DaCeronNine - Art School Journey

[daceronine]

So, I juest learned about gradient maps, and though I had heard about them before, I hadn't really understood how they worked.
Well, the term 2 for photoshop was actually really helpful for this, and even before I jump into exercices I just had to try them out.

So I decided to redo an old drawing using some of the recently learned techniques for references, proportions, elements as well as try to use gradient maps for coloring.

Old drawing:

New drawing with gradient map:

Colored through gradient mapping, added lighting and a random background.

I think the improvement is considerable! and I know there is stil much more to learn!

also, bonus experiment when trying a random gradient map over the final drawing.

I think I'll be trying to do a few more drawings and experiment a bit more, then finally get to actually do the exercices.

[daceronine]

Another practice piece for gradient maps. Nothing too crazy, just trying to get the hang of it. Tried to apply a few different colors for the hair to see how it worked out.

[jahziel.ongcol]

The use of the gradient maps look great! These girls are drawn so cute too~

[daceronine]

Thanks a lot for the kind words! It's certainly been a learning experience for both drawing and coloring.

[daceronine]

Yet one more test with gradient maps. I'm now trying to add different layers, gradient and hard shadows for a more cell shadded look.

[snakker]

These are looking great!

[daceronine]

Well, I've started the assignments for photoshop term 2.

For the logo, I kinda cheated since I already had my webtoon logo, so I took that as a base, and did some heavy edits to practice the text effects. Worth noting Clip Studio doesn't really have the same options as photoshop, so effects are more "muted", you kinda need to have an objective in mind and try to simulate the same effects through different means (like gradient, inner and outer shadow.

Still need to do the little monster guys. No idea what to do.

But in the meantime, I did more gradient practice. I really liked how it works and the different possibilities it has. I realized that since gradient applies different tones to the gradient map, I can also do hard shadows at different gray scales, resulting in different color for hard shadows, and keep the gradient for hard shadows in a different layer to give it some opacity as well.

I'll be sure to finish the remaining term 2 photoshop exercices soon so I can jump into the next topci.

[daceronine]

Did a few of the remaining exercices. Honestly I feel like I rushed a bit through these, since I've had little time to continue. Still, I learned a lot from CSP and overall digitial art tools.

1) The little creature from vectors. CSP is actually really good at handling vectors, it has it's own tools to draw and manipulate them. It was interesting to use the tools, even if I didn't feel particularly creative about the creature itself. It's some sort of spider bat, which seemed like a good idea, but the overall style and colors.. well, it feels like it could be better.

2) The game box. Or in this case, movie box. It's really basic, but again, the main lesson was to use the file in layer, which was indeed really interesting to see in action. I can think of a few ways to use it. Just knowing it's an available tool is good on it's own.

Moving on to the next exercices

[snakker]

Nice! CSP sure is versatile

[daceronine]

It really is. I'm sticking with CSP since it is the best I've found so far for manga and comics creation, and what I plan to use on the long run, though Photoshop seems to be a step up for illustration.
At the end of the day what matters most is the skill of the user and your own preference.

[daceronine]

Finished photoshop Term 2. Final exercices below:

1) These ones were kind of straightforward, and seem designed to get you familiar with the digitial tools available. Which it did. Blending/smudging in particular is something I've wanted to learn properly for a long time now, and I think these exercices helped me achieve just that.

I also tried to get fancy with some of the shadows and added some aditional backlight and white highlights to some.

I honestly skipped the brush creation since I don't have plans on doing so in the short or long term. I recoginze the potential, but it seems I can find a brush for pretty much anyting online, especially for more specifilized textures.

2) For line width I did decide to go one step further and try to do a drawing that has a clear indication of light source just by the width of the lines. I think it turned out pretty good, and gave me great insight on making better lineart. It's also amazing how just having clear lineart width gives a clear indication of light source.

Original:

With updated lineart:

[daceronine]

Well, we continue the journey with term 2. Now getting into anatomy.
Though I've still to complete the class, I figured I should do a basic shapes exercice to brush up on 3D space and shadows.
I realize Marc's suggestion is not to make this as a one time exercice, and I'll need to keep doing similar exercices separatly to get more practice. I simply wanted to apply most of the lessons learned so far as we go into anatomy which seems to be a pretty complex topic.

So, I deconstructed a reference, tried to use some basic shapes and put together a human figure for them. I probably should have added more interacting figures, but I think the main objective was met.

And for a little bonus, a few more frames from the webtoon I worked on during the week. I feel the webtoon is a good indication of progress since that's what I work on a daily basis as I continue with the art classes.

[snakker]

Awesome work! Loving the look of your webtoon

[daceronine]

Thanks! I remember I didn't even know where to go when the journey started. Didn't even know what digital art software existed, much less how to even use it.
I'm very happy with how far I've gotten, and excited for how much farther we can go!

[daceronine]

It's been a crazy week, but here we are with the starting exercices for term 2 anatomy.

Before we jump into heads, ears and so on, I figured I should do a few more exercices with shapes.

First a few random shapes to practice 3D space, transformation, shadows and so on.

Next, a few more shapes in the form of characters.

And a small bonus in the form of a happy girl. I guess it works as practice for the head too, since I tried to apply some fo the newly learned lessons.

Next I'll try to wrap up the anatomy class and exercices.

[queeniemp]

Woahh these are really good shadows and shapes!

[daceronine]

Thanks! Ever since I started watching Marc's videos, I've tried to emulate how he shades using the airbrush.
Upon review, there are still some missing shadows and conflicting elements that overlap, but I'm happy on the progress so far!

[daceronine]

Another crazy couple of weeks. I'm still going through the term 2 classes, and just barely started the formal exercices for it. However, I have been applying many of the lessons learned in my daily webtoon work.

There are so many details that finally "click", and it's exciting to see the improvement as I learn and practice more fundamentals.

Anatomy in particular is quite challenging, but knowing head proportions and how to sketch them out has really improved similar angles I've drawn before. For example:

Before:

After:

its not exactly the same angle, but i feel its close enough to see the improvement, even if i still need to work more in some other points.

That said, here's the first round of formal exercices for head proportions:

Clearly looking up is the biggest challenge to me right now, which I'll have to practice more.

Also did some ears practice, though it's barely the start

And a few more heads I used the recently learned fundamentals on, mostly noticable in proprotions. It is highly stylized, but the principles still work just as well.

I'll keep working on the anatomy exercices, there's a lot to do in there.

[mitsuki-youko]

noice!! ur art is very pretty and very anime looking

[daceronine]

Thanks! Really appreciate it, though there is still a long road ahead. Happy to be taking it though!