The concept of 'eat' evolved out of a totally different goal as you can see in the process video. I saw a nice moment between a couple in the bathroom that sparked the inspiration for this story, yet I was not sure what reference in terms of object, animal, or food would guide the art direction, as it commonly does.
I started using washbasin pics, fish tanks, and even faucets, but none of...
2024-08-16 16:00:13 +0000 UTC
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Haven't you stared at a blank canvas with the intention of drawing or painting a subject, yet found this task impossible? You know that you want to paint a city, a knight, or simply an apple, yet there is no way to even start.
This is what many artists, especially beginner artists, struggle with. The problem is not just your execution skills; it’s the information stored in your brain, y...
2024-08-13 18:59:36 +0000 UTC
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This week, I revisited the idea that I had let go of last week, the one I failed to deliver. Mostly because I had such a great amount of references saved already with this outfit theme from old time China, kind of romantic.
It was supposed to be a story about "pen and ink," but the composition was not there yet. I listed all kinds of characteristics of pen and ink, like writing, so the id...
2024-08-09 16:00:17 +0000 UTC
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A few days ago, I was answering some of your messages, and one patron asked me for advice on how to regain the social media popularity he had lost and how to meet new artist friends. This question led me to share a few thoughts with him on how to address this issue, and I figured it would be good to share with others who might have the same concern.
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About Social Media Reach
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2024-08-06 18:54:15 +0000 UTC
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Making art is funny. I've created several ways to come up with concepts effectively, even on bad days, but during the process of this illustration, I was fairly blocked for a whole day. I'm not sure if it was the heat or simply one of those days.
Right before falling asleep, I imagined a picture of a small child in a red Japanese dress, practicing samurai moves, and a big old man in the b...
2024-08-01 16:00:00 +0000 UTC
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Hey everyone, I see plenty of artists struggling with rigid poses, angle views in their compositions, and boring narratives, so today I want to share some tips on how to bring dynamism to your drawings! Let's dive in.
Dynamism, in this sense, means adding a bit more movement through different points in your composition. If you successfully add at least three of these tips to your pieces, ...
2024-07-30 18:52:38 +0000 UTC
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What I find interesting about this process is how I use three key aspects of the onion concept to develop a quick story with visual cues.
The first is the fact that onions make people cry. This universal truth makes the story very understandable. I just needed a common reason for why people cry and used the main character embodying this reason, in this case, the typical Don Juan trying to...
2024-07-26 16:00:14 +0000 UTC
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Hey everyone! Here are some important updates for today.
Patreon Content
Some new patrons have been asking for tips about topics I've already discussed in past articles, and many of them don't have the resources to subscribe to higher tiers. So I've decided to unlock content from previous years. Here's what you will find depending on your tier:
Golde...
2024-07-23 16:24:16 +0000 UTC
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Hey everyone,
This illustration took two days to complete. I struggled quite a lot with the armor! Initially, I was looking for an excuse to paint armor and metal material. Starting from that point, I searched for a casual object that shared at least some similar characteristics. A smashed can was just perfect, as it gave me the idea of making knights fighting or, in this case, one of the...
2024-07-19 16:00:13 +0000 UTC
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Hey everyone! In today's post, I want to briefly explain how I paint metal, specifically armor metal. Let's dive in.
Shape
The difficult thing about metal is not precisely the lighting or colors but the shapes in which these values and colors will be positioned. For a quick reference, let's use a sphere as an example and by the end of the article, we'll use more com...
2024-07-16 18:46:38 +0000 UTC
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So! Many people seemed to strongly resonate with my last illustration "Care," so here's a little bit of the process behind it.
I focused on creating a female carnival character with a long cape matching the moth design in the reference. Eventually, I ended up with a drawing, but it felt a bit weak, with not much to say besides the costume design and maybe a knife I threw in there at the e...
2024-07-12 16:00:09 +0000 UTC
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Hey everyone! Here are some tips for approaching references for anatomy studies.
Body Weight
Start by asking where the body is resting its weight. Sometimes dynamic poses have the weight resting on one leg. Certain characteristics of the leg that carries this weight include a straight leg with the hip side being higher in relation to the other side. Additiona...
2024-07-09 19:00:07 +0000 UTC
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Hey everyone!
This time I chose a very simple and casual object for character design: a toothbrush. The electric toothbrush was a perfect case for an android-like character, and the white standard one is its companion. Of course, I needed to add some extra concepts, so I decided to include something related to this theme, like fairies. I don't often create fantasy costumes, so I chose to...
2024-07-05 16:00:15 +0000 UTC
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Hey everyone! A few days ago, someone was struggling to make the eyes the way I do it. I figured it was more a perspective thing than shape anatomy. Since I've covered eye shapes and then jumped straight to 2024-07-02 18:57:43 +0000 UTC
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Hi there!
Doing these kinds of studies is extremely useful for integrating new ways to capture reality. I guess it's a humbling experience, especially when you have been creating things from scratch for a while. It reminds you how important it is to keep practicing to improve!
I kept this process very simple since these series were mostly practice studies, but as you can see, I ende...
