Dimiclaude Week 2024, day 4 (7/24/2024): Claude's birthday.
7/24-25/2024. Underdrawing in pencil. Inked with Stabilo 88 pens. Colored with Copic markers. Digitally assembled in Krita. Background pattern from a previous drawing. Some digital clean-up in Krita, because my first eraser stained smudges into the paper.
Referenced Figma Male Swimsuit version 2 and S.H. Figuarts Body-kun articulated figures. Unlike my usual process, I referenced photos of my figures, instead of directly sketching my figures. I think it helped me do close-up compositions, which look much better than my full figure sketches.
Gawd! I wish I did this! GAWD! I WISH I DID THIS!!!!!!!!
Every single freaking day, I re-read "To This Vow, I Hold Fast" by lazulila. And then BAM. Gone. ;o;
I should have known better by now. I've lost out on a lot of fandom websites that just suddenly disappeared, over the years. I should have known better. x_x;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;; But I got too used to the convenience of my fast internet and the ease of just going to a bookmarked website everyday. I'm so dumb... x_x
1/12/2023. So I've been working on this drawing since 1/8/2023. Started as an analog doodle in my sketchbook, then scanned, and have been using it to practice/learn how to work with vectors in Krita.
And I've learned a lot! I feel like I'm finally starting to get the hang of digital drawing!
---even though I still don't have a proper stylus. x_x; I can't see what I'm drawing behind my cheap stylus's giant nib, but using it whenever I can still saves my hand from pain. My laptop actually came with a stylus, but it uses AAAA batteries, that ran out, I can't find them at any of my usual stores, and I'm still a chicken about buying things online. x___x;;; I've never even bought anything from Amazon, to this day, for goodness sakes! x~x;;;;;;;
But my problem right now is that despite feeling proud of the progress I've been making, learning vectors and Krita, it's still not completely satisfying or fulfilling. I feel like I have a strange, unsatisfied itch in my hands from not drawing since 1/8/2023. I mean, what I've been doing digitally for the past few days should count as drawing, but my hand muscles feel like I haven't been drawing at all. Whatever I've been practicing, it's completely different from the need to draw that my hand muscles need.
So I've been considering ending this drawing at this state. Back when I decided to turn my analog doodle into a chance to practice digital drawing to my fullest extent, I told myself I'd practice all the details that I barely do anymore in my analog drawings, because I draw too small, I've been too focused on finishing a doodle everyday, I run out of time, etc. But drawing digitally allows me to make my tiny sketches large enough to add shading, highlights, and other details. So I wanted this drawing to be my chance to practice that. I wanted to be able to take my time, come back to a single drawing, multiple times, and really WORK it---adding onto it, adjusting it, modifying it, waiting for all my ideas to surface, instead of just rushing to get it done. But I don't know how much longer I can hold out not drawing in the way my hand muscles need.
But after writing that out, I guess the clear solution is to concurrently draw a bunch of analog stuff for my hand muscles, while keeping this digital drawing as a work in progress, until after I've added all those details I said I'd practice. I guess that's what I'll do.
Feel kind of bad for not posting it yet though. Because even at this state so far, I like it. But that's what I have my art journal blog for: work in progress pics and random art venting.
Dimiclaude Week 2024, day 1 (7/21/2024): fairytale AU. "The 12 Huntsmen".
7/21-23/2024. Drawn in Platinum Preppy fountain pen, using Noodler's Ink. Colored with Copic markers and ShinHanArt Touch marker. Digitally assembled in Krita. I was trying to save time, so I duplicated a bunch of Claudes.
My favorite fairytale (so far) is "The 12 Huntsmen".
A princess gathers 11 other girls who look exactly like her. They disguise themselves as huntsmen. Then they go to her fiancée's kingdom, to hopefully make him realize he doesn't have to go through with a marriage to a different princess, that his father asked him to marry, with his final words. There's also a magic talking lion that can see through lies, and has been advising generations of the prince's royal line. The lion repeatedly tries to prove to the prince that the huntsmen are women in disguise, but the princess and the other huntsmen keep outsmarting him.
I just wanted to sort of emulate those screengrabs of people playing Fire Emblem Heroes, who have gathered entire rooms full of Claudes. lol
Claude's huntsman outfit is based on the Archer class outfit from FE3H.
Smaugust 2023 day 31. It's like this every other week with Claude's wyvern.
8/31/2023. Drawn with Pilot Petit fountain pen, using Monteverde "Charoite" ink. Colored with Copic markers.
9/1-5/2023. Digital clean-up, fixes, and assembly in Krita. Also used previous days' fanart of chibi DMCL with wyvern. Older fanart included some drawn with Platinum Preppy fountain pen, using Noodler's Ink, and colored with Copic markers, and once with Daiso Water Colors.
7/5-26/2024, working on and off. Originally drawn in Platinum Preppy fountain pen, using Noodler's Ink. Then digitally traced and finished in Krita. Forgot to digitallly draw Bereto on a larger canvas, so shrunk the other chibi to fit his size.
Celebrating June 30, the equivalent date in FE3H Azure Moon route, when Dimitri rescued Claude at Derdriu.
6/30/2023. Clamp light used on tripod as fill light, in addition to phone camera's flash lighting. Roses used to cover figure support bases, but also to imply a rosy/romantic perception. I'm reluctantly trying to return to a habit of putting my watermark logo in the corner, after recently, when one of my older figure photos got broadly spread around without attribution. Used Krita to digitally erase some dust fibers from Claude.
FIGURES:
Pop Up Parade Claude von Riegan
Pop Up Parade Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd
MerMay 2023, day 9. More chibi Dimiclaude mers, but in watercolors and teacups.
5/12/2023. Pencil and Daiso Water Colors. Cleaned up background and brightened Saturation in Krita.
Still practicing watercolors, so tried doing my final linework as only pencil. Sometimes I wonder if the softness of pencil fits better with watercolors. I still want to differentiate my watercolors from my marker/ink drawings. So I tried some wet-on-wet techniques and allowed a lot of messy imperfections.
But maybe I colored Claude's scales too high up his torso.
Still referencing the same glass teacup, I've had on my desk since drawing my "dragons and tea" set.
