Aqua Utopia｜海の底で記憶を紡ぐ
occasionally subtle
taylor price
Xuebing Du
ojovivo
Sweet Seals For You, Always
cherry valley forever
★
almost home
Misplaced Lens Cap
Sade Olutola
PUT YOUR BEARD IN MY MOUTH
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tannertan36
untitled
titsay
Claire Keane
Game of Thrones Daily
The Bowery Presents
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@curious-kirin-illustration
I've thought a lot about how I want to show the difference between male and female characters in my comic. It's difficult to find the balance between readability and relying on stereotypes. Anyway, here is more than you probably wanted to know about unicorn hair.
Shadow in the Hills by Victoria Titus
(print available)
Not a lot going on here plot-wise, it's just been too long since I've drawn Shadow.
No one knows where the fish came from, though there are speculations. That they used the water unicorns' gateway to make the jump from water to air seems obvious enough, but who awakened them? The water unicorns were the only unicorns in the sea, but they were opposed to awakening, and did all they could to stop it. And only the unicorns, or those whose blood was mixed with theirs, should have been able to do magic, yet it was clear the fish had no unicorn blood.
(After spending almost two weeks unable to open the windows or go outside because of all the smoke where I live, I figured the least I could do was use it for reference lighting.)
Also, for fun, here’s the original version I drew nine years ago. Caleg’s design has changed quite a bit!
A Walk in the Woods by Victoria Titus
(prints available)
This picture represents a big step forward for me in the way I deal with environments. My backgrounds have improved a great deal over the last couple of years, but I’ve still struggled to get my characters INTO the setting. I could sometimes fake it, but this is the first time I feel like I’ve really been able to make an intentional, 3D space, where the character, lighting, and background can all interact with each other.
A quick sketch of Shadow and Caleg as kids with some of their friends, before everything goes sideways. I'm redistributing Snowflake a bit here, since he was originally going to be one of the valley unicorns, but I think it's a better fit.
And here they are after several years which have treated none of them kindly.
I’m still alive. I just have two small boys climbing me most of the time, which makes drawing difficult.
I also have this project I’d been putting off because I didn’t want to pause working on The Guardian’s Folly. It’s another comic, but one dealing with some personal subjects, so I’m not sure if I’m ever going to share it online.
I realized early this year that I really needed to start on it NOW. GF will still be there when I get back. I’m about 70% done with the first draft of the other comic already, and I’m probably not going to do a second draft unless I do decide to publish it. So, hopefully I’ll be posting comics again by early next year.
Thank you for your patience.
I was feeling kind of bummed earlier in December, because I didn’t accomplish my major art goal this year of finishing my comic script. Didn’t even come close. However, looking back on what I did get done, I can see I made a lot of progress in areas that have always been major struggles for me. My backgrounds and composition in particular have really come a long way since the beginning of the year, and my action and lighting are definitely improving, though they still have a long way to go.
I’ve really focused on visual storytelling, with the result that I’m not only telling better stories with my own art, but also noticing more good visual storytelling in other media (the most recent season of Daredevil is great). And I already know some of the things I want to work on this year.
Expression (especially facial expression) and buildings (inside and out) are two areas where I’d really like to improve visually, and my plot writing really needs work. I have all the major plot points in my story mapped out, but connecting them in a satisfying way is not something that comes naturally to me.
I’m excited to learn more about my art this year, and hopefully continuing to improve. I’m not giving up on that script, either. As long as I keep plugging away at it, it will get written eventually. Here’s to 2019!
"Will you be all right?" "You know, I think I will." After the last couple of pictures, my five-year-old asked me to draw a happy picture of Caleg and Shadow. This is one of the scenes I've had in my head for quite a while, so it was a good excuse to get it down on paper (er...pixels).
I had a very clear vision of what I wanted the final image to look like, but I had to spend quite a while working out how to make it happen. I do think all the work I did this year on composition and lighting is finally starting to pay off, though.
