Omega's uselessness

🇫🇷 She/her 💻Software engineer 🎨 Watercolor enthusiast (I'm trying!)

[omegakina]

Sciel étoilée

In French, it’s pronounced like "ciel étoilé", which means "starry sky". Created for the last day of @gestral-village’s summer challenge (Day 8: Sky - maybe it's a bit far-fetched ?). Loose watercolor painting on an A5 sketchbook.

As usual, I’ll share a bit about my life below.

I’ve been wanting to try my hand at a portrait inspired by Vila Emme’s work on Instagram for a while now. The goal was to use a limited palette and let the water do its thing, without trying to control it, blend it, or erase its traces.

I was a little nervous about this project, but it actually turned out to be pretty fun. Of the three paintings I did for the challenge, this was the most enjoyable and the quickest to complete since I didn’t have any color requirements and used only three colors.

Below:

the pencil sketch

the result after 2 hours of painting (I deviated a bit from the original sketch, which I tried to correct afterward)

a little surgical mask to protect her from the paint splatters to come, haha

I used white gouache for the stars and highlights, but I had to go over them about 15 times because it wasn’t opaque enough. If anyone knows of an extra-fine white marker that’s super opaque, I’d love to hear about it!

I added a very subtle touch of metallic/glitter watercolor to the background, which you can't see at all in the photo, so I made a video so you can see it (you can barely see it lol):

I didn't dare put any on her face for fear of ruining the whole thing 😅

Anyway, enjoy your summer, stay hydrated, and try to appreciate the coolness of the starry nights (can you tell I’m dying of heat right now?)

[omegakina]

Lofi Lune

Today's illustration for Day 6 (Song/Instrument/Hobby, or maybe all of them at once?) of @gestral-village's summer challenge. Watercolor on an A5 sketchbook.

More details below.

I obviously used the original Lofi Girl as a reference for this painting, drawn freehand (hence the few issues here and there ^^). Here are the images: 1/ before painting, 2/ with the background painted, and 3/ with the base color applied everywhere.

After this step, I went back to add shadows and adjust the color throughout, trying to give the impression of late afternoon.

I assumed that Lune was right-handed (unlike the Lofi Girl), even though we see her writing with her left hand in the "max relationship" dialogue at the camp (in fact, the entire expedition writes with their left hand except during motion-captured cutscenes - I guess they all share the same animation of "writing in Gustave's diary"). But since she holds her guitar like a right-hander, and since people are generally more likely to be right-handed, I took that liberty.

I hope guitar players will forgive me: I didn’t put the right number of frets on the instrument at all (well, if that were the only problem, you might say…)

Next (and final) step for me: Day 8. See you in two days!

[omegakina]

Memories of Aquaferme 3

Here’s my painting for the first day of @gestral-village summer challenge (Fruit/Snack/Ice). Due to time constraints, I won’t be participating every day. I hope that’s okay anyway! Mixed media (mostly watercolor) on an A5 sketchbook.

More details below.

I don’t want to lie to you about how I went about creating this particular painting. The truth is, I don’t have the skills to draw "such complex" scenes freehand. So here’s how I did it:

Photo 1. Using a free online tool, I placed the different elements in a 3D scene, as shown in the picture

Photo 2. Then, because I was lazy, I used an app on my phone to help me transfer this “guide” scene onto my sketchbook. Okay, it looks terrible, but the goal is to get the placement of the different elements right! I rarely use this tool, but this time I wanted to save some time.

Photo 3. At this stage, I switch completely to freehand: I use the guides to help me draw the characters and the rest.

Photo 4. Finally, I move on to color. Here’s what it looks like after the first day of watercolor, before I started using ink pens, acrylic markers, and colored pencils… It’s pretty demotivating, as always, but you’ve got to hang in there xD And I’ll admit I was in experimental mode on this drawing—I was just trying random things out; I had no idea what I was doing 😅

As usual, I used an old DSLR to take the final photo (not the WIPs), which always comes out a bit blurry because the lenses are really old, but I prefer the look of these photos to the ones taken with my phone…

See you on Day 6 for the next painting, if all goes well!

[omegakina]

If you could grow old... Would you find a reason to s̶̭̓m̶͚̤̅͠i̷̛̮l̴̨̺͘e̵͉̳͂ ?

Watercolor painting on an A4 sketchbook. Image I used as main reference: this post on X

I’ll share the story behind this piece under the cut.

This was an idea I originally came up with for VersoHellWeek, but I couldn’t fit it into any of the circles of hell. So I painted it three months later.

