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    • ?
      A Former User last edited by

      As I figure out how to effectively weave the Chinese papercut motifs in, I dug out some photos of my old papercuts. I have been doing these every Chinese New Year since 2020, which was the Year of the Rat and the start of a new cycle. If I can keep it up till 2032 I will have all 12 animals climbing along my wall 😹

      θ€ιΌ εΌ€θŠ±.jpg
      θŠ±εΌ€ε―Œθ΄΅οΌŒθ΄θΆθ΅·.jpg
      L1390041.JPG
      L1400259.JPG
      ιΌ η‰›θ™Ž.jpg

      Still playing around with how to translate motifs in a negative-positive space aesthetic to one with multiple shades and colors

      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
      • ?
        A Former User last edited by

        ab6f6fcd-4123-45fe-8877-38a126a9ff47-image.png

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        • ?
          A Former User last edited by

          WIP after "cutting out" the motifs
          07-28-zodiac-road-race-wip-3.png

          And the finished piece
          07-28-zodiac-road-race-small.png

          Meekipink jenn 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 2
          • Meekipink
            Meekipink @Guest last edited by

            @JQ Wow, another finished contest piece! This one is so colourful and detailed. I can hear that Chinese zodiac song playing in my head, hahaha, kuai pao, kuai pao!!

            I love your ideas and your rendering style -- and your super fast working speed! My goodness!! I'm barely going to be able to turn one piece in, haha! πŸ˜…

            instagram.com/meekipink

            ? 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
            • jenn
              jenn @Guest last edited by

              @JQ it is so enjoyable seeing your process and all the ideas that you created for the contest. Your papercut skills are out of this world. I think the zodiac animal race idea is delightful, and I love the expressions on all of the animals.

              studiojcd.com
              she/her/hers
              Insta/Twitter: @chengdesautels

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              • ?
                A Former User @Meekipink last edited by

                @Meekipink Thanks for the compliments! And what is this zodiac song that I've never heard of? 😹 The accompanying video is funnily cute.

                Re: the working speed, I wish it was like that all the time, but it's more like I I got lucky with this piece - I could visualize the concept and composition quite clearly at the start and got in a flow fairly easily, and even though the style was experimental it "clicked" readily after a while.

                This was totally not the case for the first two pieces though; there were some points where I felt like I hit the wall or just wasn't in the mood to continue - I'm sure every artist knows that feeling. And sometimes I'm able to keep at it, but sometimes not. Being able to regularly enter a flow state is probably a skill in and of itself and I'm still struggling!

                I hope you'll be able to find your flow with your current piece and your art, and keep at it even when you can't always do it πŸ™‚

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                • ?
                  A Former User @jenn last edited by

                  @jenn Thank you! ^^

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                  • ?
                    A Former User last edited by

                    WIP for my superhero character sheet. I'm not much into the modern-day pop culture superhero genre. imho stories from fantasy and mythology are more interesting and fascinating to me, and as far as I'm concerned the gods and demons from mythology were the superhero OGs before the term "superhero" became a thing. They certainly check the box of having super-human powers (though whether they always use it to do "good" is another question).

                    This character is inspired by bodhisattva Manjusri, one of the well-known bodhisattvas (awakened beings who hold off from attaining buddha-hood to fulfill their vow to deliver all beings from suffering) in various Buddhist traditions and one of the four great bodhisattvas in the Chinese one.

                    manju-character-sheet-wip-1.jpg

                    Rough initial sketches and text layout.

                    manju-character-sheet-wip-2.jpg

                    Initial colours and some finished rendering. Going for fantasy semi-realism.

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                    • ?
                      A Former User last edited by

                      manju-character-sheet-wip-3.jpg

                      manju-character-sheet-wip-4.jpg

                      manju-character-sheet-close-up.jpg

                      Maureen*Henry*Artist 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 2
                      • Maureen*Henry*Artist
                        Maureen*Henry*Artist @Guest last edited by

                        @JQ Wow! Your artwork is spectacular!

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                        • ?
                          A Former User @Maureen*Henry*Artist last edited by

                          @Maureen-Henry-Artist Thanks very much! πŸ™‚

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                          • ?
                            A Former User last edited by

                            manju-character-sheet-wip-5.jpg


                            manju-character-sheet-wip-6.jpg


                            manju-character-sheet-wip-7.jpg

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                            • ?
                              A Former User last edited by A Former User

                              It would probably have been better if I had another day to look at this with fresh/non-tired eyes and do more touch-ups/value-tweaking, but I'm out of time and will have to call this done.

                              Overall I am a weird mixed of satisfied yet unsatisfied with this piece. I jumped into it not really thinking too much about the complexity, and was just happy to be able to paint in a different style after doing so much children's book-ish work recently. After that it proved to be a trial of patience rendering the details (though always satisfying when done!), and then not being quite happy with the fact that it did not turn out as "painterly" as I would have liked, and that I didn't manage to nail the right values and right amount of contrast at the start - kind of feel like I've abused overlay/dodge layers, and spent more time layering and tweaking values then I should have needed to working digitally. I did decide to challenge myself lighting-wise though (dawn-ish, dusk-ish, moonlight) and think it turned out decently.

                              I've practised starting photo study pieces with 3-value paintings first to think more in a painterly/sculpting way vs flatting a line drawing (eg. https://tanjunqi.art/portfolio/studies), but it's clearly going to take more study and practice before I figure out how to smoothly incorporate that into my process, especially for more complex pieces and when drawing from imagination.

                              manju-character-sheet-final.jpg

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                              • ?
                                A Former User last edited by

                                Fresh eyes now make me really dislike the piece for being too flat and "digital", so I had to play around with Krita 5's wet impasto brush bundle. Should have tried it out sooner...

                                09-01-manju-portrait.jpg

                                ArtMelC 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 2
                                • ArtMelC
                                  ArtMelC @Guest last edited by

                                  @JQ even more stunning after the update!

                                  www.instagram.com/art.melc.illo/
                                  www.artmelc.com
                                  I write weekly on mondayblues.substack.com

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                                    A Former User @ArtMelC last edited by

                                    @ArtMelC Thank you! ^^

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                                    • ?
                                      A Former User last edited by

                                      A last-minute submission since I wasn't actually planning to participate this month. But a relatively simple scene struck me as I was working on my book project, so I decided to just do a quick one, and try messing around with Krita's watercolor brushes again.

                                      The workflow is still not as intuitive (certainly not like traditional watercolors) but I guess the end result is reasonable.

                                      09-30-cloud-reunion.jpg

                                      Asyas_illos 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 5
                                      • Asyas_illos
                                        Asyas_illos @Guest last edited by

                                        @JQ I love it sometimes those last minute ideas are the best!

                                        Asyasewardillos@gmail.com
                                        www.Instagram.com/asyas_illos/
                                        https://asyasewardillos.wixsite.com/mysite

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                                          A Former User @Asyas_illos last edited by

                                          @Asyas_illos thank you! Glad you like it πŸ™‚

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