I drew this from a Patreon poll of colors and we ended up with blue, green, and grey. I couldn't resist the urge to do something dramatic with Leonardo.
And when I say I couldn't resist, I mean I tried to.
TL;DR - I was reminded that art is about expression, and if I'm in a dark place, it's perfectly fine for my art to be there with me. The point of my art is for it to be there with me, wherever I might be
Full story of the emotions of this one under the cut.
There was a time in my life where almost all I drew was super dramatic, heartbreaking, horrifying moments in stories. That hasn't been my jam these days. However, I was going through a rough time. I'd been on the emo rollercoaster and I can only speculate that it's chemical imbalances at this point. So I was sitting at my desk looking for a good Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles screenshot to do a redraw of - because I like to focus on color more than coming up with my own composition when it's a color challenge poll - and I just couldn't find anything I liked at all. This moved into a bit of an emotional spiral, like one does.
And I kept coming back to this screenshot.
This is from a very pivotal moment in Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Movie - which if you haven't seen it, you really should, it is an amazing animated horror movie with the goofiest moments sprinkled into a completely terrifying premise. This is a moment in the final act and you can bet I cry every time.
So I finally gave in and decided that this was the only screenshot that spoke to me. And something interesting happened. By the time I was done sketching, inking, and laying out base color, I felt a bit better. I felt accomplished. I gave my hand a rest for the night and came back to it the next day, still in a depression haze. And by the time it was done, I felt a little bit more better. It stayed sitting open on my desk for weeks afterwards and it gave me a little boost every time I saw it.
It's not perfect and it doesn't have to be. The color challenges are about me experimenting with a limited pallet, as well as getting reacquainted with tools I may not have touched in a while. Every time I pull out my art pencils set, it's like visiting old friends again. I was reminded that I have to layer them on top of the color, if I miss a space and try to put the color over the top after, the effect is different. I was reminded that I need to be patient and build up from lightest to darkest, not grab the darkest one and skip five shades to just get the dark in there fast, it doesn't have the desired effect. I was reminded that I really like blending and tinkering with the details.
I was reminded that art is about expression, and if I'm in a dark place, it's perfectly fine for my art to be there with me. The point of my art is for it to be there with me, wherever I might be.
I was also amazed that my phone camera made this look really fantastic in just the dim light of my computer screen instead of the overhead light when the pencil kept reflecting weirdly.
Prisma pencils and art pencil set, with sharpie marker inked lines
I just saw this end credit sketch again, and now all I can think about is how badly I need a version with Callum showing primal magic to Sarai in TDK...
