Akali - Smoke, P.2024019

[ynr_nohara]

Been playing some online games to improve my mood.
Anyway total time is around 11 hours in 4 days.

Difference between this and the previous finished artworks is, this one I used clean lines, did the flats, made some arbitrary shading just to give some idea on the light placement and then flatten them back and went back to my usual process. But this time it has enough guidance, so I don’t try to guestimate multiple things at once get confused and redo things over and over.

Is the light right? I am sure it is not. But I don’t really care, with no exact ref, it is just a stress source to try make everything right. The upside is, because everything is just guestimate, I can add or remove things without feeling something is off, because everything is slightly off xD. Now if only I know how to draw environment well.

Timelapse

Akali - Smoke, P. 2024019 Timelapse by YNR_Nohara (No Sound)

[Michelist]

If you think you have problems with drawing the environment, then there is only one thing to do, practice it. But also be aware that there are many users who would give a lot to have even close to your skills.

You are without question and without doubt good, and yes, of course you can always find something to work on and improve. But that doesn’t mean you have to feel small or even bad, because you’re not, but if you have the ambition to do something better, then you just have to practice, there’s nothing wrong with practicing.
And even “the greats” always have a “blunder” here and there in their drawings, look closely, and you will also find little things that are inconsistent in the drawings of those you admire, but they don’t despair about it, they carry on and remember for the next time to avoid this blunder and the path that led to the blunder. Self-knowledge is what makes you great, not self-doubt. And you have what it takes to do more, you just have to believe in yourself! You can actually do it, you just don’t seem to want to admit it to yourself. Don’t you? Jump over your shadow, we say, that means free yourself! You are good! And yes, one can always get better, but there is no discrepancy! I wish you the strength to move on, you can do it, believe in yourself.

Michelist

[YRH]

Doing things accurately is sooooo exhausting. I think it’s OK to cheat as much as possible, as long as the image doesn’t produce a discomfort in the viewer. As long as it looks “about right”, it’s good.

With lighting you probably only need to get the most prominent parts right, some of it is just being careful and consistent, but I feel like at some point you run into the wall of lack of experience / visual library, and you need a close reference to overcome it. I know I would have this problem

Like, for this scene probably there’s smoke self-shadowing and the shadows would be even more 3D, and there also may be scattered light from the smoke back to the character, so that the arm in the back is not shadowed as much. But this is only my hunch, again no reference, no idea Maybe a realistic 3D render would work as a lighting ref in this case, though? But it may be just as much work to mock that up as to finding a matching ref.

Either way, another nice painting, I really like the lush greens

[KRITAKOUGAR]

I’ve seen artwork levels less than this on comic book covers! This is Wonderful! You are Fabulous! You’re only going to get Better!

[ynr_nohara]

@Michelist Thank you for the kind advice . I try my best to improve my mental fortitude to at least handle the stress of learning things on my own.

I manage to have some successful moments like when I first learnt figure drawing, stuck there for a long time and deleted bunch of my online accounts that had anything to do with me drawing, out of frustration. This happens in a cycle weirdly, getting stuck on certain subject (Light and color, independent pose and perspective, Environment), don’t know what to do, getting frustrated again, but somehow fortunately some viewers and people I drew sent me messages in the new accounts, told me to be proud of the journey. I then start archiving my works. Bit by bit I cleared the subject that I didn’t understand. But I think because I know the cycle will start again, and that is just what happens when learning on your own, It makes me anxious and make me postpone things that I should’ve done early.

And yes, I know the artists that I look up to have their own troubles when learning something, sometimes I heard them saying their concerns and doubts first hand. But unstable me look at it sometimes as “glass half empty” and at other times “glass half full”. I think maintaining the positive thinking is what’s hard for me.

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@YRH Yeah I realize most of the tutorials I watch that have what I think incredible shading have some kind of ref. At least in the videos that I watch, Proko and Samdoesart to name a few, the artist showed the ref(s) and how to utilize it. I also tried to keep cost down, including time spent doing research, but I guess it is inevitable. I spent multiple days once trying to find the right pose, background, and light/color refs for a commission. I think I spent time longer doing the research than actually drawing the piece. But idk maybe that’s the norm for such situation that has specific requirements.

I actually think if I can make 3D resources, even it takes a long time, at the very least I only need to make it once. But again, I really can’t do another self taught route but I also can’t buy resources outright. So currently I am saving for good 3D tuts and hardware. Gonna take a long time probably since I am not good at advertising my service; social anxiety, paranoia, and all that stuff.

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@KRITAKOUGAR Thank you very much for the kind words . I have little confidence in myself, and I really need to fix that. Having people that actually look at my work and kind enough to leave uplifting comments really helps me combat the negative thoughts in my head.

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[Konstrukto]

Honestly this looks great, maybe some color and light nerding over it could be done
But I think you have a great style!

[KRITAKOUGAR]

My pleasure! I am here for uplifting and encouraging! We all need that!

[ynr_nohara]

@konstrukto Thank you . Also is color and light nerding means to reduce the saturation of color and less contrast for the value/light tone? Idk the art term for many stuff.

If it is okay, if you could point me to artist whose artwork you’d consider good in this manner (Light and Color), that would be great and very much appreciated.

[Konstrukto]

Judging from your work you already have quite a grasp on color theory, and I can’t think of an artist I would specifically recommend

I do however recommend looking at this youtube channel

[ynr_nohara]

Marco Bucci’s channel is where I actually learn color theory and light behaviour , we think alike. Thanks, I think I should actually do artist study of his artworks. Had never cross my mind before since his style is way different from what I usually do but maybe I’d get good insight by analyzing and redrawing some of his works.

[Konstrukto]

Mind you, I am not saying that anything is wrong with your artwork or style
Because it’s really great
It’s just an incentive to dive even deeper,something I like to do myself all the time!

[lps]

incredible!