2024-06-28 16:00:54 +0000 UTC
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Hey everyone,
Back in the old days, to improve my skills, I used to pick random references, paint them, and try different techniques with colors, textures, lighting, etc. I stopped doing this, but today I wanted to give it a try with no clear meaning behind the series. I think I was looking for some kind of "break" from creating new characters every week. Don't get me wrong, I love doing ...
2024-06-25 18:51:05 +0000 UTC
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Once I found four interesting references to use as a base in terms of gesture and costume design, I needed inspiration from a non-related subject (animal, food, object, etc.) during the initial phase of the drawing. I chose the octopus and pufferfish because I could envision them in the character's shape. As you will see in the process, I integrated elements like the spines or tentacles into bo...
2024-06-21 16:00:08 +0000 UTC
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The goal of today's practice is to allow you to focus on aspects of character design that might be blocked by a lack of confidence when building gesture, anatomy, or costume shape drawings from scratch. By using a reference to address the previously mentioned steps, you will not only slightly practice these elements but also put most of your energy towards character design stylization, adding e...
2024-06-18 19:00:05 +0000 UTC
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What I think many of you will find valuable about this process is how I slowly build a narrative out of very random references and also make adjustments to the versions of the studies I use, mostly changes in illumination, colors, and compositions. This type of treatment is very useful for those trying to create a concept art portfolio or even an illustration portfolio, adding that unique twist...
2024-06-14 16:00:25 +0000 UTC
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Learning art is tough, especially if you don't know where to start. Today, I'd like to share how I pick my references for study, depending on the skill I want to develop. Let's make it quick:
References For Improving Your Drawing Skills!
With drawing, I like to call it "shape" skills since you use line art to build the surface of shapes like body anatomy, ...
2024-06-12 15:04:06 +0000 UTC
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In the previous post, I shared the overall process structure of this portrait series "geckos," yet there are a few things I felt differently about personally.
For a start, I noticed how after stressing over the first character sketch, my subsequent character sketches developed quicker and felt much better. I think this was because the first character (black gecko) was supposed to be the f...
2024-06-07 17:06:28 +0000 UTC
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It's been a while since I’ve done portraits only, so this time I wanted to explore some visually nice ideas. Today, I'll share with you my process behind these pieces so you can follow the steps. Let's dive in.
Step 1
A series of characters with something in common. In simple words, I just jump on Pinterest searching for one picture I could develop a series from. ...
2024-06-05 15:17:59 +0000 UTC
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Before painting, I often make a list of points about what the characters are about, but the day I did this piece I woke up with a particular character type in my mind instead of a specific narrative or character motivation. This character type was a dark-skinned female with white hair, and I imagined her dressed in an office outfit. That's why my process started with brush strokes and colors in...
2024-05-31 16:00:19 +0000 UTC
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Building characters with compelling personalities involves understanding their motivations and how these drive their actions. Here are five tips to help you create characters that truly come to life.
1. Define Character Motivation
To craft a character with a vivid personality, start by defining their motivations. Understanding their core motivations will help you bu...
2024-05-29 18:56:05 +0000 UTC
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Recently, I've noticed how influenced by comedy my compositions are. I like to create dark, cute, and dangerous characters, but at some point in the process, I get stuck. I feel something is missing; I just don't know what. Then, suddenly, the ideas that seem to complete the puzzle tend to be funny ones, those that make me laugh a little.
It has been so obvious for so long that it feels a...
2024-05-24 16:00:17 +0000 UTC
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Today I wanted to try something different, another topic you guys suggested: 'how to paint food illustrations.' So, this time, I chose different kinds of food and recorded the process for you to check out my approach for each.
The process is very simple and similar to my structure in character design. I define the shape with lines, apply colors, then values, and finally some extra values ...
2024-05-21 17:07:50 +0000 UTC
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The first hour of this illustration was a mistake well, not a mistake really, as it helped me understand what NOT to do. The initial idea I had for a lime character was a soldier. Although visually interesting to me, this concept was insufficient as it shared little relation to the lime, besides the color. So, I went to bed and hoped for a good idea the next day, with a fresh mind.
While ...
2024-05-17 16:00:10 +0000 UTC
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Someone suggested in our last poll, 'how to design a character with the intent of them being part of the same world'.
This is an interesting subject and something I've been doing for the past couple of years as part of worldbuilding for my personal projects. I think the overall feeling that a character is part of ...
2024-05-15 16:01:17 +0000 UTC
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Because I was writing an article about drawing legs and feet, I thought it would make sense to create characters inspired by muscular animals, horses for instance. I chose basketball as a second layer for this concept based on the sport's popularity and the athletic look of these kinds of professionals, plus I think it would be a great excuse to make interesting color choices in t-shirts, short...
2024-05-10 16:00:15 +0000 UTC
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I see many of you asking me to share an article for 'how to draw [insert anatomy part]'. Since I've shared plenty about the upper part of the body, let's continue today with the lower part: legs and feet.
I took the liberty of recording this particular session in which I approach two processes. One is drawing legs from imagination, and the other is using references. I did this because my ...
2024-05-08 18:53:45 +0000 UTC
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