in setting plans and breaking them into small tasks. You have the willpower to keep moving despite any trouble, you make so much progress, and this makes you a very good example to anyone aspiring to achieve more in their own fields. I am 100% sure all your ideas are therefore bound to succeed, in this or that form.
The picture is nice, with lots of light inside and pleasant soft yellow. I like this kind of scenery:)
The dragon looks different with the one on the first picture. Is it growing as the story is told?
Thanks! I'm not familiar with Inkblot. I quickly browsed, but it wasn't clear at describing for a quick look.
If it is AI art related, I'm trying to not write about it and just collect data right now. Maybe for a future article, maybe not; the topic is complex and I see so many artist (eg. on Twitter) making fools of themselves with totally broken assumptions. This is what refrains me by fear to jump potentially into the same basket.
Thank you for sharing your talent. Talented people like you are very rare :) I love your all your work.
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