Nika

she/her I 22 I former username : vulxixx/sagittlumni

[miinika]

What do you think of the rsa reveal of the students and also are you excited for the rsa cards that are gonna come up on May?

What!? I had no idea we'd be getting any cards from RSA (and so soon!!!)

*spoiler for book 8*

Overall, new characters made a very good impression on me. I especially like Minajael (?) design, although compared to Jamil...Let's just say TWST team should update sprites and animations. NRC boys look too bland in contrast with RSA >:(. Even the line art looks messy in a way...

[miinika]

Do you like the idea of Crowley being evil? I can and can't see it.. He takes 3 minutes to showers (💀) and fears the word responsibly 😭 (pleased draw him oiled up)

He canonically swallowed a bar of soap because it was shaped like a pastry. Idk, maybe it's still keeping him relatively clean from the inside out because his "showers" probably look like this:

Anyway, to answer your question, even if he is revealed to be some kind of fiendish mastermind I won't be able to take him seriously

(And I'm not drawing oiled up Crowley.)

[miinika]

What's the inspiration for your composition/ ideas of poses or situations? (like that JUICY art about special lesson crowley) if it's some fanficion/songs/series or in your head?

Sometimes I get the idea out of the blue while doing nothing in particular or scrolling through Pinterest. However, when I get to the drawing stage and need to come up with a specific composition, I usually use a grid, often following the golden ratio

[miinika]

Do you belive in the crowley is raverne theory?

I have a better one

Or perhaps Lilia suffers from dementia and is in fact Levan/Ravene (just a joke don't take it too seriously...)

I also really like the theory about the corpse of Levan being possessed by evil demon/ghost Crowley

[miinika]

Do you have other crowley or twst unfinished sketch to show us? 🤩

I mean... I do have one Crowley x Ambrose the 63rd ship art, but RSA headmage is missing his hands, so I'm not sure you'd want to see that abomination💀

[miinika]

PLEASE give us spoilers for the new art, the wait will kill me😭

-the extremely devoted wrinkly-crowley fan

Uhhhh... All I have so far is a very VERY messy sketch, but I can show you this old Leyendecker study (again) I've never finished and probably never will:'D

[miinika]

HIII! Just wanted to know how much time does it take to go from sketch to render, i swear I get bored after maximum 6 hours into a drawing

It depends on the piece, but usually the sketch takes me 2-4 hours and rendering up to 18 hours. If 6 hours is already too overwhelming for you (relatable) maybe try switching your drawing routine? I try to draw for at least an hour every day and take a lot of breaks. Also, what I've noticed recently, is that listening to audiobooks rather than music helps me stay focused for longer

[miinika]

Are you working on new art? I am OBSESSED with the way you drawing and render 😫😫😫😫

Yes, though it might take me two or three weeks to finish :'''///

[miinika]

The wrinkle you draw on crowley makes me FERAL. His sexiness is directly proportional to his incapacity at being a responsible adult 💔

hehe It's going to be delightful to slap even more wrinkles on his ancient skin. NO amount of skincare will save him. Years of being a useless bum deserve to be etched into every crease of his face <3

[miinika]

Plz don't pay too much attention to his hands. I know knight's gloves aren't supposed to look like that but I put all my effort into the chest armor detalis...

[miinika]

Why do you like crowley so much? What attracted you to hin? Sorry my english isn't very good

Honestly, I don't know. Even though he's an absolutely horrid creature, there's something about his eccentric nature that I find interesting. (I just have a thing for pathetic men)

[miinika]

Ok so judging by book 8 preview, my theory about Crowley being twisted from Madam Mim might be correct and If not then I'm going to draw him pregnant

[miinika]

how do you render backgrounds?

I render them the same way as the foreground, but with less saturated colours

[miinika]

If you Haven’t already…

may I request a rendering tut?

please:3

Sure, It's already here

[miinika]

Hey! I just found your art and its so beautiful and I am absolutely mind blowingly speechless about it

If you don't mind me asking, do you have any resources on how you learned to do your linework? Or just general advice? I'm just so amazed at how smoothly everything transitions in your work! You're so talented!

I'm flattered that someone asked me for advice, thank you! I'm not best at explaining things, but I'll try my best. (I'm also a self-taught artist, so please don't take everything I say as absolute truth).

So, what helped me elevate my skills the most was practising still life. Yes, doing studies of illustrations made by artists like Leyendecker or Sargent was also helpful, but I prefer doing things my own way :>

First of all, references are not cheating, use as many as possible to make the painting feel more cohesive. While rendering, it's also important to check your values from time to time to make sure objects are not blending into one another.

When practising, I recommend not spending more than 30 minutes on a single drawing. This helps you focus on overall shapes, values, and colours instead of wasting time on unnecessary details.

I usually start with a quick sketch that captures "the shape of the shading" rather than the outline of the object itself (Idk if that makes sense). It's also perfectly fine to sketch directly over the reference if you don't feel confident with your lines yet. The goal is to establish a basic idea of what you are even drawing before jumping into details (1). Next, apply a base colour and add some shading that's neither too dark nor too light. Try to understand how the fabric behaves and how it folds (2). What I usually do next is add more depth to the shading with slightly darker colour to indicate structural shadows. After that, I merge the sketch and coloring layers to blend out the sharp edges (3). Then, I add a new layer for highlights. I create them by blending in light blue tones and carving out their shape with a soft eraser. The final step is simply about adding details, if you still have some time left (4).

I know this may not be the most detailed explanation, but some things can only be understood through practice.

[miinika]

It was meant to be a simple Leyendecker study...

Closeup <3

[miinika]

Yes, he has liver failure. That's why he's yellow on the left and you are laughing. Shame on you.

But to be honest, judging by the anthology front cover where his eyes are quite visible, we might get the liver failure version once the book 8 comes out.