I also saved some progress shots this time, maybe someone will find them useful! Random thoughts about my decisions/what works for me personally under the cut.
i don't color b&w, even though it looks like it. I just put the shadows in Hard Light mode on the gray (or any other neutral color) flats so i can concentrate on values only.
after that, i select the layer with shadows and color it separately by hand without any blending modes (best seen on images 4->5). I almost never use gradient maps, with the exception of backgrounds to create a color variation, and the only other blending mode i use for actual *color* is overlay, mostly to highlight warm tones. I don't consider this an optimal way, I just think my style works better with suffering and doing everything manually.
Same with details and backgrounds, I don't use any special brushes for grass/trees/flowers/whatever.
Getting a sketch right is THE single most important thing for me. Bad/rushed/"dirty" sketch could easily turn a 5-hour drawing into a 20-hour one because you will spend those hours fixing some annoying errors which could have been avoided on the sketch stage. I don't like sketching buut i kinda figured out that i better spend a hour more on the sketch than a week on constantly redrawing one part and screaming internally because i was impatient lol
It's not worth it to spend your time on lining/sketching small details. I delete/erase the sketch layer later anyway and adding all those golds and purity seals is much easier and faster when you just focus on form.
Background is rendered simultaneously with the characters to avoid the inconsistency. Same as individual details, I dont do a linear order like fully render face->hair->clothes, but rather render everything at once in small parts. If i ever drop the piece and return to it a month after, this approach avoids the problem of having different parts rendered with different skill levels/styles.
⭐tag game! tag ten people you'd like to get to know⭐
tagged by @kayenti. thank you, i'm flattered! this tag is kinda fun. like your monthly checkup with the mutuals.
tagging back @solidcarbon, @mournfulwizard, @annahenriart and @elimenise. boop
Last Song
Azari, ロス - Wink
Current obsession
Ehhh sorry to disappoint, but it's still Rogue Trader. As a lesser obsession, I finally brought myself to play all Witcher games for the frist time and for someone coming from the books it's a lot of fun seeing all the characters in the actual 3D space. Although I guess I am a tiny bit overdue (is Witcher 1 20 years old already? what).
Currently reading
Eisenhorn. Almost finished with Xenos. It took a while to get into, even after playing RT I still needed to lookup every second word, but now I hit the phase where I can't put the book down. i wish Midas was romanceable though (jk)
Currently wearing
A random T-shirt, linen pants and a fleece blanket. Even though it's 25 degrees inside, I'm still cold.
Last Search
"phasenraum" if we ignore the fact i already searched "witcher 1" to confirm the release date oops
Favourite flower
Do favourite plants count? Calathea "White Fusion" and Oxalis Triangularis. I think I would have chosen the second one for Coleus if she didn't have one already. They look lowkey xenos though....
