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Inktober 2024!
a year ago
General
So I want to try practicing with quantity over quality for a bit. September and August were dedicated toward spending time to practice every stage of the process to I could get better at rendering
But this time I want to mostly focus on getting sketches out, and try rendering in a black-and-white style (on the tan paper background. I really like that aesthetic)
I understand that Inktober is intended to ink a drawing every day, but there really isn't an "inking" stage to digital art. The closest you can get is lineart
That's not what I'll be doing. Instaed, I want to do something a little different:
* sketch to the prompt for every day. If life/work makes me miss a day, I will continue the prompts in order without skipping, even if I have to finish in November
* No working ahead. I can work to catch up on missed sketches if I have the time, but I can't work past the prompt for the current day
* I am going to do my best to limit myself to 1 hour. I hate disrupting the flow state, but I'm kinda sick of spending 4 hours making a sketch. I want to get better at just getting my ideas onto the canvas more efficiently. That is the point of this exercise for me
* I am allowing myself to erase during the sketching stage and the thumbnailing stage, but I am restricting myself to one layer, trying to stay true to traditional artwork
* Once all 31 prompts have sketches, I will select 10 (or more) to take to the next stage. This will be a mix of my favorites and the ones that got the most favorites when posted
* I will make a journal with the 10 selected and the order they will be worked on
* The 10 selected to continue will get an "inked render". What this means is that I will put one layer on top of the sketch, solid black G-Pen brush, no erase, no undo, one layer, no transformation tools. Once a line goes down, it stays. Only exception is when Clip studio freaks out and puts a random line down I didn't draw (it happens sometimes). I will have to use line weight variation and hatching to depict shading (this used to be my traditional art style, but I've never tried it digitally, so I hope it works out).
* it may take more than 1 day to do an inked render. I won't be rushing myself on this, but I'll aim to be efficient (since I don't have undo. I won't post WIPs during the inking process, only showing the render once it's finished. I will create a new Inktober folder in my gallery that will include both the sketches and inks. They will still be named differently than my usual "(date) [title]" format in order to be better searchable in the future if I want to look back or participate again in future years
* After all 10 of them are "inked", if there are any that I simply adore, I will let myself try a full lineless render. I'm not committing to a specific number for these. I just think it'll be fun to compare the drawing in to styles if there's any I actually like at the end.
* After all the sketches for the prompts are finished, I'll allow myself to take breaks if I get inspired, but I really want to stick to the 10 inks
I'll post a sample of one of my favorite inked renders I did on the back of my calculus notes between classes during college. I hope I'll be able to recreate the style. It'll go into my scraps folder before the end of the month (gotta figure out which bucket I stored that drawing in)
Prompts & Brief Summary for each. If you are unsure which character I'm referencing, please check my main gallery for art I've ordered in the past of them. Usually I explain characters that don't have art yet in descriptions of their ref sheets.
Ask_Derpy_Cat1 . Feel free to ask about specific lore if a prompt intrigues you. Happy to share what I've got in my head, since I doubt I'll do many of them justice (this will be my first experience with drawing landscapes)
1. Backpack - Aurora packing for a quest
2. Discover - Stormy finding a magic temple ruin
3. Boots - Low angle shot of a captured Stormy viewed between the boots of the capturer
4. Exotic - “exotic dancing” of a luxury fur. Maybe tethered to the stage or pole to show the lore
5. Binoculars - Aurora using them to look into the distance (toward the viewer)
6. Trek - Stormy approaching a magicpunk tree while crossing "The Scar"
7. Passport - stormy undercover using paperwork to get into the human city
8. Hike - Aurora with her backpack hiking up a mountain trail
9. Sun - one of our girls traveling through the desert. Either from a bazaar or toward a ruins. Or both if I'm feeling ballsy
10. Nomadic - stormy and a Bear shaman walking together in the mountains
11. Snacks - Rora (and Sylva?) on a snack break during the quest, eating junk food from Otherworld
12. Remote - main Orycal cave and Orion overlooking the viewer
13 Horizon - maybe a scene of “The Scar” as seen from the temple ruins in prompt 2
14. Roam - Stormy “roaming” around a Springvale market
15. Guidebook - Back in the Orycal cave from 12, focusing on a celestial map where Orion was in the first piece
16 Grungy - encounter between Stormy and an ally who uses the sewers as a hideout
17. Journal - Stormy writing in one at a table by the candlelight. Inside a typical tavern's rented room
18. Drive - Dusk and her motorcycle
19. Ridge - Stormy overlooking a cliff
20. Uncharted - pirate Rora
21. Rhinoceros - Rora vs rhino guard
22. Camp - one of the girls by a campfire. Maybe in a hammock
23. Rust - Stormy’s magic rusting armor on a guard
24. Expedition - Rora (and Sylvie) getting ready to enter the underground ruins of some ancient structure
25. Scarecrow - Rora practicing her swordplay against a scarecrow
26. Camera - Rora brought a Polaroid camera into the mirror. Shes using it to take a picture of a defeated foe
27. Road - stormy and/or Rora about to ambush a slaver caravan
28. Jumbo - Stormy’s magic avatar (or Werewolf Stormy. TBD)
29. Navigator - Rora going one way while Sylvie and the map go another
30. Violin - Sylvie playing it in the tavern by the mantle
31. Landmark - Stormy approaching a sacred tree
But this time I want to mostly focus on getting sketches out, and try rendering in a black-and-white style (on the tan paper background. I really like that aesthetic)
I understand that Inktober is intended to ink a drawing every day, but there really isn't an "inking" stage to digital art. The closest you can get is lineart
That's not what I'll be doing. Instaed, I want to do something a little different:
* sketch to the prompt for every day. If life/work makes me miss a day, I will continue the prompts in order without skipping, even if I have to finish in November
* No working ahead. I can work to catch up on missed sketches if I have the time, but I can't work past the prompt for the current day
* I am going to do my best to limit myself to 1 hour. I hate disrupting the flow state, but I'm kinda sick of spending 4 hours making a sketch. I want to get better at just getting my ideas onto the canvas more efficiently. That is the point of this exercise for me
* I am allowing myself to erase during the sketching stage and the thumbnailing stage, but I am restricting myself to one layer, trying to stay true to traditional artwork
* Once all 31 prompts have sketches, I will select 10 (or more) to take to the next stage. This will be a mix of my favorites and the ones that got the most favorites when posted
* I will make a journal with the 10 selected and the order they will be worked on
* The 10 selected to continue will get an "inked render". What this means is that I will put one layer on top of the sketch, solid black G-Pen brush, no erase, no undo, one layer, no transformation tools. Once a line goes down, it stays. Only exception is when Clip studio freaks out and puts a random line down I didn't draw (it happens sometimes). I will have to use line weight variation and hatching to depict shading (this used to be my traditional art style, but I've never tried it digitally, so I hope it works out).
