m i k k a p i

Welcome to my art blog! Instagram | Here

[mikkapi]

My piece for the @bnhavillaintriozine with some color tweaks from the original ~ Much love to everyone on the team!

Side note, Horikoshi is a crazy dude for creating a character with this many hands lmao

My instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mikkapi/?hl=en

[mikkapi]

A scattered dream that's like a far-off memory

Soon ya’ll. Very soon. Follow me on Insta: HERE

[mikkapi]

My piece for the @yoifantasyzine ~ Totally inspired by Ghibli’s wonderful style! I wish I could have done it a little more justice in retrospect but a fun project nonetheless. Big thank you to the entire zine crew <3

I’m on Instagram too: https://www.instagram.com/mikkapi/?hl=en 

[mikkapi]

A space AU I just can’t seem to let go of yet.

Follow me on insta! https://www.instagram.com/mikkapi/?hl=en

I know people are leaving tumblr but I will still try to update here once in a while. Thank you to all the people who send messages, I wish I could get to them all. Much love <3

[mikkapi]

Hello, I have a question. I'm a new artist and I want to start producing fanart but I always feel like I'm not good enough and I should study more to become good before i start doing personal projects. Have you ever felt that way, where you have to study a lot first before you even attempted? Or did you just say well I want to make [enter whatever the project is] so I'm going to go for it and figure it out along the way? Do you have any advice for nervous artists

Hello! Sorry for the extremely late reply. Thanks for asking!

I totally relate to how you feel, in fact it’s something that I still struggle with regularly. Often times when I want to start a big project I become overwhelmed by all the things that I think I DON’T know and end up losing the feeling of wanting to do it in the first place. 

A little research is always good, but I think it’s so important to never feel like you’re not good enough to even try. Because that is absolutely not true. You are always ALWAYS qualified enough to do personal projects. There’s no better way to improving than just going for it. Even if you mess up or it doesn’t turn out at all like how you wanted, you have gained so much valuable experience from just trying. Just draw/practice every day, don’t fear failure (it is not a bad thing at all), and have fun. Do what you love! Don’t let the fear of other people’s expectations weigh you down and stop you from drawing. You’re going to do great! <3 Again apologies for not getting back to you sooner. Take care ~

[mikkapi]

if you don't mind me asking: where do you draw inspiration from? some of your pieces give a little bit of yusuke murata vibe which is absolutely awesome <3

Hey! Thanks for asking and so sorry for the late reply, I’m on and off this site nowadays. 

I’ve gotten this question a lot and I can say with confidence Yusuke Murata absolutely. Murata is the artist for my number one favorite manga ever, which is Eyeshield 21! He has been my idol for years and I always love sneaking in references to that series when I can.

Other than Murata I get a lot of inspiration from Shinichiro Watanabe’s shows. Miyazaki films. In terms of Tumblr artists I greatly admire @mmcoconut @samuelyounart and @choodraws they have such distinct styles, it never fails to inspire me when I look through their work <3

[mikkapi]

A couple older pieces I did for Yuri K. centric zines! Tried two different versions of shonen manga style. Looking at it again now, it really doesn’t look like YOI at all does it? Hahahaha

Also, sorry for the inactivity! Life is still being quite a rollercoaster. 2018 has been going by super fast.

@yuurizine @yoi-yuuri-zine

[mikkapi]

Do you have an email address for professional enquiries?

Hello! Yes, I have [email protected]

I probably should have put that info somewhere on my profile page, sorry about that!

[mikkapi]

Oh my gosh you're so talented!💟💫 I was wondering if you went to art school and if you didn't any tips for self taught artists?😉 How much did it take you to get to the point you're now? (I mean your drawings are so detailed,and some of them are so really realistic that I thought they were photos😱) Have a nice day💞

Ahhh thank you so much, I still have so much to learn though. I went to the University of Washington and graduated with an art degree :) I’m a very distracted person so I honestly don’t draw as often as I should, but I will always recommend that you draw at least SOMETHING every day. Seriously anything you want. It’s just good to always exercise your creative brain!

Also, don’t be afraid to use references! I use photos as inspiration and guides all the time to help me improve and get more comfortable with certain things like landscape or anatomy. It’s hard to draw things just from your head if you don’t actually know what it is you’re drawing. And it’s totally ok to not know :) being an artist is always a learning process. You’re never going to get to the “perfect” art form, it’s good to go into art with a positive mindset and know it’s ok to fail at certain things. I’m in no way a professional artist, but I am confidant that if you take time to practice, you’ll continue to grow from there! <3

[mikkapi]

hi there! you probably get this a lot, but. your art is so gorgeous? i saw your piece for banana fish and i just. it really took me out of my bad headspace that's been plaguing me for a couple days now. so thank you 💕

Thank you so much! I’m really REALLY glad and happy that the drawing was able to help you escape your block, I hope you feel even better soon <3 sorry for the late reply! 

[mikkapi]

Saw Eiji’s outfit in episode 3 and this is what happened.

