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 Today’s Inktober is based on a true story. The first time I survived long enough to get a fire hound in Don’t Starve, it was killed by a spider off-screen, so I didn’t see it turn into flame. I had NO IDEA why the world was suddenly burning down around me.
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Today's Inktober is brought to you by dramatic lighting, probably the best outline I've ever drawn for one of the Last Corridor's pillars, and another attempt to do gradient shading without using a soft brush. It looks kind of like the shadows are melting down the pillar - not the effect I originally intended, but one I like all the same. I thought about adding the tile pattern to the floor, but I drew this late on Monday night and will have very little time for drawing on Tuesday, and I just didn't feel like it. Besides, in this context, I kind of like the clean, stark look of the unpatterned floor. I think the rest of Inktober will be done on a "when I want to and have time" basis - hence this picture being published in its own blog post instead of as part of a weekly compilation. Some days, it's been a great impetus for me to draw things I've wanted to draw for a while and hadn't gotten around to, but there have also been days when it's felt more like a very time-consuming obligation, and it's been holding me back from working on the stories that are dear to my heart. So, as my (ridiculously wise for her years) younger sister would say, it's time for me to "murder 'should'", and go with what feels right instead of "shoulding all over myself" with completely unnecessary obligations, haha.  As promised, here's the second round of Inktober art! Day Eight: Star Today's picture is a stranded starfish trying to make its way home. As with the previous one, this was drawn in pen while my sister and I were driving to a family reunion. It was inspired partly by the ongoing analogy in My Fugitive, whose protagonist based her mindset and values heavily on the story of a man who, upon finding thousands of starfish stranded on the beach, started throwing them into the sea. Another man saw him doing this and commented, "You know, it doesn't matter how many you throw; you'll never be able to save them all." The first man smiled at him, picked up another starfish, and tossed it into the ocean. "It mattered to that one." Day Nine: Precious Today's Inktober theme was "Precious", and what's more precious than a baby Asriel holding a plushie of one of his parents' oldest friends? I decided to do this drawing in marker, with a pencil sketch beneath. In retrospect, I should also have put a piece of cardboard beneath, haha; there was so much ink on the table. >_< I need to practice clothing folds more; these ones look all wrong to me. It is now my artistic duty to stare intently at wrinkled clothes! But hey, at least I know where I need to improve. Day 10: Flowing Today's Inktober drawing was inspired by the Willow Maid in this gorgeous song, and is brought to you by the HUGE FREAKING KUDOS I give to people who can draw in marker and not end up with a bunch of unwanted lines and colors overlapping in the wrong places. Sadly, I didn't have time to add a background before I had to run out the door - the whole thing was kind of a rush job - but when/if the mood strikes me, I might make a better version of this, probably digitally. I skipped day 11 to finish a page of Just Cause, but I plan to draw the concept I had for this day's image when I have more time. Day 12: Whale Given that today's Inktober prompt is "whale", it seemed irresistibly appropriate to use a technique I learned from the member of a whale watch crew. Day 13: Guarded I was planning to draw something dramatic, complex and touching for today's Inktober theme, but then I got let down twice in just a few hours, so here's this silly piece of TMI-ish vent art instead. I'll draw my other idea another day, when I have time to do it justice instead of having to rush out the door like I did after drawing this. Day 14: Clock The clock keeps turning backward, and Sans just wants it to stop. But the power to stop it will always be in someone else's hands. Day 15: Weak Today's Inktober is a quickly-drawn ode to my weak time management, the lack of an "undo" button on markers, the fact that I have a steadier hand while drawing digitally than traditionally, and my apparent capacity to forget the presence of collarbones and thus put the neck tendons in the wrong place when I'm distracted by my minor cheekbone disaster. :P On the upside, drawing traditionally DOES force me to tone down on the nitpicking, adapt to my mistakes instead of simply undoing them (the striped shirt hides the fact that one shoulder's line was in the wrong place), and finish the picture in a more reasonable amount of time than I would if I had an undo button to enable the perfectionism I'm working to overcome. It also gives me this chance to internally chuckle at the fact that the panel with the difficult perspective turned out better than the one in an easy pose, haha. Granted, I did the latter without a sketch, because I was deliberately trying to get this one done quickly so I'd have time to work on Just Cause. There are more Inktober entries coming, so stay tuned!
