Little Jerboa's playground (portraits, illustrations, concepts)

[little_jerboa]

Hello everyone!

Let me share some other places to find my works:
Instagram
Artstation
Behance

This is my first entry here.
I'm planning to share quite different stuff from sketches to finished works. The idea is to see my progress in dynamic and learn not to be afraid of mistakes and imperfections along the way.
Looking for some feedback and constructive criticism.

Let's start from this David Bowie's portrait.
I love faces, and drawing portraits and fanart is my favorite way of both relaxing and learning. In this case I tried to find some balance between soft lines and sharp angles.

Colored version

Lineart

Reference picture

[little_jerboa]

I'm in some kind of Bowie phase now. Both as a fangirl and as an artist.
As a result, lots of interviews and documentaries to study his ways of work, since he actually was a true artist.
And also lots of art to study his face and just to have fun.

This is an illustration based on Bowie's darkest, yet - in my opinion - the most aesthetically pleasing period. The Thin White Duke dealing with his addiction.
Or another name for this illustration: Kids, don't do drugs. (Become a pop star and they give you them for free! © Love Actually)

Finished illustration

References

Composition and color research

BW version

UPD:
Process

Couldn't quite figure out how to upload gifs here, so a bit different way to show the process.

[HollyRose]

Very cool exploration going on here, great work!

[little_jerboa]

@HollyRose

  
    Thank you for the support! =)

[little_jerboa]

Haven't been here for quite a while.
Had to devote too much time to dancing, my second activity, and as a result didn't have enough personal drawing practice. Started to miss it and decided to make a quick portrait of a random beautiful guy. =)
I think and I've been told that in my picture he looks a bit like the Witcher who decided to suit up.

Reference picture

[little_jerboa]

Some quick studies.
It's high time I spent some time working on hands, as they are such a wonderful means of expression, but I still feel really weak at drawing them

I'm sorry for the quality of the photos. I always find it tricky to transfer traditional works into digital format. Usually I lose something on the way... Need to work on that.

[little_jerboa]

It's time to ride the hype train.
Jon Snow as an example of a real, not stereotypical, alfa: making aliances, negotiating and engaging dialogue. Though of course I've got no idea, what will become of him by the end of this season.

I've had so much fun taking more loose and painterly approach this time.

[echoriel]

I like the painterly style! Nice one! ;D
I would maybe suggest you to try and have some underpaint for pieces like that? So when you paint on top of it you wont have these white bits of canvas, because it can throw off all the light and mood that u've set for it. Underpaint doesnt have to be super dark, just slightly offwhite usually give it a go if you want
and awesome work, keep it up!

[little_jerboa]

Thank you for your comment and advice! Much appreciated!
Yes, I know this technique and I use it from time to time. This time my goal was to make it slightly rough, like the "canvas" shines through the "paint" a bit. Though I realize that it might not work for every viewer or maybe it doesn't work for this exact piece.

[little_jerboa]

Went to watch a documentary about Rudolf Nureyev yesterday. True ballet rock star.

[little_jerboa]

Self-portrait with dirty hair. Because dirty hair looks cool on the original photo.
I'm not quite sure if I like this one. Though it was a good exercise of "making up" colors and lighting, as the original photo quality is not that good.
And the line work is ok, which is a good thing, as my main goal was to play with the hair plasticity and dynamic.

[little_jerboa]

Trying to get myself used to quick warmups before work, drawing my hands.

[little_jerboa]

Yay! I have finished my first proper series of illustrations.
They are fanart works based on the American McGee's future game Alice: Asylum. Dress design is by their artist Omri Koresh.

The series is called Stages of Grief, psychological concept that will be explored in the game. Guilt is like "zero" stage that triggers Alice's survivor syndrome.

My goal was to exercise myself to work within established universe and existing visual design while adding something of my own: poses, composition, my personal associations with those emotions, surreal feel.

[cedricgo]

I really like those illustrations and the whole concept behind them. Good job!

[little_jerboa]

Thank you for your feedback!
I tried my best to do it justice. Now need to work more on my composition skills and dynamic in works.

[little_jerboa]

Some kind of a dog study, keeping in mind the idea of possible turning those pictures into stickers or prints.
Tried to choose the most expressive photos as references, they all are from American McGee's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/BlSkSWegQpx/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

I find it hard to make simple and expressive stuff yet, what I usually turn out with is kinda more semirealistic. In the future I would like to push myself further into cartoon stylistic. But for now it might be a good idea to get confident in this style that is more about generalizing shapes then exaggerating them, since it's more organic to me.

[little_jerboa]

A work for #sitc_ink_jam with the topic Dungeons & Cities.
It was made under heavy influence of the project Renovation Game, with a hint of Dishonored, that we are currently replaying.

A little trip out of my comfort zone, as I rarely make something without lineart and even more rarely do I work with architecture and environment.

Final illustration

References

Composition and color research

Process

[little_jerboa]

Some fanart after watching Fleabag.

[little_jerboa]

Some more Fleabag art.
The main purpose of my portraits - besides pure fun - is attempt to finally work out a style.
I usually choose between two types of style. It's either more painterly one, like in the previous post, which isn't exactly strong yet. Or more graphic one, like here, when I rely on lineart a lot. I love to play with hair when I use it, look for dynamic, smooth and more pointy parts. it's a lot of fun.

[little_jerboa]

My take for this month Character Design Challenge - deadly seductive Hawaiian dancer.
Highly influenced by awesome video Ke Kai O Kahiki: https://youtu.be/_Xr1Wd17w-g