Broken by Victoria Titus
(print available)
“I knew it would hurt, when they broke my horn. They thought it was the only way to keep me safe, and maybe it was. But I was still just a kid, I didn’t really understand. They didn’t either. How could they? They were horses, not even color horses. They didn’t know it would still hurt, weeks and months and years later. They were trying to save my life, and I’m glad they did. Most of the time, anyway.”
This moody drawing of Shadow is brought to you by my youngest child, who does not believe in sleep.
If you’re wondering where I’ve been, it’s trying to learn how to draw buildings. Actually, it’s trying to learn how to make models in Blender so that I don’t have to draw buildings. Why can’t buildings just be shaped like horses?
I FINALLY MADE ONE OF MY OWN!! It’s not the bets but I’m happy with it.
I’m working on making my characters more expressive, and this was a great reference.
I’m still finding the right compromise between human and equine features, and between realism and cartoonishness.
The Fishes’ Mine by Victoria Titus
Caleg spent a long time imprisoned by the fish after he lost his wings. Aside from those injured in battle, the fish also frequently broke the horns of unicorn prisoners, so that they would be less dangerous, and could be used for manual labor. It was extremely painful for the unicorn, though not usually fatal. Wings, on the other hand, were usually just clipped, since flight could be useful, and amputating them could easily kill the unicorn or winged horse. Caleg, however, was unlucky enough to be seriously injured during his capture.
Although air unicorns and their descendants do use magic to fly, without wings it is basically impossible. Think of the difference between throwing a ball at a target, and doing the mathematical equation to describe its arc of flight. Now add that the thing being thrown is also the one doing the throwing. Theoretically it could be done, but it would be extremely difficult.
This drawing falls in that awkward zone where I am not quite happy with it, but I can’t figure out what else it needs. I really want to get better at atmospheric lighting, and this is a step in the right direction, but it’s missing something.
My five-year-old came in to watch me while I was working on this, and ended up crying because he was worried about Caleg, so at least I seem to be doing something right. Not, you know, parenting, but something.
One more @blakealexanderdowning unicorn, then I’ll get back to my own magical equines. I couldn’t resist coloring this delicate teacup alicorn’s wings.
I finally bought @blakealexanderdowning‘s coloring book, Crystal Hooves, and it is every bit as awesome as I thought it would be. Not only is he probably my favorite unicorn artist, but he also gives explicit permission to post finished pages online, as long as it’s not for profit.
Shadow of Doubt by Victoria Titus
(prints available)
There’s not a whole lot I can say about this one without being spoilery. Let’s just say things are not going according to plan.
I was so happy the background on my last piece that I really wanted to do something involved like that again. After many different tries, I realized it was just too distracting from the action. Oh well, part of learning backgrounds is learning when to simplify.
An Unexpected Meeting by Victoria Titus
(prints available)
Caleg and Shadow go looking for the city of the water unicorns, but find a very large someone, instead.
I feel like I had to fight just about every element of this drawing. Shadow’s legs, the composition, those towers in the background, and the lighting were all pretty involved. Especially the light on Shadow’s face - my characters aren’t very anthropomorphic, but their faces are fairly humanized, so it was hard for me to figure out how to make the planes work for both human and equine features.
It was all worth it, though. I learned a lot, and I am very happy with how this piece turned out. I even managed to finish it with a new baby in the house!
Wine-Colored Winged Horse by Victoria Titus
(prints available)
I’m getting back into the swing of things after a summer of adventures in Oregon and Idaho. I didn’t get any art made while I was gone, but I did get to see a lot of beautiful landscapes.
Now that I’m back to magical horses, I wanted to tackle another of my weak spots - wings. It can be tempting with cartooning to just fake it when I don’t really know how something works, but I never really get the results I want. Many photos and videos of birds landing later, I feel like I’m at least faking it better.
(Edit 10/3/18: Sorry for the repost. I realized I was not happy with the final colors, and upped the saturation.)