In the meantime, if you want to be the first to see my completed art, and to get exclusive access to works in progress, please consider supporting me on Patreon. If you want me to draw something specific for you, visit this page to get the pricing and details for my commissions. And if you want to get my art on your pillows, mugs, blankets, clothing and more, go here to see my physical merch. I'm participating in Inktober this month! Here are my first seven entries: Day One: Poisonous This is a scene from my novel, Catgirl Roommate, in which Nyla the catgirl was not allowed to steal Sam's mint because she'd already had hers, so she decided to take her mint-acquiring needs into her own hands... by chewing the lid off of Sam's mouthwash. It did not end well. For that matter, neither did drawing this picture; it didn't quite turn out the way I wanted it to. I guess that's what I get for trying to hand-draw something at print resolution. Photoshop hardcore SUCKS at drawing long, smooth lines without a pen tool, and I had to zoom in so far just to get a smooth line that I couldn't properly see what it would look like zoomed-out while I was drawing. I used the pen tool for some of the lines, but having to use it for almost ALL the lines really kills the fun, at least for me. I tried a couple of my other art programs, but they kept on failing at basic tasks until I got heartily sick of working on this picture, haha. At least day 2 turned out better; I drew that one at a more reasonable size. Day Two: Tranquil The characters in this one are Maxwell and the Ancient Guardian from Don't Starve. Spoilers ahead... Once you unlock Maxwell as a playable character, some of his lines indicate that he and the Guardian were once friends, but the Guardian has since been corrupted and driven mad by overexposure to nightmare fuel. Before they were permanently separated, I imagine those two took a great deal of comfort in each other's company. Maxwell was probably the first form of intelligent life the Guardian had encountered since his civilization was destroyed by the overuse of nightmare fuel, and the Guardian was probably the first for Maxwell since the day he lost Charlie. When examining an ancient obelisk, Maxwell comments that "I can't believe I've forgotten how to read this." I suspect the Guardian was the one who taught him how to read it, which makes the loss of that ability all the sadder, since it would mean his knowledge of that language was one of the few pieces he'd had left of his fallen friend. It's the tragic tale of a boy and his pompom rhinoceros, doomed to be separated. In this picture, a much younger Maxwell is enjoying some tranquil time with the Guardian, who is teaching him how to read the ancient stone mural in front of him. Day Three: Roasted Thanks to a plethora of prior commitments both inside and outside the house, I didn't have time to draw something with my graphic tablet before I had to get out the door. Once I had a few minutes to draw, I also lacked a pencil with which to make a sketch. As a result, today's Inktober entry was an adventure in quickly drawing with a pen while waiting in an apartment lobby, with no option to erase lines that didn't end up where I wanted them, and then taking a picture of it with my webcam. As with the first entry, the hapless hairball in this picture is Nyla, the titular character of Catgirl Roommate. When she isn't drinking mint mouthwash, she sometimes manages to set her own tail on fire. Day Four: Spell Inktober's kind of been holding up the production of the next page of Just Cause, so I decided it was time to kill two birds with one stone and use today's entry to do the lineart for one of the panels. Today's theme is "spell", so... Undyne's magic energy spears count as a spell, right? Day Five: Chicken C'mon, Woodie, don't be a chicken! Wigfrid just wants to spar with you. Seriously though, Don't Starve Together (the multiplayer version of Don't Starve) has some awesome quotes, especially when you read them in conjunction with each other. Wigfrid, examining a back scratcher: "Finally, a safe weapon with which to spar with my new allies!" Woodie, examining said back scratcher: "Wigfrid keeps using it to 'spar' with me and Lucy. We're afraid." I mean, let that sink in. Wigfrid is an actress who thinks she's a Valkyrie. She just wants to spar safely. And she's wielding a freaking back scratcher. And yet, the burly lumberjack AND HIS TALKING AX are afraid of her. Day Six: Drooling The monster towers over her, ready to impale her on its icy claws... and Wigfrid is already drooling over the small butcher's shop worth of meat she's about to carve out of this thing. This piece was very experimental in several ways: 1. Drawing in white on a black background. 2. Using the same color for both the outlines and the highlights, and trying not to give Wigfrid a mustache and beard in the process. 