* it may take more than 1 day to do an inked render. I won't be rushing myself on this, but I'll aim to be efficient (since I don't have undo. I won't post WIPs during the inking process, only showing the render once it's finished. I will create a new Inktober folder in my gallery that will include both the sketches and inks. They will still be named differently than my usual "(date) [title]" format in order to be better searchable in the future if I want to look back or participate again in future years
* After all 10 of them are "inked", if there are any that I simply adore, I will let myself try a full lineless render. I'm not committing to a specific number for these. I just think it'll be fun to compare the drawing in to styles if there's any I actually like at the end.
* After all the sketches for the prompts are finished, I'll allow myself to take breaks if I get inspired, but I really want to stick to the 10 inks
I'll post a sample of one of my favorite inked renders I did on the back of my calculus notes between classes during college. I hope I'll be able to recreate the style. It'll go into my scraps folder before the end of the month (gotta figure out which bucket I stored that drawing in)
Prompts & Brief Summary for each. If you are unsure which character I'm referencing, please check my main gallery for art I've ordered in the past of them. Usually I explain characters that don't have art yet in descriptions of their ref sheets.
Ask_Derpy_Cat1 . Feel free to ask about specific lore if a prompt intrigues you. Happy to share what I've got in my head, since I doubt I'll do many of them justice (this will be my first experience with drawing landscapes)1. Backpack - Aurora packing for a quest
2. Discover - Stormy finding a magic temple ruin
3. Boots - Low angle shot of a captured Stormy viewed between the boots of the capturer
4. Exotic - “exotic dancing” of a luxury fur. Maybe tethered to the stage or pole to show the lore
5. Binoculars - Aurora using them to look into the distance (toward the viewer)
6. Trek - Stormy approaching a magicpunk tree while crossing "The Scar"
7. Passport - stormy undercover using paperwork to get into the human city
8. Hike - Aurora with her backpack hiking up a mountain trail
9. Sun - one of our girls traveling through the desert. Either from a bazaar or toward a ruins. Or both if I'm feeling ballsy
10. Nomadic - stormy and a Bear shaman walking together in the mountains
11. Snacks - Rora (and Sylva?) on a snack break during the quest, eating junk food from Otherworld
12. Remote - main Orycal cave and Orion overlooking the viewer
13 Horizon - maybe a scene of “The Scar” as seen from the temple ruins in prompt 2
14. Roam - Stormy “roaming” around a Springvale market
15. Guidebook - Back in the Orycal cave from 12, focusing on a celestial map where Orion was in the first piece
16 Grungy - encounter between Stormy and an ally who uses the sewers as a hideout
17. Journal - Stormy writing in one at a table by the candlelight. Inside a typical tavern's rented room
18. Drive - Dusk and her motorcycle
19. Ridge - Stormy overlooking a cliff
20. Uncharted - pirate Rora
21. Rhinoceros - Rora vs rhino guard
22. Camp - one of the girls by a campfire. Maybe in a hammock
23. Rust - Stormy’s magic rusting armor on a guard
24. Expedition - Rora (and Sylvie) getting ready to enter the underground ruins of some ancient structure
25. Scarecrow - Rora practicing her swordplay against a scarecrow
26. Camera - Rora brought a Polaroid camera into the mirror. Shes using it to take a picture of a defeated foe
27. Road - stormy and/or Rora about to ambush a slaver caravan
28. Jumbo - Stormy’s magic avatar (or Werewolf Stormy. TBD)
29. Navigator - Rora going one way while Sylvie and the map go another
30. Violin - Sylvie playing it in the tavern by the mantle
31. Landmark - Stormy approaching a sacred tree
I just found you, and realized you're in a pretty similar situation to me. I'm also trying to get back to drawing! Funny enough, my day job also has absolutely nothing to do with art. xD
Anyway, just wanted to share I think it's pretty neat to find someone in the same boat as I am. It'll be exciting to accompany your work and progress. ^^
I'm loving your gallery. It's so cool that your drawings are linked to your stories, and that you also provide a little context on what you were thinking and the challenges you faced on each piece!
Keep up the awesome work!