Counter (Hi Res + Extra Thoughts)

This is the hi-res (~3600 px) version! Thank you so much for your support!

A character detailing for KazWolther on Twitter! Don't let the flowing cloth and glowing butterfly fool you -- this man will destroy you.

Got to paint up Kaz in Anji's outfit from the new Guilty Gear Strive!! Gorgeous game, and this character's outfit is very much up my alley -- lots of flowing cloth, some skin showing, some glowing effects... This was a treat to do. Kaz is a sweetheart to work with, to boot. You can catch this image on some of his streams too, over at Twitch! Corel Painter 2022 gave me a few hiccups as some of my settings didn't transfer over correctly, so I hit a few snags, but ultimately, I loved getting to do this.

Thank you so much, Kaz, for trusting me with your character, and I hope everyone enjoys!

---

Whoof. I'm behind on posting this. Things have been rough in the background.

I'm currently hitting a snag in both mental health and in self-confidence. After how well received Draeneth's piece was, I think I fell back into my mode of worrying over each piece needing to out-do the last, so I worked overtime on this to try to match it. And I know I'm doing it -again- with the current piece for Crucible. It's a really bad habit, yet I'm seemingly incapable of stopping it when it starts.

I think a lot of it comes back to worrying that ?I'm going to be letting people down, and for a while with this one, that was definitely the reigning thought of my mind. But I'm also currently worrying a lot about my quality in general? I feel a lot like I'm slipping, that I'm falling back into making things look really plastic-y, so I then spend even more extra time trying to pull textures and interesting marks back into what I'm doing. 

You ever look at another person in your field doing something or a subject matter you wish you could tackle with as much confidence as they do? Yeah. That's basically me right now. It's been a rough month, and I have made peace knowing I'm not going to hit the goal I wanted. I think I just wish I had the courage. To do the things I sort of want to do, or just being public in general, like Kaz here is on his streams. I've definitely turtled up a bit again.

I know I'm making progress though. I know it's sometimes slow going. I just need to find a way to stop self-sabotaging myself, in a way. But that's a job for me, not something I should burden anyone else on.

Anyways, as for actually -art-? Corel Painter 2022 launched at the start of this piece! I went ahead and grabbed the update, since I had a little bit put aside for its inevitable release, and once I saw the features I was hoping for (grayscale navigator, improved performance on Thick Paint mode, better brush library, etc..), I grabbed it up. Sadly, my settings didn't transfer over very well, likely due to their brush name changes and re-organizing of various things. It's like coming back to a studio and finding someone cleaned and organized your work space, but I don't know what brush was Old Reliable, and it doesn't have that same roughness I like. So I'm working on fixing that all up. It's annoying, but the pros of the update outweigh this con, personally.

And really, anything that lets me stay away from Photoshop is a win, eh? Painter even runs better with pencils and how I like to sketch, so even Clip Studio doesn't need as much attention from me. Though, gosh, I think the only thing I need now is a better Levels or Equalize in this program. Photoshop's is so good, and CSP's is nearly there too, that having just one bar and a Gamma slider feels like a hollow trade. Thankfully I can just save the image still and bring it over to CSP for adjustments. Give me some 4K resolution love and we're golden, Painter...!!

I think that about covers everything lately. So this ramble will end, and I'll leave you guys with another thank you. Goolashe and I definitely stumbled a lot this past month, and the help from Patreon was way more than appreciated. You guys helped us afford some groceries that were definitely in a bit of limbo, so I cannot thank you enough. Much love, ya'll. Stay safe out there, get your shot if you can, and I'll catch you later. <3