3. Using a 1 pixel brush for most of the picture, as opposed to my usual 2 or 3 pixels. Photoshop doesn't have very good anti-aliasing (the thing that stops lines from looking jagged) for 1 pixel brushes, so the lines were rougher than usual as a result. 4. Foregoing some of my usual artistic crutches, such as the Zoom In tool and the Pen tool. Once again, this resulted in rougher lines, but it was also more fun and hands-on, and it forced me to give myself some leeway not to make all the lines perfectly smooth. I think I'm going to do this more often in my side projects, though I'll stick with smooth lines for Just Cause. 5. Using widely-spaced lines for weaker shading as opposed to low-opacity brushes. This is an area where I definitely have room for improvement, since I have next to no experience with it, but it was interesting to stretch myself that way for this picture. Day Seven: Exhausted I had a family reunion today, so I ended up drawing today's and tomorrow's Inktober entries in pen, with no references and an unclear memory of what Wigfrid's sleeves look like, on the road to and from the gathering. Don't worry, I wasn't the driver. :P Today's entry is based on the BS I get up to when I'm playing as the uncompromisingly carnivorous Wigfrid in Don't Starve. My playstyle tends to fluctuate between meticulous, calculating caution and reckless bullheadedness, depending partly on how many resurrection methods I have prepared. (If you die with no resurrection methods in place, it's game over.) I was recently in the Ruins, which is the most dangerous area in the game, and I was mapping a biome with no food sources. I ran out of food, and instead of retreating to resupply, I continued running around until the area was fully mapped, I was actively losing health due to starvation, and I was reduced to using my healing supplies to counteract the health drain. Oh, and I was also being chased by a group of 6-8 Nightmarebeaks and Terrorbeaks, all of which move fast, hit hard, and can take a lot of punishment. I was so badly and constantly outnumbered that all I could do was keep running, heal whenever I got a bit of a lead, and try to get enough of a reprieve to get some food, climb the rope out of the cave, or SOMETHING. That resulted in me imagining the conversation Wigfrid would have with a campmate if she came limping home in that condition, still starving, half dead, and reduced to eating disinfectant to survive (because video game logic). If you like what you see, and you want more...There are more Inktober entries coming, so stay tuned!
In the meantime, if you want to be the first to see my completed art, and to get exclusive access to works in progress, please consider supporting me on Patreon. If you want me to draw something specific for you, visit this page to get the pricing and details for my commissions. And if you want to get my art on your pillows, mugs, blankets, clothing and more, go here to see my physical merch. Most of the time, accidents in Photoshop have weird, creepy, or just plain messy-looking results. But once in a while, you get something cool. While I was working on one of the pages of my Undertale webcomic, Just Cause, I accidentally hid the color and shadow layers in one of the panels, leaving only the outline, face and highlight layers visible. The result was an eerie, glowy, oddly beautiful look at what a couple steps in my drawing process look like by themselves.  To support me as an artist, and to get exclusive access to WIPs and advance viewing of completed chapters, please consider becoming a Patron on Patreon! Commissions Physical merch
Quick Art Tip: Using Glow Effects When the Light Source is Darker than the Object it Glows On5/8/2018 I recently saw a picture in which the artist was trying to use glow effects, but ran into a problem because the shining soul that was casting the light was darker than the shirt it was casting that light on. I gave them a couple tips, and decided to share those tips here, too. 1. When a dark-colored light source is casting light on a non-black object, especially one with a lighter shade than the light source, make the color of the glow slightly lighter than the color of its source. When the light source's color is darker than the object on which it's casting light (like the soul compared to the shirt), it makes it look like the soul is casting pure color or even darkness on the object it's glowing on. 2. Add a lighter shade of the base color to the center of the soul, so it looks more like a light source. Here's a quick demo of what the abovementioned glow effects look like in total darkness and on clothing the color of the shirt they drew, so you can see the difference.  The two souls on the top are both casting light the same shade as their base color, albeit not at full opacity. Notice how the shirt seems darkened.
