Good morning. This is Kunikuni. Last week, I went to a birding spot with a big camera with a telephoto lens. The idea was to take pictures of birds and use them as reference materials for my paintings. If I draw a picture based on the photo I took, I can publish it as an original work. And I can post them clearly without any indication of the source. However, I could not take good pictures then.
I could not photograph the birds. So, I made a digital color sketch based on a still life photo.
I look back at the review notes I keep for each drawing. It is about the illustration I published on April 18 of this year. It was a daunting task with many parts.
I painted this picture in a hurry, but carefully. The reason why I was in a hurry was because a popularity contest for the game's characters was being held. If you submitted fan art, you had a chance to have it featured on the special voting page. I managed to complete it during the period, but it was very last minute, so I couldn't confirm whether it was posted on the special site or not.
I painted one step more light and one step more dark than usual. First of all, there are the shadows of the characters, and then the shadows in the car and the light coming in. Because of this extra step, it was difficult to manage the layers of shadows.
As an expression of the highlights in the hair, I painted a wide range of white flashes. I think this gives a more modern look than the so-called "angel ring" glossy expression. However, her hair color was originally light, and I could not place very large white splashes, so I think it was not effective.
After all, it was hard to draw her fuzzy hair. Only the hair was layered rough about three times. I also made some creative changes. I divided the hair into three sections (upper, middle, and lower) so that the hair in the back would be well balanced. The lower the section, the longer the strands of hair. This ingenuity was successful.
Rough stage of this illustration
The way the eyes are drawn is too much like the standing drawing. I looked at the material too much. The sunglasses make it look better, but without them, it looks like a copy and paste. Next time, I would like to add my own flavor without being limited to the original work.
The eyes look too much like the original game artwork. I relied too heavily on the reference material. The sunglasses saved me from a complete duplication, but if not for them, it would have looked like a copy and paste. Next time, I would like to add my own flavor without being limited only to the original work.
I was able to work hard on this picture because I had the goal of getting it on the fan voting page. It is not that I usually don't work hard. But I felt more motivated because I had a clear goal rather than just wanting to be good at something or wanting to get a reaction on social media. I hope to find a moderately high goal in the future.
