Been silently following you for a while, because well, your art is amazing :D But now I just gotta say, not only your art is perfect but you're like super nice?? I've seen many popular artist responding to asks as if just brushing people off.. but you're actually kindly responding to everyone, and that's beautiful. Keep up the amazing work and being a lovely person as well <3
Thank you, thatās really cool of you to step out of your comfort zone to send in! The asks I get are great, and theyāre often very sweet, or funny, or say something interesting. I try to respond the best I can and match the energy of the sender, which is almost always overwhelmingly positive. Iām just out here curating good vibes. Theyāre what I use to power my drawings >:)
Despite relentlessly hounding me with sad Harry headcanons day in and day out, @la-petasse won't let me draw anything but soft amnesia!harry and honestly? Valid.
this is kind of random but i just wanted to say that i adore the way you draw backgrounds. i have a hard time with them and seeing yours gives me hope and inspiration for my own! so ty :-)
Tyvm I appreciate it. Backgrounds are very hit or miss for me since I donāt have a lot of experience with landscapes, so I mostly rely on the power of suggestion and painterly intuition to convey a setting. I hope you and I can continue to learn backgrounds together! Fight on!
I'm trying to figure out which drawing tablet would be best for me to get and I'm curious which one you use since you mentioned having one when you answered an ask. Also, if isn't too bothersome, would you recommend it to others and/or is there anything you don't like about it?
Right now I have the Wacom Intuos Pro small, and I like it plenty. Very smooth, and the shortcuts are nice. Previously, I had a Wacom Bamboo, which was all I needed as a beginner. Itās sturdy, affordable, and gets the job done, so itās not a bad place to start. I canāt speak for any other products than the that two Iāve owned, but I donāt have any complaints. Iād just say to weigh your options and make a decision based on what your needs as an artist are and what youāre comfortable spending initially.
I would love to see your thought process for doing your art sometime! Not necessarily a tutorial, but especially when you're working on faces
Sure! I donāt have much of a strategy tbh, I just draw, but there are some principles I keep in mind that particularly help with expression. Iāll walk through a couple drawings under the cut, one being this drawing here.
For fictional characters, I keep in mind their canon design, personality, age, gender, and race when constructing their faces. This is how it came together for the ATLA crew:
Eyes depend on what the rest of the face looks like. A huge grin will scrunch up the cheeks, nose, and eyes, whereas an angry frown will pull everything downward.
Nose and eye shape are also determined by the character, but my simplest nose is about 4 brush strokes at its core.
Capturing the likeness of real people is trickier, but the amount of stylization I put in can increase or decrease levels of freedom.
For this drawing, I start with the basic head shapes and jot down the facial features, minding the characterās head angle and expression.
And then I just fill in the rest and adjust the drawing based on new information. Jaskierās smile give his eyes a downward crescent shape, while Geraltās are more half-moon or almond at rest.
Lighting/colors help create shapes and depth that arenāt easily captured by line work alone -- Iām still getting used to not letting the drawing do all the talking.
So thatās more or less whatās on my mind while I draw faces. Itās a pretty intuitive process for me, and the way I draw characters is always changing as I continue to learn. Professional artists tend to draw with more structured patterns, but being self-taught I never really latched onto the step-by-step tricks out there. My āstyleā, so to say, is a mixture of natural muscle memory and a conscious aim for speed, efficiency, and accuracy. Short cuts, if you will. Not the most consistent method, but thatās another goal for my books.
Anyways, I hope this answered your question at least a little!
hi tumblr user limrx, i love your fanart! it kind of makes me want to start to learn digital drawing myself. may i ask how you started with digital drawing?
Hi, thank you! I used MS paint and a mouse until I got my first tablet and Gimp at age 14. For me, drawing digitally is nearly an entirely different motor skill than traditional pencil and was very difficult to pick up on (still difficult). Learning program tools and painting techniques is another beast that I wasnāt prepared to tackle. Youtube videos helped at first, but I mainly get by on trial and error. All in all, I think itās a worthwhile pursuit. If you decide to give it a try, good luck!!! Have fun!
I love your art! Thank you for sharing it!! Maybe someone has asked this already but, what is your work flow like? Are you starting sketches and working on long term projects everyday in a cycle. Or do you have days where you do lots of sketches or brainstorming and then days that are just finishing projects? Do you make art everyday, or just make a lot on somedays, then take days off? I hope this makes sence?? Sorry this got kinda convoluted and long lol. I hope you have a wonderful day!!!
Thank you very much! Hmm, right now I tend to work heavily for a few days at a time and then step away from art to let my creative drive reset -- I canāt force it. I try to work at least a little on projects every time I draw, but if the drawing isnāt too large or time-consuming I prefer to finish it in a single sitting. I donāt really have any set schedule!
When me & my freinds started experimenting with pirate AUs (it was your swashbuckling au that gave us the idea to talk about it) we made Vesemir the first mate who was teaching Geralt to take over as Capitan and I think Eskel & Lambert were 2nd & 3rd but I'm not sure. The entire ship was full of Witchers though. I saw that post about the others as pirates so I thought I'd share. Your au has really inspired me to write again and I thank you for that. ššššš
Ohhh, I like that a lot! Vesemir teaching Geralt the ropes gives me Dread Pirate Roberts vibes. Now Iām going to be thinking of the backstory all day, how similarly to canon that it plays out, where the ladies land in all this, etc. Itās cool that the concept spurred you on to think about these questions, too -- you have good ideas! Thanks for sharing :)
Have you drawn the rest of the Witchers as pirates yet or just Geralt? I love him, but I'm dying to see what the rest of the pack look like šš
Hmmm no, but that could be a fun project. I always run the risk of botching the charactersā portrayals when I experiment with alternate settings, but if I find myself itching to make some more pirate designs Iāll consider giving the crew members a go :)
I just finished reading and commenting on Draw me after you, so I wanted to thank you too for recommending it, it felt good to go back to fanfic and Tomarry. Also, you draw very well and I loved the drawings as much as the story! Really, they go nicely together, and they made the story even more... Impactful?, which I didn't need (but still liked) because I'm just gonna spend hours thinking about Tom and Harry and - anyways, thanks for the fic rec and for drawing this well!
The more of these Tomarry testimonies I receive, the happier I get. Thank you, it means a lot that you think my drawings pair well with the story :D Sometimes art begets art and thatās very much the case with this fic. Youāre welcome for the rec, and thanks again for sending in your thoughts to both me and ToAStranger!
You have given me a gift, with your Witcher pirate au.š„ŗš„ŗš„ŗ I love pirates so much, I have a huge crush on Geralt, now I get to enjoy BOTH at ONCE?!?!?!? Thank you, so much I will be here on the floor loving your artwork
Ahhh thank you so much!!! That was pretty much my motivation too, haha. I love pirates as a story concept and a design choice, and the look suits Geralt very well. Iām glad you think so, too!
