Finishing Drills for a Chronic Dabbler.

[demotlj]

@animatosoor Once you put the words with this, the illustration really came alive. I think you captured the mystery and eerie quality of the poem as well as the child's persistent questioning.

[animatosoor]

I've started painting this vignette for "Night Voices." I'm a bit unsure if this whole thing should just be in black & white or monochrome given the subject matter, but I thought I should decide only after at least trying colour. Knowing myself, I'd happily just leave it as a drawing, and it would be a very sneaky cop-out of the colouring process. XD

[Jonas Zavacky]

@animatosoor oh I love this. It is super engaging. I think the colors are lovely and are playing well with the subject matter.

wants me to illustrate some text as well hehe.

[animatosoor]

@Jonas-Zavacky Oh, do it, haha! I toyed with the idea for so long, and now I'm doing a #100illustratedtexts challenge that I've set for myself just so I can take some of the fear and mystery out of the process. It's going to be a long road, but that's okay by me.

Thank you for your note on the colours. I will post more updates as I go along.

[animatosoor]

Progressing with value and colour studies for the double-page spread:

There are very subtle differences between #1 and #2, I realise. I definitely want it to be daytime, but don't really know what other colour palettes to explore to convey the mood I want apart from these two. I'm going to be pushing further to see what other colours I could use before I decide on one.

(Brutally honest) critique always welcome!

[demotlj]

I like the colors in #2 better especially on the bear and rabbit. They are slightly more vivid and give them more form. You might want a little water showing through the frame of the back legs to connect it more to the stream. It took me a second to see where the water was coming from. Overall, though, I like the style of this a lot.

[animatosoor]

Thank you so much, @demotlj. I'd actually completely overlooked that portion of the river (where it flows down the scaffolding on the left). I've filled that in now.

This is where the coloured version stands now. I'd love to hear views on what's not working.:

[demotlj]

@animatosoor That looks better and makes better sense of the river although the bottom back leg of the scaffolding should be showing since the water would be behind it. And if I'm understanding the scaffolding, there should be another leg midway in the back to hold up that shelf, right? I actually hadn't paid that much attention to the scaffolding before so I don't know how important it is, but now that I'm focused on it, I'm noticing the structure more and it looks like it needs some legs on the bear side of it.

[animatosoor]

Thank you for pointing that out, @demotlj! You were right about the scaffolding.

I've worked on this by drawing through the box-like structure.:

And this is without those guidelines:

More problem-solving in colour today! This piece is kicking my butt.

[demotlj]

@animatosoor The scaffolding is much better. I think the picture is going to be great and really worth the time your are putting into it.

[animatosoor]

I'm starting to feel really stuck with this piece. This has also been a very rough period with my mood - mostly because of all my self-doubt, and my monkey brain going "When is your portfolio of 12 strong pieces ever going to be ready?"

[NelsonYiap]

@animatosoor Really loving the expressions on the animal characters. Fantastic! Followed you on Insta too You can do it

[animatosoor]

Hi @NelsonYiap - thank you for being so supportive! I really appreciate it.

On days like these I tell myself "Just keep truckin'." I'll continue doing the work I need to do, haha.

[Heather Boyd]

@animatosoor

lols Right now I am working on 3-4 works I am happy with. Your 12 is definitely in a league ahead of me. If you love it and you grew from it (and it's consistent -haha my issue) include it.

[animatosoor]

@Heather-Boyd Aw it's great that you're happy with the pieces you're working on so far! All the best - I'm sure you'll develop a lovely portfolio.

Nah, I'm not ahead in any way, hahaha - with my nagging self-doubt it often feels like I'm stagnating, strangely. You're right that if we get growth out of this process, that's an indicator that we're doing something right. As for consistency, that's something I need to keep in mind for my work as well.

[animatosoor]

Thank you, @demotlj. This is my first time working on anything like this, so it's been a bit unnerving.

[animatosoor]

It's Monday here, and this is my full-bleed art!

With this one, I went through phases of hating it, and then sort of liking it, and then hating it again, and now I've settled on a middle ground: "Painting, you were a new experience, and you've taught me a lot."

While this was meant to be my final, I would still like to hear any views on how this might be improved.

[MichaelaH]

@animatosoor I would reduce the right plant, so that you can have place on the top of the right Page for the Text. Maybe little more detailed lines on the animals? It is bit different in style than the other pictures. But the style is lovely for a children’s book.

[animatosoor]

@MichaelaH That's great feedback - thank you. I'm going to work on those changes.

As for the style: you're right, this one is completely without line work, which makes it quite different from the other pictures I've made as of late. I'm going to see if I can give it another pass to keep it more consistent. I'm still finding my footing when it comes to painting style, that's for sure.

Thanks once again.

[animatosoor]

Oops, I just realised that I'd completed two paintings the last week, but had only posted the double-page spread above. This was the other one.