That week was decisive for me. I decided to take risks again and resume what I was already doing, but with an extra touch... and, because I was at a better time in my life - a clean, calm mind - I was able to produce much cooler drawings!
I confess that I really want to resume digital paintings, but I'm taking a break and letting go of ideas in traditional art until then I can return for good, not to mention that there's nothing better than training a lot in traditional, learning a lot, and then breaking the rules in digital, hahaha. I do cool digital art, I know, but not as loose and smooth as I do the traditional one. I feel that way and it's something I want to work on more.
Well, without further ado, shall we go to the drawings?
I started the week with a quick sketch in pencil and without reference to warm up...
... until I decided to risk it again. I made this sketch of a forest elf and decided to paint with colored pencils.
I'm using the watercolor pencils by Faber Castell for now, until you can buy Polychromos (pastel pencils from Faber Castell). The ones I use sell everywhere and are very cheap, hahaha. In the past I had told myself that when I reached a better level I would buy professional pencils from Faber. I feel like the time has come. I like to paint with these cheap watercolors because I feel that they have a better pigmentation than the other common ones. Although it doesn't blend perfectly as well as I'd like it to, it works better, you know? I use it from time to time also together with watercolor, but not in this case. Argh, I can't wait to buy pastel pencils!
I mix multiple colors to create these effects. In the case of hair, for example, it has around 3 different colors — red and two shades of orange — hahaha ;)
To make skin clear, I like to use shades of pink and brown as well.
Finished drawing.
You can tell I love to draw elves, right?
In this drawing I wanted to play a little more, to detail more... I've been doing this more frequently lately... having more patience to better detail my drawings, something I didn't have in the past because my head was full of things to solve. Today I realize the importance of having a clean and clear mind when drawing, because otherwise you bring all your problems to the drawing, you know? And he can't concentrate properly.
Finished drawing. I want to train more expressions and gestural drawing eventually, to make my drawings even looser and smoother. I think it's also something that we're developing little by little with each workout.
Let's now move on to the cover design, yay! That's the initial sketch I did, without reference, by the way. There are even some construction lines left, haha. I like to create simple circles and shapes to assemble the structure before and correct possible anatomical errors. It helps a lot. For the face itself, I didn't use a reference at all, only for the shapes of her hand and then the flowers on her head, which I studied some examples before making it in order to be as perfect as possible.
Here I have already started to better detail each element, preparing for the color. In fact, it helps a lot to be a Designer too, hahaha. I like to use complementary colors to give that charm and contrast to the design. In this case, I decided to use shades of yellow with shades of purple (complementary to yellow) and since I wanted to use some blue too, I added shades of orange (complementary to blue). Always do a study before the colors you are going to use in your illustration, it's essential to create contrast! I did the same thing, by the way, in the case of the colored elf. Red + green as the main colors.
You can even see how it doesn't mix those cheap pencils so well, hahaha. I can even do miracles with them, in fact, but you can tell there around the neck, for example, how an extremely perfect mix is not as perfect as I would like:/— Again, I can't wait to buy pastel pencils! XD
The idea is to create an initial contrast starting with the purple squares with the hair:)
Here I have already started to detail the hair strands in more detail. I blended two different shades of yellow with orange and a bit of brown to create this effect. I always separate everything by wicks (as I explained a bit about the process in Designs of the Week) #14 and #15) to then detail the lighter and darker areas.
The same hair scheme also applies to flowers. I often repeat this pattern in various details too, it gives an incredible glow effect :)
Finished drawing :)
Well, that's it for today, guys! I hope you enjoyed the drawings and that the tips can help you too.