A little close-up:

It was really hard. The biggest challenge: making sure you could recognize Verso but without his scars, with graying hair, and looking older. I thought it would be easier than my previous painting, which I spent more time on, but nope. Honestly, I doubted myself every step of the way, wondering if it was that darn bar in front of his nose that made him look nothing like Verso, or if I’d gotten the proportions wrong from the start.

In the end, I told myself I could justify these discrepancies by saying, “He’s gotten older” (does anyone believe that?). Here are a few WIPs:

Does this ever happen to you? You make a sketch that seems just right, and as soon as you start painting, you see all the problems?

I watched Maelle's ending several times to see if Verso was actually older or if he just had gray hair. Well, I don't have the answer, but I noticed that tears are streaming down his face right after the scene where we see Maelle with her “painter's eyes.” I wasn’t sure if Verso was just stressed about his piano performance or if he was unhappy, but now I have no doubt. It made me want to throw myself off a cliff.

Anyway, after this exhausting drawing: the weekends in May (holidays in France), then I’ll move on to some less stressful paintings, I hope.

[omegakina]

Why... Why are you doing this?

That’s a question I could easily be asked as well u_u Full watercolor painting on A4 cotton sketchbook. Inspired by:

the poster for the movie Mulan xD

then, I saw this breathtaking artwork by the incredible @ivyjinna

this stunning photo on X. I used several references, but this one was the main one.

More details (close-ups and wips) under the cut.

Some close-ups:

This painting is pretty important to me because:

it’s the largest portrait I’ve ever done (yes, on A4 paper lol)

it’s Gustave, and he holds a special place in my heart

well, you know the scene…

I used only watercolor (and pencil for the sketch). No gouache, no pen. The white is the white of the paper.

Here are a few WIPs, featuring: the early stages of the sketch, the finished pencil drawing, and a few painting steps (it’s nice to see the volumes take shape with color, especially at the beginning)

Note that I hate: his f*cking fluffy hair that’s so hard to paint, as well as his annoying arm because I couldn’t add the highlights and the marble veins afterward with another medium (I’m asking for trouble too)

Oh, and I unlocked an achievement: starting my last 3 sketchbooks with a portrait of Gustave!

I’m kind of in a love-hate situation with this painting: there’s progress and some cool stuff, but I don’t know if I managed to capture Gustave’s essence, even though I put my whole soul into it and spent 20–30 hours on it. So, sorry, man, but I’m not done drawing you (though not covered in blood next time)…

Update from May 4: Actually, I like this painting; it's the best piece I've done so far.

[omegakina]

Item: An Old Key Rarity: ⏶ Common

What games have opened doors for you in real life?

Feed your dashboard by answering my question, blogger.

Without a doubt : Clair Obscur Expedition 33. I used to draw/paint before, but I never showed my work to anyone. But this game has given me:

An endless source of inspiration

The desire to draw more often

The desire to share with others, fans like me, hoping they'll enjoy (even just a little) seeing my questionable fanarts for this game, just as I enjoy seeing others' work!

COE33 opened the door for me to you, to, Tumblr (and also IG and X but those aren't as good), and it changed my life.

[omegakina]

Maelle's delivery service

(Approved by the Academy)

Inspired by this cute illustration by the amazing @comickergirl and, obviously, Kiki Delivery Service.

Watercolor and gouache on two A5 pages, which is a tricky format to photograph. More details under the cut.

So, with this illustration, I realized that:

I love the look of Haussmann-style buildings, but I hate painting them (it brought back some trauma from another illustration I did… ugh). A sneak peek of the thing after painting the sky and the buildings (I dug these photos out of my phone’s “trash” folder xD). What a nightmare.

I have a problem with people’s proportions (the size of Maelle’s head… So difficult to paint)

I’m terrible at using gouache, and I should know that nothing will ever be as white as the paper (you can’t fix it with white paint!)

Here’s the scanned version too… but pasted back together in a questionable way. It’s a huge pain to scan a sketchbook without damaging it; the whole page doesn’t touch the scanner glass, so you end up with a blurry mess.

I'm not sure I'm happy with how this painting turned out, but at least it's done—I started it on February 21, so it was about time!

[omegakina]

Hey, everyone! Here are the three illustrations I did for the E33DAY challenge!

Day 1 - Fun (a little “3310” vibe, if you know what I mean)

Day 2 - Beauty (I think I lost my mind)

Day 3 - Teamwork (not sure I understood the concept)

All done in watercolor on 14x21 cellulose paper, which drove me crazy at times (the paper tears when you remove the masking fluid, it leaves marks on the background, etc.). Generally done in one day (up to 6 hours of work per drawing… So long for so little).

[omegakina]

Une vie à se repentir

A life to repent. My contribution to @verso-hell-week's 7th circle of hell— Violence. This is the only drawing I'll be doing this week, but I hope it's okay!