The souls on the bottom are glowing their base color in the dark, but on the shirt, the glow is lighter than the base color, so they aren't darkening the shirt. I hope that quick art tip helps!  As you could probably guess, there's a story behind this one. A few days ago, my dear friend, Mica Kole, sent me two pieces of great news: One was that her short story had won second place in the Sapiens Plurum contest. The other was that her boyfriend had proposed to her, and she'd enthusiastically said "yes" - by throwing him in the lake and then jumping in after him. As the icing on the cake, all this happened just in time for her birthday. And what better way to celebrate her birthday, her engagement, and her literary victory than with a piece of fan art that includes an in-joke from her proposal story? To my delight, she enjoyed the picture, and gave me permission to share her birthday gift and her great news with my readers. Here's a version without the dialogue, in case you prefer that:  If you want to get the context behind this picture, you can read the 3,000-word short story for free here: http://sapiensplurum.org/2018-2nd-place-winner.html It's about a man whose inability to make basic day-to-day decisions wreaks havoc on his personal life, until he buys a flying robot named Tempest to make those decisions for him. The robot's good at her job, but even she can't do everything for him. Eventually, he's going to face choices that he has to make on his own. How much of this picture is based on the story and how much is based on the proposal, I won't say right now, because SPOILERS. Just go read the story. Go do it. Shoo. And if you want to get early access to stories like that, as well as useful writing tips, don't forget to support Mica on Patreon! Speaking of supporting people and getting cool rewards...If you'd like to get early access to art like this, and exclusive access to works in progress, please consider supporting me on Patreon. If you want me to draw something for you, you can see my commission prices and policies here. And if you want to get my art on your bedding, mugs, wallpaper, or other physical items, take a look at my print-on-demand store on Society6. The Patreon work-in-progress preview for the 34th page of my Undertale webcomic, Just Cause, is ready, and I've got a question for my readers. I've been fiddling with Alphys' head shape, as viewed from the front. The way I originally drew her made it look like someone had taken bites out of her head, but when I switched to having the spikes more centered and mostly hidden behind her head, it didn't quite look right, and one of my most dedicated readers missed the visible head spikes. I think this new design is an improvement on the previous two, and I'd love to get your feedback. Thanks in advance!   Hello, all you awesome people!
I've you've been following my blog for a while, you might have noticed that my update schedule's been a bit weird lately. Mostly because I want to update you on new stuff I make when I make it, but there's only a one in seven chance that I'm going to finish any given project on a Tuesday. After thinking about it for a while, I've decided that I'm no longer going to stick with a weekly blogging schedule. Instead, I'm just going to update this blog whenever I have something new to share, regardless of what day of the week it is. That way, you get to hear about my newest creations as soon as they're done instead of having to wait for the next Tuesday to come around, and I don't feel pressured to come up with a piece of content in time for Tuesday when I want to be working on something that will be finished on Wednesday. (Which, incidentally, the next page of my Undertale fan comic, Just Cause, will be.) Sometimes it might be a little over a week between updates, other times there might be multiple updates in one week. If you want to get notifications via social media when I publish a new story, article, piece of art, or other creation, you can see a list of my social media channels here. Go ahead and pick your favorite one! And if you want to get early access to completed creations, and exclusive access to works in progress, please consider supporting me on Patreon. Thanks for taking this journey with me. I look forward to continuing to share little pieces of my weird inner world with you! |
AuthorStephanie is the author of My Fugitive and several upcoming books. She enjoys connecting with her readers and building a community of fiction fans here on this blog. Archive
February 2019
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