Hello Krita Artists!
This is a discussion thread and WIP thread for our Monthly Art Challenge for August 2025. Ask any questions about the challenge or share your works in progress.
The August Art Challenge was designed by @edgarej.
When your submissions are ready, post them in the submission thread linked below.
After overcoming the terrors of last year, Kiki decided to go on an adventure this summer!
Here’s my concept sketch for Kiki’s high altitude hang glider adventure! More to come…
Base layer of clouds added…
Nice start. I love the cloud brushes
I feel like the Kikis would have a great time plein air painting… it’s warm out… would be a great activity to do;
WIP;
side note. i’ve been really wanting to do some plein air action… but my eyes suck. either I can see far or I can see close 
Second idea - Kiki is continuing her adventure on her skateboard! She heads to Venice Beach, L.A. and gets some air on the half pipe! 
Concept and sky:
Added some clouds:
Board and refine Kiki a bit… Kiki is gonna be the hard part for me!
Time for some palm trees:
I need some inspiration! 
Hope you had a wonderful vacation!
Are you asking for support? If so, see the spoiler below. If not, Just ignore what I’ve posted, and I’m 100% given a bit of time sure you’ll come up with a summer activity for Kiki that will awe and amaze us!
Not that I’m thinking I can actually inspire you, but here’s what I was thinking for this month’s challenge. “What do I like to draw and how could I add Kiki (and maybe her pet?) to it?”
I’ve been looking for an opportunity and the time to draw a cloudscape and a sunset scene with some silhouetted palm trees. Then I asked myself what would Kiki do in these scenes?
In the past I’ve noticed you like to draw things like animals, gardens, and random map locations. Ideas to inspire you for you this month could include Kiki playing with a realistic pet, Kiki on a road trip driving/riding a bike through a random map location, or even Kiki working in her garden. If you un-spoiler-ed this, hope it helps!
That’s actually a big help @steve.improvthis ! Gives me a a place to start. Thanks! 
it inspired me steve 
You should list what you did in your vacation, then replace “Elixiah” with “Kiki.”
Welcome back btw
I like this super-cute idea!
Michelist
I might add in some line work if I have the time, but this is close to done…
Thrasher Kiki
I love the palms and expansive sky, but maybe this crop is better?
Thoughts?
I like the first one best. Seeing the horizon grounds it to place and space. But then…I’m no expert.
Great concept!
It feels cut off for me.
There’s certain cropping rules that makes certain picture feels better than others… like cropping at the knees is a no no, cropping before or after the knees would make the picture look better… etc.
I think in your case, the face, which is always a focal point, is way too close to the edge of the picture. Right now my attention keeps going to the palm trees instead of the face. You might have to play around some more with the composition.
I love that skateboard design. It looks really great.
Not sure what exactly you mean, looking through my references, cropping right above the knees is very popular (film makers call it “Medium-Long Shot” from what I know), and depending on number of characters and poses, some knees are visible nevertheless without making it look bad IMHO. But showing mid-thigh up is also very popular, apparently that’s called the “American Shot” or “Cowboy Shot” as it was most prominently used in western cowboy movies to show the characters with holsters.
Anyway, I agree that the skateboarding Kiki looks cut off, these dynamic poses almost scream for a tilted camera angle (“Dutch angle”). If you rotate the image about 10° clockwise around the bottom left corner, Kiki’s left hand would be in picture, and there’d be a bit of margin between helmet and image border. You would still have a tiny bit of the ocean in the left, but the “boring” tree trunks in the right would be cut off…
Quick and dirty demo:
That said, I’m actually struggling myself right now, what image format and angle would work best for mine…
That’s what I got so far, after struggling yet again with Kiki’s proportions:
Right now my attention keeps going to the palm trees instead of the face.
Yes!
Kiki was put in the scene with the intention of keeping the viewer’s attention in the center of the image, rather than letting the observer’s eye wander out of the image. If you look at Kiki’s features (the bend in her top arm, her butt & pockets, her tail, curve, the board, etc.) and the clouds, everything in the scene points to the palm trees.
The intent is to keep the viewer looking deeper and deeper at these details, rather than scrolling to “the next” image. The ocean, the tail and the clouds form borders on 3 sides of the image to keep moving your attention back to the trees. And the trees took a ton of detailed inking, so ya, that’s where I’d like to draw your attention (pun intended!)
And, I feel I’m so much better at drawing tropical landscapes than I am at drawing faces on robot girls, it’s a monthly challenge after all! 
