Here is the Colored version of my Airi Rescue illustration. I’m uploading two versions. The second version has some static added to it to replicate the quality of a magazine print. One things I like in old anime are the glow effects they do with beams, so I wanted to incorporate that in this illustration. Adding some outer glow to the beam and adding some noise to the glow gave it a cool effect.
I want to convert this drawing to an anime frame at some point. You know, like those mid point frames when the anime had to go to commercials.
I actually had a version of this drawing ready to go, but I’m glad I never uploaded it. Since I had a chance to rest on it and reflect on what I could do with it, I ended up adding some new ideas to it which I think look better. Before it was a bit flat but now it now looks like a title page at the beginning of a chapter. The beam saber looked a bit bland too, so I added some outer glow to it and also some grain so that it blended roughly with the background. Clip Studio has some cool stuff to draw manga, but it also lacks in others which is why I like combining it with Photoshop. The only bad thing about that is that the screen tone layers get screwed up and I can’t edit them again. There are ways to just make a quick new layer to edit if necessary, but that’s a real pain if I have to do multiple.
I wanted to download a stars brush to do them quickly but I ended up just painting them by hand. It wasn’t as bad as I thought. I like that rough look to them that the real g pen from Clip Studio gives it. The font it self I ripped from the music video.
Here’s the music video by the way. It’s a really fun one, I love it:
This is a study of Airi Suzuki. I want to do more artwork of her to celebrate her 20th anniversary. For this drawing I want to practice different coloring styles. For the line art, I went for thin lines which I liked how it looked when doing Inktober this year. The inking in the hair is too dark, it doesn’t give the image of it being a lighter brown. Perhaps I should just make lighter hatching. Perhaps at a later date.
Assuming I understood what was being said, Mai Hagiwara just got married on ℃-ute day and for the event after the ceremony all the members sang. How cute is that. It would be so amazing if they released that performance. Congratulations Mai and ℃-ute. Wishing you the best.
I really love her solo music, I’m so glad others agree and her popularity has been increasing.
I’m quite late doing this painting but I have been quite busy lately. I also didn’t want to do a subpar painting either. I used references of her birthday pictures (from her instagram) for this painting. Her photos are always so fun. Surprisingly the balloons were not hard to paint at all. It was Airi that I felt I couldn’t get right.
I really miss Buono! I’m so glad they have so many recorded media of their activities. What’s great is that there are a lot of new fans appearing. Their legacy continues to grow!
This painting took me longer than I thought it would but I’m finally finished. I went with an 80s anime style. I started with the background and then started painting from left to right. The line art was overlaid digitally then set to multiply. The base colors went in first then I started adding the leopard, polka dots and star designs, etc. I then created a separate layer where I multiplied the shadow layers. Then above all the layers for each member I created a new one for the lighting. To keep with the anime aesthetic I chose the typical anime hair colors so that they popped more. For their eyes, I chose their member colors.
As I was working on this painting I got reminded that Berryz Koubou’s 18th debut anniversary was on March 3rd. Sadly I wasn’t able to do a piece to commemorate it though. I still wan to make one though. I have an idea for one, but maybe I should save that one for their 20th anniversary. Or maybe I should just make that one, we’ll see.
A great intro to Buono! is Hatsukoi Cider. Check it out here (Their official video has over 5 million views!):
Didn’t have the time to finish it today but at least the line art is ready. I was thinking about uploading an inked version but this refined pencil line art will do for now. I saw the prompt for idols and of course I had to draw something for it. There are many options but I decided to go with BUONO! The formation of Momoko, Miyabi and Airi was just magical.
I found a fansite that had a large collection of Airi’s photos that I had no seen before. One of the albums contained photos of Airi’s collaboration with Pivotdoor. There’s a lot of possible drawing ideas but I was really drawn to Airi flying with a broom like a magical girl. Her photos are always so fun and full of energy. That smile is really infectious.
It was also a bonus that her hairstyle was specially cut for her end of the year °C-ute concert. I was just about finished yesterday painting Airi when my brother walked in and asked when I would make a painting that took longer. I was wondering if he meant that I was rushing through this painting and was leaving it too rough. But it seems he just meant that lately I have only been doing line art which takes only a couple of hours (Airi as well). That’s when I decided to add a background. Using the wall background would not do so I decided to make a winter scenery. I ended up mashing up a couple of reference photos (including some from Airi’s photobooks). It looks like the road crossing the train tracks is heading straight to the sea huh? I guess the idea is that there is a ramp for people to drive towards the beach.
I was a bit apprehensive about the details in the sweater when I was just about to start, but luckily with my current experience I know that it’s just a matter of painting and now stopping. Once that flow starts, it doesn’t take that long to finish. Once I added the background, I did have to tweak the saturation and values on Airi though.
I’ve been working on this painting for a couple of days now. I first drew the line art with a combination of my brush and my g pen for Airi’s base body, not including her clothes. I did this because I feel I make clothes look to stiff with the pen. For the background I used a lighter mixture of my ink while Airi herself was inked using a more concentrated ink mixture.
Over the last couple of weeks I have been playing around with the shortcut keys I feel I need most to make paintings more efficiently. I’m really glad I did because it made the painting process flow much smoother. The painting was much brighter but I feel this darker amber atmosphere fits the scene a whole lot better.
Merry Christmas everyone, and Happy Holidays! I think I’m going to take a three day break and just chill for a while. Hope you guys have a great time.
Based on the drawing I made for this year’s Inktober for day 23. Because watercolor lifts the ink and makes the drawing really muddy, I traced it with my lightbox using only my pencil. I actually had to redo it twice because I was trying to erase the lines and graphite smudges before I started painting but then I couldn’t see the lines anymore… Erasing is ok on some papers, but not on the one I was using this time…
Luckily I still managed to finish the painting today despite a couple of setbacks. One of the biggest ones was the fear of messing up. It’s been a while since I last painted traditionally so that’s always a bit intimidating. But it’s always a matter of just starting. I almost messed it up right out of the gate since I didn’t completely clean the main brush I used (it still had some ink in it). The good things was that I could still lift up the affected area (it was the face…).
I really love watercolors. The look it has and versatility are just amazing.
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