March = Madness

This month I have been hard at work on my TTRPG setting. I have narrowed down the character creation, so now I can work on character progression. What does "leveling up" mean in this system. I want to do something familiar so onboarding is easy. I also want to make my system distinct enough that it entices folks to try it out. 

My goal is to have something play-testable by May. Stay tuned here for a free download to try it out and play test it yourself! 

Art-wise I have deviated a little bit from my usual concept art to focus on practical application of art techniques. I have been practicing dynamic angles as well as metal reflections. I've also done a couple of portrait studies to help with my facial features. All of this culminating into a fan art project that I am particularly proud of and an original piece that was just fun to do! 

Let's take a look. 

Portrait Practice

I did two portrait practices this month. As stated above, I needed to refresh some skills for facial features. 

The first piece, pictured below, is of someone who had their head slightly tilted up. This is a perspective I don't draw much so it was a really good practice. I decided to decorate it to make it my own. I played around with the lighting and shadow and I think it came across very natural. It definitely warrants more experimentation. 

The next piece was a portrait where the subject was angling their face down. There was something striking about the way the hands were in the original image. That is what drove me to do this study. It think the hands were very difficult, but they turned out very passable. This is a great improvement as I have always struggled to get hand right. I think I have passed the point where I only drew clenched fists to avoid drawing the hands all together. I'll keep practicing. 

Progress

Speaking of practice, I am going to start looking back at drawings that I did a decade ago and redraw them using the things I know now. Below is an example of a character I drew in 2014. I basically recreated it but using the techniques I've been working on. I also updated the armor and the emotion of the piece. It's amazing how much I've progressed. 

Perspective

I am also currently practicing perspective as well. In this case a drop down perspective. I am not super happy with how it turned out, but I forced myself to finish it regardless. I think there is something here worth exploring though. I am going to try drawing a similar pose in April and see if I can make it something I am happy with. The angle and for-shortening is almost there. I can't quite put my finger on what needs to change. If you see something or have critique, please feel free to comment below. 

Reflective Metal

This next one I am super happy with. I has stumbled upon some sci fi art online and the one thing that struck me was the reflections in the metal. Looking at my own stuff I didn't se too much shiny metal. This umpired me to draw this piece for the express purpose of making the armor shiny and reflective. The lighting is behaving the way that it should and love how detailed I made the suit. I spent a good long while on it. The next step will be figuring out how to reflect objects in the metal to really give the impression that it a reflective surface. Though there is still some work to do, I will see this one as a win. :)

X-Men '97 Fan Art

I am of the age that I watched the original X-Men 90s cartoon. I have a lot of nostalgia for it and I would say it had no small hand in the meteoric rise of Marvel in pop culture today. I love the property and when I heard they were reviving the series, I was skeptical. However, it is turning out to be a super fun trip into a time period of cartoons that I had forgotten. It inspired me to draw one of my favorite characters in the whole property. Rogue has always held a special place in my heart and drawing her was a perfect celebration of X-Men '97 coming out. 

Funzies!

Lastly, I have a piece here that I drew for no reason at all other than to just have fun and not think about too many things. The weather is starting to flirt with getting warmer and sunnier (I live in the Pacific Northwest). I am ready for the grey and rainy weather to go away. This piece is a representation of my attitude right now. I am ready to go out into the sun but it's not consistently shining yet. So the subject patiently waiting - while at the same time being annoyed that they're waiting - is totally a vibe and I'm here for it. I'm ready for Spring/Summer. 

Reflections...

Next month will be my birthday. It's a big milestone as I will be entering a new decade of life. It's weird to think about sometimes. On one hand, I am super amazed at the progress I've made in the last ten years. On the other hand, it's hard not to think about all of the time I wasted when I was younger NOT creating art. I had convinced myself I couldn't do it and was content to just consume it in the form of comic books and other media. It wasn't until much later in life I got over myself. 

It has taken a long time, but I am finally in a place where I actually enjoy looking at my work. That's not to say I don't want to continue to improve, but I don't spend a lot of brain power hating my art. 😅 

Don't wait to follow your dreams. Just get out there and do it. Don't keep telling yourself reasons to not do it. You may have to fight yourself, cry to yourself, or laugh at yourself; but don't ever condemn yourself. Take it from me, the years go by fast. 

This blog will accompany my first ever newsletter. It won't have anything huge in it, but it will have a brief synopsis of this post with a link to come here to view it. I am going to try to post more and use the newsletter as my monthly correspondence. Don't know why, but I'm oddly excited to give a newsletter a shot. I'm going to try to add additional incentives to subscribe to the newsletter. I will try a few things in the coming months and we'll see what resonates. 

​See you all later and stay creative.