Another Work in Progress (WiP)

Well, I got a positive reaction to the last one and someone asked for a bit more of the process, well they actually asked for a video but I didn't do that so I'll just write it instead. Maybe this could get some of you give it a try? I do feel kinda silly posting this as I'm definitely still an amateur just sharing my hobby; you probably shouldn't try and learn form my process as I keep changing it anyway and it's probably terrible but here goes!

I have been really trying to focus on my anatomy. Anatomy is hard. It's wild that the difference between a shape that looks like a human body and a shape that looks like a nightmarish mockery of a human body is so slight. The body has these lumps and bits and parts and they all have rules and a correct place and if one is just a little off you bet your pattern recognising brain is gonna give you the fear about it! I will not pretend I didn't use a reference for this pose, but I am making an effort to pay close attention to the way it all goes together so I'm actually applying my budding anatomy knowledge to what I'm doing instead of just mindlessly copying a shape. It does help a lot, cartoons need to be exaggerated or they look stiff and now I can actually do that with a semblance of logic.

So next I just do a sketch version over the wireframe-ish pose thing. This is also hard. clothing is hard. everything has a weight and flow and again if it's off it just looks so wrong. It's got to look 3D, that's hard. I already did a lot of work on perspective before which has paid off really well I think. Anyway, then I throw some shadows on it. I have never had to think about this, I think I may have just a talent for that because I just chuck some dark blobs on it and it's really easy and fast.

Colour too, I hear that colour is a huge struggle for a lot of people when they're leaning to draw. I have never had a problem with this either; I just mindlessly pick colours and usually the first one I use works great. I guess light and shadow are my naturally strong areas, it's everything else that I'm focusing on getting better at right now. I like to get a rough idea of the palette I'm going to use when I finish it. Or maybe my colours and shadow look terrible and I am overconfident, that is a possibility I hadn't considered until right now...

So yeah, this is now at the stage I call "ready to start". A stylish sketch thing that looks like it was done by someone with ability. The dread follows this stage, you can get away with a lot of bad lines when it's messy like this, from here I will try and do neat and fine line-work and it's so horrible. Sometimes I can just get it straight away, most the time I just keep trying and trying and it just looks so bad and I lose all enthusiasm for it or realise that I need to re-sketch the whole thing because there was something fundamentally terrible about the sketch that I didn't notice until it was too late. Hopefully this one is ok though, wish me luck!

I am drawing this because I made a new reddit account and I want more karma on it. I have been playing Overwatch a lot but, honestly, I HATE MERCY. I'd draw Baptiste, my main man, but literally no one likes him so it would be a bad choice for my karma farming intentions. it's gonna be like, she's saying "Don't you want to support a good cause?" Like she's trying to tempt you into buying her charity skin through seduction. That's the joke. If you don't play overwatch, this will make no sense to you and I am sorry.

LOVE YOU XOXO