Limited time today again so I decided to do another portrait today, but in exchange I decided to add more details. I had the option to either hatch or ink. And although inking has it’s appeal I decided to go with hatching. When it comes to hair, following the contours just looks better. But on the flip side it takes a while to do. And when working with dip pens, one has the danger of spacing out and smearing the ink. But it’s so worth it.
Looking back at past ink drawings such as my previous attempts at drawing Sayumi Michishige, I have improved quite a bit. I always feel a power up every Inktober.
Today’s prompt is the Sun. I didn’t have any real plans at the beginning but it eventually culminated in Madoka. And I’m so glad it turned out that way. Wasn’t too sure what I would do for the sun, but this form started taking shape as i was drawing it. Covering the page in black took a while…
I had the idea of drawing the Dungeon Meshi crew but I would have a good bit of time to actually do a good job. I’m still currently planning it out. But then I remembered that one time that Goku had to travel the whole world by foot. Using the 3d model really helped me visualize so easily what I wanted.
I started re-watching Psych. Man I love this show. Funnily enough in the first episode they were using binoculars so I decided to draw one of the scenes. Everything is traditionally done but I messed up Gus’s skin by using a really dry Copic marker and in the wrong tone. Thinking back, it might have been better to use an ink wash. I was also contemplating just hatching it all out. but that would be an insane amount of lines to try out some of the ideas I had. So I had to make a choice, redraw it all and hatch it all again or just edit it digitally with Clip Studio Paint. I opted for doing it digitally. Although if I was smarter I should have played around with it digitally first before committing to just doing something irreversible. One other mishap was on Shawn’s hair where I was careless and rested my finger on some fresh ink. Hopefully I won’t be as tired tomorrow.
It’s day 4, I wasn’t too happy with yesterday’s hatching so I was a bit worried for today’s drawing. I decided to draw my own prompt today. I have started watching Omusubi, an NHK drama. The only reason I knew about it was because of Meimi Tamura. I was a bit worried that her role would be limited but luckily she has been a prominent supporting character. I hope it stays that way because her character has been hilarious. I hope this opens more roles for her. Though I selfishly want to hear new songs from her as well.
This time I went for simpler hatching which I’ve noticed works better. I’m also playing around more with what gets more details and what areas would benefit from empty spaces.
This time I decided to draw something outside of the prompts. I wanted to work with hatching. For today’s subject I chose Kiki. Now that I think about it, I draw Kiki a every Inktober. To be fair, I saw a really cute reference picture that gave me ideas. I contemplated whether to draw the actual reference photo or modify it and turn her into Kiki. When I finally decided I also recreated the pose in clip studio to also see how the body would look. By chance the hand gestures also changed as I was posing but I really like it so I kept it. Can’t believe how useful the 3d models are. Now I’m contemplating buying the figma pose figures…
There is this artist named matayoshi that I want to learn from. The hatching is so simple and yet so beautiful.
On another note, I wanted to use bristol paper (the one I mentioned yesterday) but when I was looking at my old bristol book I noticed I only had a few papers left. But I also discovered an old drawing book by Strathmore that had a good number of pages left. Even more since I tend to cut them up into even smaller pieces. I felt that it was better quality then the other paper I used yesterday and gave it a try. And sure enough it didn’t have the same problem of my maru pen cutting the fibers… Who knew I had the solution to this problem all along. I should buy more of this paper when I get the chance.
My brother first told me about the passing of Akira Toriyama yesterday. I didn’t have time to process that till I came back from my other job today. Seeing videos of other Dragon Ball fans around the world and also listening to Oda Eichiro’s words regarding his passing seriously made me tear up. He is a great inspiration both in art and also in what I believe to be his best and most influential story, the original Dragon Ball. It is one of those series that I love going back to. Both to re read and also to learn through his art style. Akira Toriyama and Goku are both inspirational to me and have seriously helped push me forward in hard times throughout life. I remember making friends and having lots of fun talking about Dragon Ball, or pretending to be characters from the series.
This last Christmas my brothers gifted me the manga box set of Dragon Ball and it almost made me tear up in front of my family. I will always remember the happiness and inspiration that Akira has brought me and the world.
Thank you for everything. Rest in power Akira Toriyama.
October and Inktober has arrived once again. I have some ideas of what I want to try drawing this year, but as for what the first drawing would be I couldn’t really come up with an idea. Looking through my references and trying to find this cosplayer that I forgot the name of, I came upon another account that reminded me of Karin from Karin or as we know it here in the states, Chibi Vampire. I really want to re read the series this month. It’s been a while since I have done traditional work. But when it comes to drawing, it definitely is much more natural and easier for me to do it traditionally. I wanted to use some hatching on this drawing but I forgot that my maru pen worked really poorly with the paper I used. I’ll have to have that in mind for future drawings.
If you haven’t read Karin, do check it out. I highly recommend it.
