Azu sketches

Sketches and WIPs by AzurePrincet. For more art check out Garudo.net or @azureprincet on Instagram.

[azureprincet]

I tried to improve my color pencil technique again and it’s WIP time! This was done with Faber-Castell Polychromos color pencils and also the white pencil  and the blender from Caran d’Ache Luminance.

I didn’t really know what I wanted to do with the pose so here’s some sketches.

Full-size sketch

Sketch traced to a clean paper

Some lines. I think this looks nice? Like, I could post some line art done in this style.

Fully colored Luxray and blocking out the background shapes

Background lines. I kind of like this version too? The light background is possibly nicer than the end result.

[azureprincet]

Heads. A bunch of them.

I wanted to practice drawing wolf heads from different angles. Some of them are good I think?

[azureprincet]

I stumbled across a youtuber who draws god-tier shirt sleeves, somehow?? I mean they’re also great in other ways but their videos made me feel like my sleeve game was really weak, so I drew some sleeves off Google Images and also my own arm. Did I improve? I have no idea.

[azureprincet]

I thought this sketch looked pretty cool so I figured I’d post a WIP. It’s Rainbow Azu, from my Azu color variant thing. The tail goes on forever I guess. I’ll finish it once I figure out how the colors are supposed to look.

[azureprincet]

Some more Pokemon sketches I’ve made as warm-up over the last couple of days. Stunky has a weird-looking face, y’all.

[azureprincet]

I made a chart with all the Azu color variants to show their relative heights. There isn’t that much variation but I thought it would be fun anyway.

[azureprincet]

Another Pokemon sketch, this time I think I got a bit closer to using my own style. I always found Pyroar a bit forgettable but drawing one made me appreciate it more.

[azureprincet]

Another early concept for my Azu color variants. Emerald ended up being a bit different, but the mega bangs are still there. This is from 2020 I think?

[azureprincet]

Sketched some Pokemon. I’d like to draw more of these but it’s kind of hard to apply my own style to Pokemon instead of emulating the classic Ken Sugimori style. I’ll keep experimenting I guess. Maybe one day I’ll actually finish my “draw all Pokemon” project... maybe.

[azureprincet]

I’ve been working on my “AU Azu color variants” lately and I decided to publish this older drawing of Carmine I’ll probably never finish. Apparently it’s from December 2019.

[azureprincet]

A double feature this time. Refs for Centaru and Jinnel, the grandparents of Beryl and Amethyst, two important characters in Merdack. They haven’t changed all that much from their first appearances. Centaru was a minor noble and a war hero, Jinnel was from a more influential family but chose a simple life by Centaru’s side, and they were very much in love until Jinnel’s untimely death. More members of this family coming up.

[azureprincet]

Seicher’s mother isn’t really a character but whatever, I designed her anyway. I basically reverse-engineered her design from Seicher. Based on that I thought she should be kinda small with medium-length bluish fur with small, black markings, and with brown eyes. I ended up doing amber/yellow instead of brown but these are my characters and reality can be whatever I want. I think I’ll call her Risha.

[azureprincet]

Figured I should give Seicher’s father a redesign, too. He doesn’t really appear in the comic except in flashbacks, but it’s good to have a ref anyway. He used to be like a red Seicher clone but I wanted to, you know, not do that this time. I was also trying to get some more of that long-legged southern wolf physique in there. His name is Logice and he’s a famous architect. If you’re asking how or why this wolf is an architect, just don’t. The wolves basically people, I just like drawing dogs.

[azureprincet]

Continuing from Seicher before, here’s Andeira, the mother of one of the main characters in Merdack. I’ve drawn her before but I realised that in both pictures she’s very tall and slender, when she’s supposed to be a pure-blooded mountain wolf, i.e. stocky and fluffy. I also updated her markings a bit while I was at it.

[azureprincet]

New ref for Seicher, an old character from my comic, Merdack. He hasn’t changed much, I basically just made his eyes brown instead of blue and added the subtle gradient on his legs. At one point I think I tried to make his stripes more tiger-like, but I think I prefer the original “three thin stripes” design he has here.

[azureprincet]

It’s an aloe vera themed dragon!

I wanted to design and draw dragons inspired by fruit, but ended up doing this one first. Looking at it now, I wish I’d made the wings thicker, like aloe slices, but it’s too late now.

Progress shots:

Initial character reference

Refined character reference

Rough sketch

Color test

I wasn’t feeling the colors so I picked a color palette for inspiration (source)

[azureprincet]

Finally finished the designs for these ponies I came up with a couple of years ago. They were my idea for MLP G5 series protagonists. Below is the original “concept art” I made in... 2017? Wow.