#ask louminx

[louminx]

Whatever happened to your nsfw Leliana pic?

I have no idea! I’d forgotten I even drew it until you said, and I’m too much of a coward to go through my old art and see if I deleted it. If the ask was out of concern for flagging, I haven’t had any on my art so far (even though I 100% have nips on my blog 😈😈😈), but thank you!   

[louminx]

I was in the middle of sketching Bal when I caught your ask. I am neither qualified, nor experienced enough to teach anything painting related, but that’s never stopped me before.

I’m working with the freehand lasso tool, and a soft brush from this set, but any standard Photoshop airbrush with pen opacity works.

The technique is good for all sorts, but here I used it for form shadow on his arm, and cast shadow on his face. If you’ve done pencil drawing before, using the lasso tool is the equivalent of using a second sheet of paper to create sharp edges.

For form shadow, I encase the volume I want to render with the lasso tool, lining up the edge of my selection with the edge of the shape. I then gently run my brush over that edge, gradually working inwards, making the shadow wrap around the cylinder that is his arm (since the light isn’t hitting it).

For cast shadow, I cut out the shape of the shadow being cast, do one quick sweep to cover the area, then go back in where the shadow begins (since cast shadows taper off at the bottom).

[louminx]

How’s Manon doing these days? What does she get up to after inquisition?

She’s doing well! I retconned her being left in the Fade, so she’s got that going for her. I still haven’t settled on anything major after the Chantry explosion, though she’s most likely rid of Anders and dressed to the nines in some lost corner of Orlais.

Actually, I’ve been exploring the idea of a “Princess of Starkhaven” Manon, political marriage and all. Not sure whether it’s an indulgent AU or a possible character arc for her, but it’s been a lot of fun regardless. Sebastian and Manon’s relationship, friendship, whatevership is about as strained as you’d imagine… And, God, I have such a need to draw the both of them in royal garb!

[louminx]

Hi! I am about to start a pillars of eternity playthrough, and I can’t google this because I am afraid of spoiling myself, but I don’t want to miss anything. I was wondering, is there anything you would have wanted to know before playing? Particularly things affecting your ability to meet nifty characters or to make plot decisions? (As a DAI example, things like: you get more time with Leliana if you side with the templars, or Cullen if you side with mages. Anything like that?) Thank you :)

Ah, you’re going to love it! I’ve still got Deadfire on the brain, so there may be some things I’m missing. From what I remember, most companions are easy to recruit so long as you explore a lot: talk to everyone, take quests and scan the area maps. For dialogue, all backgrounds and classes get special options. If you want the most sway in conversations, focus on the Resolve and Perception stats, though you’ll have to sacrifice combat efficiency unless you build around them (Paladin or Fighter for Res and Rogue for Per). Or you can choose Cipher, which brings added insight regardless of stats.For plot, my biggest regret was not being decisive enough. If you try to play neutral, both with your companions and with the story, you can end up in some dire situations (think Alistair in DAO and the political hurdles of ME3). There’s a lot of room for roleplaying, and things won’t always go to plan… But that’s honestly half the fun!PoE also suffers from some pacing issues. It plays best if you take the early lulls in the story to grind, then run through Act 3 and Act 4 focusing mainly on plot. I didn’t, and ended up feeling detached near the end.There aren’t many specific story conundrums I can think of, and those I remember came as huge surprises I don’t want to spoil. Just know that your choices can have huge repercussions on the endgame world state. If you know what you want for the plot and the characters, you’ll need to nudge them. Or dropkick. If not, absorb as much in-game lore as you can to help you understand what you’re doing. Or else you may end up agreeing to some things you’ll regret all the way up to Deadfire. Trust me, I would know.Oh, and there’s also that tiny issue of companion perma-death, so be sure to keep an eye out on your health and save often.

[louminx]

oh my god, those previews... you just get better and better at drawing such beautiful faces. how have you been practicing getting all those planes and proportions?

Thank you so much!

Well, I first realised all of my faces were (pardon the language) flat as fuck, and couldn’t unsee it. So I followed this first lesson by Marc Brunet, which was a real eye-opener, before reading and rereading the first few chapters of “The Human Figure” by Vanderpoel. I’ve also just been doing more portrait work because of all this personal concept stuff, which has helped.

[louminx]

how did you begin learning art properly? I don't even know where to start. I have basics but it's so difficult and messy and overwhelming for me

I don’t know about “properly”, but I’ll try my best to explain it. 

Everyone learns in their own way, but sitting down and doing studies for hours on end has never worked for me… which is probably why it took five years for me to try and learn anything. 

What I started doing was learning through my drawings. The method boils down to drawing until a problem comes up, figuring out what the problem is, then dealing with it straight away by finding appropriate media (videos, books, online art lessons). I’ll watch/read/listen my way through a lesson, maybe throw in a few sketches for good measure, then use what I’ve learned in my next drawing. 

Say I realise I can’t render hair. Instead of flapping about for the next ten drawings until I forget I can’t render hair and things go back to their terrible normal, I’ll watch a tutorial on how to paint it, then make sure to apply what I’ve learned in whatever drawing comes next. 

Absorb, apply. It all folds back into the fundamentals in the end, except I don’t get bored learning and am consistently making things and doing what I love. 

Of course, you can always seek that knowledge out beforehand, though I’ve found that’s a great way to suck all of the fun out of art.  It’s always going to feel messy, because you can always improve. But you don’t need to feel overwhelmed. You don’t have to know everything or be the best at everything. You just have to know enough to draw what you want, how you want.

[louminx]

Lou do you have any Tes ocs?

Three in all, though none of them are particularly fleshed out despite my thousand hours in the Elder Scrolls series. It’s just a lot of time spent… dicking around and getting distracted by caves.

Morrowind: Talin Row, Dunmer, Assassin

Oblivion: Kassiel Al-Ska’Vyn, Redguard, Knight

Skyrim: Silwen Aedrine, Breton, Stealth Archer Nightblade

I was going to be cute and attach some portraits to this, but I can’t sit down long enough to produce anything of worth. So below is a sketch of Kass I may turn into a painting at some point, and you can find some Sil stuff here!

[louminx]

Hey Lou, how have you been? I miss seeing you around >.<

Sorry for the radio silence! Burnout hit a few weeks back and I needed to reset. There’s been lots of reading and sun since then, and I’m feeling much better for it!