#happy happy halloween i love gradient maps

[kozachenko]

(Click the image for better quality)

Yipeeee that Keiki and Mayumi fanart I posted the WIP of is finally done woooo- This piece was a very experimental one that I'm kind of OK on. Maybe because I've just gone insane looking at it for so long and I'm my own worst critic lol.

Artist's Notes;

So I've once again been playing around with my rendering style, mainly because I have been wanting to improve my lighting for a while now and as I was just scrolling through Tumblr, I saw some of the official art for that one webcomic-turned-animated-TV-Show Lackadaisy and was immediately inspired. I also have seen a technique a few times in the past where the lineart and shading are merged together, so I've been meaning to try that for a little while.

I did some experimentation on this one sketch of Keiki I posted in my sketch dump and I really liked the results of it, so I carried those over to this piece.

I ended up scaling up Keiki and Mayumi from the original WIP because I felt like they were both getting lost in the composition, and I'm glad for that because I think it works a lot better. I'm not a fan of how Mayumi's sword turned out at all, but it's not really meant to be the focus of the piece so eh. Overall, I think I could do better with my colours, probably because with Keiki and Mayumi's colours, I did them flat in greyscale and then used a brush on the overlay blend mode to colour all of them over, after which I changed the base layer for their colours from white to yellow and then lowered the opacity so it all went together better. I also decided to use gradient maps for a lot of the background elements, mainly to experiment with getting in my values first to make them pop out more. I ended up finding a really nice sky gradient on Clip Studio Paint that I really liked, and that kinda helped to establish the colour scheme of the background a lot. I think the whole "start in greyscale then colour" thing really works better with painterly styles rather than more illustrative ones, and while it is good at making sure your values are more readable, I honestly don't think I have the skill level to pull that off yet. Honestly, I think I've been looking at this drawing too long or maybe I added too much to it, but I wish I could've made the colours less monochromatic, but I'll just save that for the next piece I do.

I do love how the flame (...well it's more of a weird space rift than anything in this piece) and the lighting turned out, those were fun to do. I was initially struggling with the flame and how Mayumi is positioned in front of it before realizing "Oh wait! This is a weird abstraction of a weird creature! I don't have to follow the laws of anatomy!" and just dislocated it's flamey bottom jaw from the main body. I also changed the colours of it since I was really not liking how incredibly bright it was when it had lighter colours. Again, the gradient maps served the more painterly style of the flames well.

I also love how Mayumi turned out. I could do her sleeves better but that's more of just me needing to study how those types of sleeves fold in that position more. I'm also very happy with the posing, the technique I used for that was taking photos of myself in the positions I wanted, blocking in the silhouette and then modifying that by adjusting it to my lines of action that I drew on top of the original photos, and then sketching over the silhouettes and drawing in the shapes of the hands overtop of the photo if I needed to get the fine details right. As for what I do to take the pictures myself, I use a tall chair I have, prop up my phone with a phone stand, put on a ten second timer and scramble to get in position. Yes, I did have to use a bunch of thin markers I had to try and get the hand positioning on Keiki's pose right, yes I do have a fake sword that I used to get the positioning of Mayumi's arms and hand right, the sword was for an old Halloween costume from several years ago. I really like how both Keiki and Mayumi turned out in this drawing, I'll have to play around with these designs for them more in future drawings.

Also, if you wanna know why I draw buildings like that, when I watched Fantasia 2000 as a kid (One of the Disney movies where they make really beautiful animations to classical music) the way they drew the buildings in the first few sections Rhapsody in Blue segment (the jazz one with the cities) changed my brain chemistry and now whenever I need to draw buildings really quickly, I refer back to that. Since the buildings aren't really the main subject, I didn't put much thought into them.

As you can tell I am very tired of this piece, mainly because I made things harder for myself by overcomplicating the process compared to what I usually do, mainly with the whole "starting in grayscale then adding colour." I'd honestly just prefer having a black layer set to colour that I can just toggle on and off when I need to see the values, but it was good to experiment. And that was mainly the point of this whole drawing, to experiment. I'm definitely going to have to play around with this new style I'm going for, mainly because I liked how it turned out a lot in the augmented Keiki sketch, and also because I want to find ways of making it suit my style more. I also really want to keep experimenting with my lighting like this, it's very fun. Last but not least I am never starting in greyscale again because dear god I do not like the workflow it forced me into. I don't have a problem with the method itself it's mainly just a skill issue lol.

