bibwak

[bibwak]

don't have the exact elapsed time because part of this was painted while I was talking to a friend, but I'm guessing the total is close to 12 hours (which includes 2 hours of painting myself into a dead end—commentary below the cut)

people have commented about how I start off with rough blobs of color instead of a detailed sketch. the simple reason for that is that I avoid sketches unless I need one.

...and the reason for that is that painting over a sketch makes me worse at painting. my problem is that even though I know this, it feels like a sketch should save time—the proportions will be more accurate to begin with, and the lines can get blended into shadows. but then I try it again and get too precious about painting inside the lines, end up using smaller brushstrokes than I should, get the values wrong and start working on details before I've fixed the big problems, etc etc.

the obvious problem with the scrapped section is that I accidentally turned off a layer and got the colors wrong, but even ignoring that—it felt like pulling teeth the entire time I was painting. thankfully, everything was smooth sailing once I started over with blobs.

[bibwak]

commission of Salt's warlock Asa

[bibwak]

since people have commented in the notes about the software I use: Rebelle is on sale for $10 again (or $15 for the pro version, which has more realistic color blending and a few situationally useful additions.) it's a solid program if you're a traditional painter looking to move into digital art, or a digital artist looking to add watercolor and/or impasto effects to your arsenal.

it's also a one-time purchase--no subscriptions or "update pass" or whatnot. you don't need to buy every version, but if you're someone who got Rebelle 5 during a similar sale a couple years ago, I think there have been enough quality-of-life improvements to warrant the update (clipping layers, better image filtering options, better reference image tools, favorite brushes, liquefy/warp, etc.)

[bibwak]

I've opened two slots for portrait commissions, starting at $215!

You can find more details here. Reblogs are appreciated <3

[bibwak]

redid a piece I never finished in 2019, original below the cut

I gave up on the original pretty quickly because I discovered that casein is even more of a nightmare for portraits than gouache. I didn't save the original reference, unfortunately, so I had to cobble together several images of people during twilight to get a grasp of the lighting.

[bibwak]

about 7.5 hours elapsed. it's a bit more than my average for a character this simple, but getting the intense cool green light to work was...a challenge.

[bibwak]

redraw of a painting from 2019ish, original below the cut

I tried to stick as close as possible to the original in terms of pose/color scheme/etc. the strong green light was an ambitious artistic decision that I did not have the skill to execute 5 years ago, and even now, working in a more forgiving medium and with a much better reference, it was still a struggle.

(this was a traditional painting in gouache--it's slightly less washed-out in person, but still not great)

[bibwak]

last minute revenge for Art Fight (thought I forgot to record the first hour, whoops)

Somi Bracken belongs to @ronniesssss

[bibwak]

possibly my last art fight piece, but maybe I'll find the time to sneak in one more revenge.

(Yngwi Axegrinder belongs to Siriah on Art Fight)

[bibwak]

Art Fight revenge for @gemstone-art of their character Dwyll

[bibwak]

me, lying through gritted teeth: I'm going to half-ass art fight this year

(Talia-Inez belongs to Quirksaah on Art Fight)

[bibwak]

really thought grayscale would be simpler but this took the same amount of time as the other portraits (~5.75hrs)

[bibwak]

he kinda looks like if jesus and aragorn had an elf for a kid

[bibwak]

screenshot study from Pride & Prejudice (2005,) about 2.5hrs total. click to view full size.

(detail shot for brushstrokes:)

[bibwak]

another timelapse (about 5.5 hours)

[bibwak]

Bluesky

Digital art commissions (open, limited slots)

For other business inquiries, email bibw4k@gmail.com

[bibwak]

timelapse of the painting from yesterday (about 5.5 hours)