Ash is a pretty awesome character. I’m still warming up to the story and the other main characters, but so far Banana Fish has been interesting to watch every week huhu

I’m a little more active on Insta! https://www.instagram.com/mikkapi/?hl=en

[mikkapi]

Preview of my piece for @yoifantasyzine !

Had a lot of fun working with the super amazing team for this zine dedicated to both fantasy and Yuri on Ice. Check it out if you’re interested! :) Pre-orders open August 1st.

Have a lovely week everyone!

[mikkapi]

I was wondering if you could give us some tips on lighting? Im not completely terrible at it, but sometimes i feel like i go too light or something idk. It just feels off. I wanna get better at scenery and bgs but im stuck

Hey! So sorry for the late response! Lighting is super tricky I agree. I’m still not very good at it (especially without reference), but it was super helpful to do this exercise when I was taking online classes at CGMA:

What we did was take any painting done by an artist, this one is by Michael Malm, and use your eyes (check using photoshop color sampler) to jot down and group all the colors that were used in the light and in the dark. Doing this lets you visually see and get used to the difference in value and saturation based on how much a color is being exposed to a specific light source. Plus, this also shows how much more is going on in the shadows than in the light. It’s important to notice theres no “pure” white, that kind of brightness doesn’t really exist in real life. I think my drawings started looking a lot better once I started toning down my whites, even giving it just a little bit of color, so that it isn’t so unnatural. Try this out sometime and see if it helps :)

[mikkapi]

Preview of the piece I did for a My Hero Academia zine: @bnhavillaintriozine

Lots of wonderful artists and writers were a part of it! Please check it out if you’re interested. Here’s the store: http://bnhavillaintriozine.tumblr.com/store

Apologies for not being on Tumblr more lately! I’ve been so busy and working primarily on my portfolio, I kept forgetting to post previews for the zines I’ve been in... Hope everyone has been doing well! I have one more preview for another zine in a couple days or so :)

[mikkapi]

when are we going to see more of those fine OCs of yours?

Hello thank you so much for asking :) I’ve been attempting to fine tune/finalize their designs more lately! Adding more detail. Maybe one day I’ll be able to add them to my portfolio. Here’s Dreamer reworked a bit: 

[mikkapi]

If you're still answering asks, can I ask how you color and render. I can do line art just fine but when I try to color it just doesn't work for me??? I know brushes don't matter but I don't know what I'm doing wrong

Hey Anon! I totally feel you, to be honest I am in the exact same boat. I feel 150% confident with line art but once I have to go in for color, suddenly the whole drawing looks off. I’m not sure I can give you the advice you need since I don’t have any examples of your work and I am also not so great with color, but I can definitely give you some tips on what I’ve learned so far! <3

When I want to do a drawing with background I usually start out with a quick sketch of the overall composition, making sure it looks appealing enough. I keep in mind the local (natural) color of everything I sketched, such as clothes, hair, buildings etc. From there I try to figure out the lighting, such as: what is the light source and what direction is it coming from. The light is what affects the color palette of the scene, so it’s always important for me to figure that out first (unless I want the drawing to ignore light and shadow, then I’d only worry about picking appealing colors that sit well next to each other). 

I’ve blabbered about this before bahaha but I found that my coloring has improved after better understanding how color changes under the influence of different light sources. Using photo and real life references helps so much! Cold source light (blue, moonlight) = cold highlights and warmer shadows. Warm source light (orange, sunlight) = warm highlights and cooler shadows. Once I’ve sorted out the “temperature” of the light source, that’s when I go in and start blocking in the color based on both the object’s local color and where the light is hitting it and where shadows are created. This is done with an opaque brush though, because I don’t want the canvas to influence my color choice. After everything has been sketched in I start going in for cleanup and blending with a more transparent brush, which gives a softer transition between the light and shadow. The harsher the light, the less transition and the bigger the contrast. If it’s overcast, the shadows become very subdued and you’d want the colors to look a lot less saturated. Here’s a cup example of the color process with a strong warm and low light source:

The last step I put more details, ditching some of the line art, and add in reflective light (blue) in the shadows from the surrounding environment. Sorry I was so long winded! It’s very hard to explain in words concisely how I color because it’s mostly a thought process haha... TL;DR study how light affects color in real life! Get comfortable picking colors you like. And brushes DO matter, coloring is so much easier with the right brush. They give you different textures that can make a real difference in a drawing. Experiment with lots and figure out which ones you enjoy using most! 

[mikkapi]

I really love the way you do backgrounds and scenery, and wanted to ask if you draw it all on one layer or use several?

Hello! Thank you so much <3 Depending on how complex the background is it’s honestly either one layer or TOO MANY layers hahaha! If it’s a nature based background, such as the sky or a forest or a beach, I usually sketch and then detail all on one layer. If it’s more geometric like a city scape or a room then I start going overboard on layers to help me draw “behind” something or “in front” without having to worry about messing anything up haha. 

^Old example again ahhh. I usually go for the initial sketch on one layer (full color) then go on top of that with the details all on different layers. The screen door is one of the top layers while the window and the back wall are all the way at the bottom. Everything else lies in between! Ewww look at all those layers hahhahhah