If you wanna read my headcanons for these two, I put them in my WIP post, so you can read them there if you want to. The more I look at this the more I prefer the simplicity of my WIP. I might go back to this and just take away the fancy colours and effects to see what it looks like without all of that stuff and reblog this post with that drawing, but for now, I don't think I can look at this drawing again for a while.

[probleboble]

LATE SUBMISSION FOR #MARKTOBER DAY 7!!!!!!!!!

HAPPY HALLWOEEN!!!! 

(i recommend full viewing this its proabbly ASS on tumblr lol)

EDIT: ADDED ONE WITH BASE COLORS LOL

[kaylacantadult]

NaNo Day 2: Space Crew

Words Written: 1751

Total Word Count: 3436

Goal: 50,000 words

How it Went: Today it was hard to get the words out. Last night it took me an hour to finish my word count, but today it took me three. Overall, I’m more happy with what I wrote today though. It still rough, since I haven’t edited at all, but I like how it turned out. Space crew is also my favorite thing to write about which made the writing so much more fun.

Prompt 2: An alien's first trip to Earth is on Halloween it knows nothing of the holiday.

       The crew stepped out of the ship, parked illegally in a port in the middle of a dense forest. Tarrant had barely been able to land it, but none of the crew wanted to be arrested. Miller manipulated the plants to grow around the ship, disguising it in a layer of mossy green underbrush. Hacker, Frank, and the Roombas would watch over the ship while we were gone, it’d be safe enough.

       When we got into the city, we decided to split up in to groups to help lessen our chances of being recognized. Tarrant and Miller went to the mechanics store to look for parts. Pilot and I went to the groceries and medical supplies store. We needed to stock up before the next leg of our journey. Pilot and I had never been to earth before.

       To get to the store, we had to make our way through a housing development. It was just dusk; the sun barely beginning to slipp behind the mountain. Houses were arranged in small circles of four to six houses each, with a few sprinkled in between each cluster. Every house looked the same and each had a small yard, just big enough for a grill and a pool. The sunset was an ugly pale yellow purple gradient.

       I couldn’t help but compare it to Mars’ acrid landscapes. We had lots of space up there; didn’t even have fences around our houses. We were allowed to go wherever we wanted, our feet would leave tracks in the blood red soil as we ran from canyon to canyon. We didn’t have the lush trees that lined the gated communities, but we had rock spires that scraped the sky and canyons so deep when you looked up you could barely see the sky. Our sunsets were vivid reds and bright pinks; deep blues and neon purple. There was never a dull sky.

       The winters there were far colder than the tepid fall weather the had on earth. The months on Mars were different too, our planet went around the sun far slower than earth did. The controls on the ship said that on earth it was the last night in October. There was a slight chill in the air, but it was still enough that my leather coat trapped in heat enough to keep me warm. I had my knife strapped across my waist, easy to reach in case anyone recognized us. My boots were laced up tight to keep any wind out.

       Pilot had a large duffel bag slung over one of his shoulders to carry any supplies we might need. His uniform was neatly pressed, every aspect perfectly upkept. Each button shone under the streetlights and his pants were perfectly ironed. His metals and other decorative items were polished perfectly. He stood stick straight, never one to slouch. He was the only one in the crew that had his life together. He stood taller than me, but not by much. His limbs were too long for his frame, and his blue tinged skin gave away his alien-ness. He was from Kopenaate, a planet from a neighboring solar system.

         There were crows of people on every street we walked down. Odd stringy fabric was stung around the trees and there were carved fruits sitting on every doorstep. Skeletons hung from trees, sat in chairs on the lawns, peeked out of windows.

         “I didn’t know they had such respect for the dead here.” I said, glancing at Pilot.

         “Neither did I. Frank would fit in nicely here, wouldn’t he?”

         I nodded, wishing I had taken Frank out of his closet to join us. The ropes probably would have kept his bones together and he would have loved the fresh air. He got lonely in his closet.

         The children walking with their parents wore odd clothes. Some wore dresses over top of warm long sleeves and pants, others wore dark robes and masks with jagged teeth. One child toddled along in a rotund outfit that matched the carved fruit we’d seen earlier. A few of the adults wandered about in strange clothing too, but most were huddled up in warm sweaters, pushing strollers for the young kids to hop into when they got too tired.

         “Miller didn’t mention that the people here dressed so strange.” Pilot said, eyeing a demon as it walked past

         “No she didn’t. Maybe it’s just so normal she didn’t even think about it.”

