In love with your art! Do you think you could share your process if possible? :0
Aw thank you! I really appreciate it!
I work with both pixel art and digital paintings so if you don't mind, I'll explain my process for both as I don't know which one you prefer!
Warning - I am a rambler, this is going to be long. I am so sorry. Any questions let me know!
Program used is Clip Studio Paint
I need about 3-5 reference photos/images for everything I paint. One will be a painting (usually if I'm struggling with a feature like glasses or clothing I'll find an artist that I admire their techniques - I'm not going to lie it's often John Singer Sargent), I occasionally have my own painting up if I'm doing a series like the Our Flag Means Death Crew of the Revenge otherwise it looks really disjointed.
For my underlying sketch I use green as I find this much easier to see and very rarely do I paint green people so it's helpful to see where I've sketched features (below is an example using Black Pete from OFMD), I usually outline the features, where cheekbones are and roughly where I want shadows.
I then use a darker background colour (unless the person I'm painting is darker in skintone than my default background colour, then I make the background a tan colour).
From there I tend to block out colours so skin, hair, clothes and eyes (it looks real freaky at this stage). I then try to work in basic features so I'm not reliant on the sketch layer for where.
After that, my friends have often referred to me as a chaos gremlin, I tend to do shadows and highlights at the same time occasionally throwing in the detail too. I know the best practice is to do it step by step, but I just can't do it that way. I find it stressful, so chaotically doing everything is kind of it. To me, I feel like I'm carving out the features more? I often focus on the eyes first, then the nose, then everything else.
If you'd like I can record the process and post it to show my chaotic and not at all aesthetically pleasing way of painting?
I also regularly flip the canvas and try to screenshot the image and put it side-by-side with my references to make sure it's what I'm after.
For context this is the final image
Programmes used are Pixaki and Aseprite
I need references for pixel art too. This is usually subject matter rather than style references.
I often roughly sketch out what I want in a notebook, to get a better idea of the vibe I'm after. Once I've decided the pose/style/character I'm wanting to portrait I then draw it in Pixaki or Aseprite (below is an example of a underlying sketch in pixel art).
I've recently been using Pixaki a lot more as I can use my iPad for it and not have to sit at my PC all day. Aseprite I find is better for animation and has more options with varying frame speeds.
I actually do pixel art like a mature adult, I start with the base colours. Once I've finished those I move onto shadows and then highlights. My biggest flaw is I often do backgrounds last. I find it to be quite fun to play with dithering for shadows. I know some pixel art purists are going to hate how I do pixel art as I use opacity layers etc. but I think it's a fun way to do things and is helping me better understand colour.
The fun thing with pixel art is figuring out the best place to put the pixels. When you get to the end of the illustration you can clean up the occasional orphan pixel (single pixel not attached to any other pixels) or ensure that the lines are evenly distributed. It gets a lot more interesting when you are using a limited palette or challenging yourself to use a smaller size canvas.
I also often add little extras around it to add more atmosphere or create a tiny sprite.
For context below is the final image of the sketch
If you got here, well done! I would love to go into more detail but it's kind of difficult in a text post? I'm not sure I'm conveying myself right.
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