More details under the cut (now that I know how to do it xD)

Some close-ups:

This painting was done in watercolor + some gouache for the highlights and to correct my mistakes + gold acrylic paint marker, on A4 cellulose paper.

I'm also including:

a photo before painting

the result of my first hour of painting for just 2.25 cm²/0.36 inch² (either I'm really slow, or I'm wasting my time for nothing)

and, just for fun, a photo of the photo being taken xD Okay, I admit it was completely unnecessary to bring out the big guns to take a photo of an average drawing, especially since the camera here is old and therefore not as good as a regular phone >_<

[omegakina]

Lune's training in Lumière gyms to kick Nevrons' asses, Monolith year 34.

Painted in watercolor, with a few touches of white and red gouache for the highlights. For the pose, I used a Dummy-13 Type F (from printables). Here is also a photo of the drawing before painting.

[comickergirl]

Rules: In a new post, show the last three lines you wrote (or drew) and tag as many people as you feel like.

Was tagged by @ineffablemossy (thank you!) and I'll be honest, I've seen several of these posts lately, and yet somehow completely missed that they can be for art as well! ^^;

Think my most recent thing that I'm working on would be this in-progress sketch of bby Alicia, from the remaining 'Spontaneous' coe33 suggestions.

...IDK who has/hasn't done this one yet, and I always worry about leaving folks out. If you see this and are in the mood to share some recent work/WIPs, consider yourself tagged!

[omegakina]

I saw this post and, since I'm currently working on my next watercolor painting, I felt compelled to respond!

I'm not comfortable sharing WIPs, but zut, what's the worst that could happen? So here are my latest brushstrokes, with a little blur here and there!

[omegakina]

No one: Me: OK, I'm going to draw Gustave shaving! (What's wrong with me?)

If you're wondering, “Why is she doing that?”, I'll tell you that it's a reference to the RAW footage that can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zjwqgqA7SpQ where Gustave has facial hair that is, shall we say… different.

Bonus panel with Verso:

For the record: drawing Gustave was a nightmare. I redid the drawing about ten times before deciding to paint it, and it took me a month to decide to post it because I thought it was too ugly, especially considering how much time I had spent on it ^^'. In the end, I don't think it's that bad lol. It was done with watercolors, pens, gouache, colored pencils, tears, and sweat, so I guess you could call it a “mixed-media painting”? The Verso part, on the other hand, was quick and fun xD

[omegakina]

*Warning! Do not put your hands on the doors, you risk pinching your fingers very hard.

Non-canonical illustration of “how Gustave lost his arm.” xD If you've ever taken the Paris metro, you may recognize the reference to the Rabbit of the Paris Métro (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabbit_of_the_Paris_M%C3%A9tro).

Made with watercolor (96%), pens, white gouache, and colored pencil (4%).

I could have used photo mode to get a good reference of Gustave with the right lighting and everything, but I was too lazy to start a NG+. So I tinkered with classic snapshots from the game. It wasn't easy, but at least I tried something new!

[omegakina]

Before the end of 2025, I'm posting (almost) all the other drawings I made for Inktober, this time unrelated to Clair Obscur: Expedition 33.

They are all obscure references to video games, and more rarely to TV series or movies. I'm curious to know if you'll get the references! I'm not adding tags to keep the mystery.

Special mention to number 22 (button), which made me laugh in my head when I thought about it, but much less so when I had to draw it... And number 26 (puzzling), which I did on the train (never again!).

[omegakina]

I love this scene in the game... Verso looks genuinely happy!

Anyway, here I am again making 3cm/1.2inch faces... Next time I'll make them bigger! I have so many ideas and so little time and patience and talent ^^'

I'm also including below:

a photo of the references and materials I used

the photo before painting

and a complete scanned version (you can see how lazy I was on the piano part xD)

[omegakina]

Memes with Monoco drawn by hand, what am I even doing with my life?

These are my last Expedition 33 themed Inktober drawings. I hope they make you smile!

[omegakina]

I would have loved to see this scene in the game! The late afternoon atmosphere at Grand Café de Lumière reminds me on apéros on terraces.

The reference image can be found on the official COE33 IG page: https://www.instagram.com/p/DHBbKr0NYh8/

I made this three months ago. The scene was too difficult for me, so I had to use an app on my phone to position the different objects/characters in relation to each other. For the details, well... It was a pain because the faces were 1.5 cm/0.6 inch wide, much too small for my pencils and my skills!

Here's a photo before painting (blue = drawing gum), and a scanned version. I'm not very proud of it, but hey, that's how it is !