Stratus Loading into VRChat [comm, owner Max Extreme] watercolor x digital
I love when someone takes a risk on my "I Do What I Want" commission tier. It takes me about a month to roll things around in my head, and the final product is never my first plan. This one started as a concept for an ink/sumi-e painting--using the VRC loading/buffering circle as an enso. My body was in too much pain for confident brushstrokes. But I decided to do some additional research into the clothing items and weapons on the references provided to better understand what I was drawing... ...and ended up researching ronin portrayed in ukiyo-e, specifically the works of Hokusai. I see why van Gogh was into these--the compositions and colors are deceivingly simple but I can't even fathom the skill it would take to render with 19th century tools. Everything portrayed is clear in a way that feels so futuristicly Graphic Design. I see a lot of echoes of his works in flat design magazine covers from the 1920s-30s, and honestly through advertisements and art of today. In the end, I decided to use Affinity Photo and scans of my own watercolor textures to create a simple setting for Stratus that felt like it could exist at many points in time. VRChat feels like that to me, it allows a transcendent experience when you move from one artist's world to another.