Drawing from Alyx's Imagination: A Sketchbook Diary Feb/21
I would say I'm a decent traditional artist. But I want to draw what I have seen, rather than what I see.
Here's an example of my most current work I've written and illustrated, "The Great Zodiac Race", a D&D 5e adventure that is a story of Chinese mythology and the origins of the Chinese Zodiac and Chinese Lunar calendar. Adventurers are able to re-enact the Great Race to determine the Chinese Zodiac and standard measurements of time within China.
The cover is painted with acrylics and on canvas. It tells the story of the Great Race that determined the Chinese Zodiac, the order in which the animals came in and how they arrived at the finish line. There's even the environments and objects you'll encounter in the story painted there.
And it took 7 tedious hours.
I entered the Tabletop Mentorship Program with the goal of improving my digital art illustration skills. To create some concept art for the second revision.
But one month in and having met my mentor, my goals have changed slightly. My mentor has really given me insights into artists that have combined both traditional art and digital art in the gaming industry, that I don't have to lose the beautiful textures I have developed in my traditional art if I didn't want to.
I have also explored different kinds of drawing tablets and programs for digital illustration.
I am now determined to create and design a game that can act as a portfolio piece within the next couple of months.
But to do that, it's back to the basics for me in art. I skipped a lot of steps in my art foundation and now I want to make up for it.
*Daily art exercise- drawing lines and ellipses and redrawing them 8 times over. IT'S SO HARD.
Journal
Feb 15/21
I use the Wacom Intuos 4 and Corel Painter 2020
Know nothing of how to use- so I'm watching all of the Corel Painter tutorials
What is Hue, Saturation, Value?
Drawing advice
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6NsEDwHHiE&t=24s
I have an amazing mentor- they encourages me even when I have my self doubts and even helps me find alternatives for myself. I'm a traditional artist. They know how both can be done- really opens my eyes to the possibility of collaging and knows people that can help me. They asked me about the art piece I did design, talked about if I wanted to continue in this style, and showed me ways I could do in the future. They saw that I had real texture in the piece and didn’t want me to lose it. When I first met them, I commented how slow of an artist I was- taking 7 hours to paint. They said that’s actually pretty impressive in terms of art creation. They just get it. So in 3 months, I would like to design a game, but also really create that portfolio piece. Exactly the mentor I need- inspiring encouraging, connected, and real.
I couldn’t sleep, in anticipation of my mentor chat. I went through the classes on Corel Painter. Found out things I didn’t know before. Watched people’s process and am really learning. I felt a little guilty that life got ahead of me. But hold onto this feeling of excitement and feeling absolutely wonderful. I LOVE TO DRAW. This mentorship was the kick int he pants I needed.
So inspired by Peter Han and how he draws from imagination:
Feb 16/21
I think I am getting worse at shading the egg. Must watch video again. Jumped out of bed at 6:00 am to draw. Did the striking of the line exercise 8 times and it just clicked. I felt the motion and how much easier it felt going over and over again.
Today is gestures. Have to admit, I have never observed the human body in this way. I want to do dynamic poses. It gives me 20 seconds to draw a pose.
Feb 17/21
I think I got better at shading? I rushed the egg yesterday, but today I kept the concepts in my mind. I’ll need to watch. After looking at so many gestural poses and watching these FORCE videos, I have a new appreciation for the human body. It’s so beautiful when it moves. I didn’t see the body like this before. I always thought the body was quite ugly. Drawing gives me peace.
I just looked up top 5 shading mistakes. And saw that I should be focusing on gestures, structures, proportion and perspective first. Damn, yup.
The lightest shadow is darker than the lightest halftone. Learned a little of gestures, looking at some structure.
How to Draw Gesture: https://youtu.be/74HR59yFZ7Y
How to Draw Gesture, Step by Step: https://youtu.be/8j39NqwL7s4
Structure Basics: https://youtu.be/3uEtdDvK6Xo
Improving Line Quality and Rhythm: https://youtu.be/IyuCq6VWVeA
That was February.
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