Admin Post: Community Check-In for January 2023

[goss]

Tomorrow's the last day of January, and we'd love to have you check in and chat with us. How have things been with you this past month?

Did you sign up for or take part in any fandom activities in January, or have you been working on any personal art projects? Are you currently trying to meet a deadline? Feel free to share upcoming art challenges that have got you excited, any frustrations you've been experiencing, possible goals for the next month, and so on.

Our Round-up of entries for Drawing Challenge #51: BIPOC Diversity in Fantasy will be posted tomorrow, and a new monthly art challenge will go up later in the week. :)

Comments

[yhlee]

In January I decided to quasi-focus on doing head studies, which was definitely a mixed bag but very very useful - this one turned out okay? It's reassuring that since they're studies rather than intended to be final pieces, it's okay to fail and learn from my mistakes.

I also broke and did a personal piece of one of my characters while experimenting with partially tinted lineart: Thank You for the Light. I seem to do best with very limited palettes, unfortunately.

Finally, I'm in the midst of my final project with my art tutor, Erika Lancaster, as she's basically kicking me out of the nest. (Erika has a background in graphic design but switched to fine art and teaching - her specialty is teaching beginners/intermediate students and getting them through basic competency and giving them a grounding in the fundamentals. I obviously have a TON more to learn, but now I have those fundamentals - I was a clueless self-taught n00b - and a much better idea of what to do next.) This is kind of terrifying because my choice of project is a mockup book cover, and the concept involves a picture plane coming out of a picture plane and may well be outside my technical ability even after a year-plus of art lessons, but I guess the only way I find out is by trying! This will probably take me a full two months as I iterate through thumbnails and do studies to test techniques, etc. :] I literally had this illustration concept five years ago and didn't tackle it then because I lacked the skills, and I still think I lack the skills, but at least it will be educational?!

ETA - oh - I did fanart for candyheartsex, but obvs I can't say more than that at this point! XD

Anyway, February will probably be devoted to the final project BUT I'm hoping to focus next on drawing vehicles (cars, airplanes, that kind of thing). I figure before I can draw giant robots/mecha, I really need to learn how to draw more basic vehices.

[mific]

It's great you're sticking with your projects - love the coloured lineart!

[goss]

I am so happy that you found such a good teacher in Erika! It's been a real pleasure seeing your skills develop. Looking forward to the project coming together next month. :)

I'm hoping to focus next on drawing vehicles

Cool! I know you love incorporating machines into your concepts, so that'll definitely be interesting to tackle.

[writedragon]

Wow! That's impressive commitment and I think your limited palette style is really cool.

[facethestrange]

*CHEERS YOU ON* on your final project and all your other art plans! You're doing AMAZING! :D