         “Why do you think they do it?” Pilot asked. He had a obsession with Earth culture. He sometimes referred to himself as a part-time anthropologist, even though he’d never been to the plane before. He liked to pull out Earth movies to watch and called it research. He loved to study Miller, since she was the first human he had ever spent extended time with. I was pretty sure Miller was an outlier when it came to human statistics and shouldn’t be counted in the average.

         “Maybe it scares away kidnappers,” I said. “I sure wouldn’t want to take one of those.” I dodged out of the way as a group of kids ran past.

         Pilot scoffed.

         We made our way out of the crowded community and worked towards the nearest bulk store. Miller had given us a GPS devise she called ‘Google Maps’ and programmed it to take us to a ‘Costco’.

         “Technically, you have to have a membership to get in, but I trust your sneaking skills.” She’d said as she handed us the device.

                           “Great costumes,” the greeter said as we approached the doors, “May I see your ID.”

         Pilot handed them a card out of his front pocket. “Official business.”

         The greeter’s eyes grew wide and they nodded as they ushered us through the doors. An elderly woman beside us glared as we walked in, mumbling about how we were too old for trick or treating.

         “What was that?” I asked

         “Trick or treat is an American holiday where children are gifted candy in celebration of not being eaten by demons.” He said

         “No, not that you dumbfuck, the ID thing.”

         “Oh,” he said, disappointed, “It’s an old FBI badge I bartered for a few years ago. It can get you into anything, as my research has shown.”

         I rolled my eyes. “ Right, research.”

         We both gasped as we walked into the building. The ceiling towered over us, taller than any building I’d ever been in, bigger than the hanger we’d stolen our ship from. We could fit at least five ships in here. The entry way was filled with flashing lights and giant televisions. Mattresses were stacked neatly in the middle of the aisle, separating the entrance line from the exit line. A stack of person sized gummy bears stood across from us. The number of products was overwhelming. A greasy smell of over processed food wafted through the air. Pilot glanced at the fake credit card Hacker had given us.

         “Let’s go fucking feral.” I said, yanking it from his hand and dashing down across the aisle.

          We bought ourselves a five course meal, a teddy bear three times the size of a person for Miller, as much non-perishable food as we could carry and push in two shopping carts, warm blankets, alcohol, toothbrushes, a singing fish, four skeletons to keep Frank company, a 120 inch flat screen tv, a singing Santa and sixteen new Roombas. Pilot also bought something for Tarrant, but he wouldn’t let me see what it was. We stuffed ourselves with as many free samples as we could and went on out merry way. (We may or may not have stolen the shopping carts.)

         When we got back to the ship, we found Miller and Tarrant grinning from ear to ear, sacks of candy stacked all around them. They were both sitting on the tailgate, laughing together, stuffing their faces with candy. Tarrant had chocolate on his forehead.

         “Where are the supplies you were supposed to get?” Pilot demanded.

         “It’s Hallow-fuckin’-ween, Pilot! We had to go trick or treating!”

         Pilot scowled. We would have to stay on the planet another day. That set his plan back and made us more likely to be caught.

       “Tarrant…” He started.

       “Pilot, come on,” Miller said, “we have to have fun once in a while. It’s not that big a deal, I promise. No one’s gonna find us out here.”

       Pilot scowled deeper but said nothing.

       “Besides,” she said, “It’s been three years since y’all stole the ship, no one’s looking for us.”

        Miller had a way of making Pilot deviate from his rules. I loved the way her suppressed southern drawl escaped from her over-confident grin.

        “Help us load this into the ship at least.”

        Miller waved the plants away, parting them under her hand. Her father was an alien from a far away planet, where all the creatures were plant based, but she had grown up on Earth. She could communicate and draw energy from plants. One of the vines wrapped itself around a shopping cart handle and dragged it into the ship.

         “What’s a Halloween?” I asked.

         “You dress up and steal candy from kids,” Tarrant said. “That’s why they wear the costumes; to try to scare people away.”

         “Makes sense.” I nodded. “I got you a present, Mill.” I dragged the teddy bear out of the shadows and plopped it in front of her. “A baby.”

         “A baby!” She cried as she threw herself into its fluffy body. She grinned up at me. “This is exactly what I needed.”

         We hauled it up to her room together, each of us carrying a limb, dissolving into giggles every few feet as we struggled to get it through the hallways. We stuffed it into her room. It took up half the floor space. Tarrant hooked up the new TV and we spent the night watching scary movies, cuddled up together on the stuffed bear.

         “This is excellent research,” Pilot said, munching on a candy bar.

         “Shut up,” I said, pushing him off the bear.