I wasn’t too happy with the first version of my painting of Marin Kitagawa, it just didn’t pop. I wanted Marin to glow because of the sunlight coming from the window. Aside from that, I also added a couple of more details around the whole painting.
The original painting can be seen here:
Hasta la proxima,
-NUBE
Akemi Homura before the transformation and after the Madoka tragedy. Haven’t decided how to paint yet.
Hasta la proxima,
-NUBE
Line art from inktober 2021 day 11.
As we learned from chapter 5.5 of Astral Buddy, Misaki exercises (or at least tries to) in her apartment. Alone. For this reason I chose this setting. Just using the basic layout in the manga I decided to go with the point of view of looking towards the window. Although it was a cool idea, I wasn’t really thinking about the window at all.
So as I was painting the floor, and the wall I was feeling really good because I was doing it with no references and just instinct. But when I came to the window it finally hit me. The window has to have a reflection… For that I did have to see references to try and learn how I can make it work. So for that I started working in sections, painting over each section at a time. The base layer was just blue, then I started working with the reflections. I started with the floor then the bed which would be in front of Misaki. The second part was reflecting the rooms walls. For that I used the wall’s colors but mixing them with the blue base to get a translucence look. From there I played with lighter light transfer to emphasize the furthest part of the room to a more solid color of the wall to showcase how close the ceiling is to the window. Looking at the references online, the lights outside (in cityscapes) are quite vibrant and go through the reflections. Looking through the To Aru anime, the window lights (from the skyscrapers) are usually turquoise. The final part of the window reflections were about Misaki Shokuhou, but first I had to paint her.
I didn’t have much of a plan to paint Misaki, so I started painting her exposed body first. Whit the vase idea done, I started working on the sweat beads. Luckily I had an idea of how it looks like on surfaces thanks to the painting I did of Momochi.
That can be seen here:
The second section I painted were the shorts, luckily this was pretty straight forward. I decided to work on the shirt next because I wanted to figure out how to do it. I started with a base light warm gray and started playing around with lighter areas (the folds and shirt bumps), then for the areas that are tight on the body, I made see through to simulate the sweat. In these areas I played with the way light reflects off the wet shirt and the areas that are in the shade.
For the third section I painted the hair. With Misaki mainly painted, I started playing around with the painting and added more sweat around the body.
This time I wanted to try out making the line art more translucent (I think I put it at around 30% opacity) and adding an outline in a layer underneath with colors that correspond to each part of Misaki. I’m going to be playing around with this style more.
Hasta la proxima,
-NUBE
Despite the end of last year being quite dry, the start of this year has given us quite a bit of snow. I quite like the athmosphere this creates which is why I decided to use it for the painting this time around. The line art was done for Inktober 2021 day 27 which can be seen here:
The model for this painting is Sayumi Michishige. I really love the outfit and colors. I debated on how I wanted Sayu’s colors to be overall. Light and faded, or darker, affected by the scenery. I opted for the darker route.
Reference photo of Sayu can be seen here (7th Photo):
Hasta la proxima,
-NUBE
I went for an 80s anime painting style this time. Doing simple colors can really pop, I need to practice in more simplistic coloring styles. I have a couple of artists that I can learn from. As for this specific drawing, I want to try painting it in my style as well. That will be a future project.
The original drawing was done for Inktober 2021 day 29. I remember that I really wanted to emphasize the more round designs that Toriyama used to use back in the days, a style that much prefer. The painting really helped emphasize the curves which I love.
Still annoyed that Lunch has been forgotten.
Hasta la proxima,
-NUBE
I finally painted my Asuka Kato drawing. This was first drawn for Inktober 2021 day 15. I felt Asuka was too lonely so I added Hina and Uchi. Thinking back, I guess I was imagining Asuka eating in a Ramen Stall or something. But I really liked the Ramen chapter so I decided to have them go back this time in winter. I accidently painted Hina and Uchi in their summer uniforms. Luckily it was a quick fix since they were drawn digitally. Once I had the background and Hina/Uchi painted, I then finished the painting with Asuka.
In this scenario, Yuri actually did get a seat next to Tomoko this time (when I read that chapter, I felt that…). Uchi is of course fixated on Tomoko who is on Asuka’s right (our left). Nemoto being able to read the mood, has noticed us looking at the super cute Asuka eating some ramen. Hopefully this time Asuka doesn’t have any problems again finishing it. One of the reasons I really love Watamote is that even beautiful and I guess idealized people like Asuka are shown to be, well, human. Having to deal with the same problems we all face, be it physical or emotional.
Hasta la proxima,
Nube
I really quite liked Chinami’s 2022 photo so I decided to draw her. She always has such pleasing and cheerful expressions. That’s always really refreshing.
Hasta la proxima,
Nube
There’s this artist named Criisalys that I really like. I’ve seen the art a while ago being used by Macross 82-99. I’m surprised it took me this long to find the actual artists Twitter and Instagram. It can be found here:
I want to try out this style. The model for this will be the beautiful Miyabi Natsuyaki. There are always great reference photos to choose from, but ended up going with this one:
I really like this look, it’s very Aesthetic and would fit with the coloring style I’m trying to emulate.
One other notable thing to mention has to do with my new Xp-Pen tablet/monitor. So I have a set up of multiple monitors and have now added monitor profiles to switch some of them off. This has the added effect though that some of my windows get scrambled, including what monitor is selected for my Xp-Pen. But I noticed that I could move the cursor on other monitors. Today I decided to try it out and it works great (I was cleaning up the drawing). There doesn’t seem to be pressure though… but for simple and quick fixes/painting this works out great.
Hasta la proxima,
-NUBE
This is the painted version of the drawing I made for Inktober 2021 day 04. I still wonder if I should have changed Chizuru’s expression to that of a more serious one. But surely she has fun playing around with Iori and Kyo.
Line art can be seen here:
Hasta la proxima,
-Nube
The original version was uploaded back in November 2020, but I feel that it was lacking. I now feel a bit more confident to go back to it and update it with my current skills. Not only did I change some colors but I changed the sleeves and chest area. The background was also touched up. The right eye (what appears to us as the left eye) was drawn too far down the face so Athena looked a bit deformed. Aside from that, I also changed the gaze so it appeared that she was looking at us. I should seriously actually render paintings more, I’ve been leaving them too rough.
Original can be seen here:
Aside from seeing the original piece, you can learn what inspired me for this particular painting.
Hasta la proxima,
-NUBE
Darkcloud Xero's Online Shop 