Reflection #14 – October 18

Boo!

 Hehehe…

I greet and welcome you to this month’s reflection, this time: the cold, muddy, spooky October, a month feeling immensely long… Maybe it is because me looking back at it now, it felt like challenge after challenge had passed. It was a stressful month for me, even though I somehow managed to finish a total of 7 Artworks… wow, how did I do that? Especially after so much had gone wrong, how many sketches and concepts I tossed away, so many class test had worn me out so I had to relax by watching movies and playing games. And at the peak of my productivity, Krita stopped working. Hmm. Seriously, looking back at it now, it doesn’t make any sense. But that’s not what I want to break my head about today, fact is, it is HALLOWEEN! babe, and I have been looking forward to this day, yeah! It is the day of the year at which I and my dad are focused to maintain a 4 years old tradition now. Instead of the usual trick or treatin’, or firing up some firecrackers, we carve out a pumpkin in the good ol’ fashion, fill it with charcoals and grill sausages in its skull. Hmmm and even the weather is looking good today, in contrast to the chilly, cloudy and rainy days of the past weeks, I can’t complain. Oh and we’ll also be watching some horror movies together.

 Anyway, let’s pick some artworks to reflect upon, hell, this time I even have stuff to choose from!

Artwork

Souvillaine – Tainted Love [Autumn Special]

The month was pretty much formed by me trying to figure out what to draw as a Hallowen Special. Usually, what I did for them was to create a piece sometime in the month to be sure to release it in time at the given date (I still do that with birthday gifts), so I went with the concept of a withered me in a loving pose… only then I realized my love for this wonderful season. It is not your usual love, it isn’t pretty it isn’t warm. It is best described with: a love-hate relationship between us. I hate the mud, the cold, the death surrounding me, but at the same time, I enjoy the subtle warmth, the winds, the colours and animals preparing for hibernation and that is the reason why autumn is so special to me. Mind you the symbolism of love in this piece: roses, maple leaves, doves, the bow and the heart, all in their own way manipulated.

Zalumnee – The Dark Medium

Just as playing video games relaxes me from school stress, creating characters relieves stress I have from drawing. I am free then, artistically as well as creatively. Drawing Zalumnee was to break out the stress period I had from all the scrapped ideas for the Halloween special. So I picked a species from my to-do list and wanted to draw the secretary bird and practise my skills around a crystal bowl she is holding. Only then came the idea to mind to have a gypsy with her trademark crystal bowl an all the mystery behind her. Unintentionally I really did something for the dark mood of Halloween. I bet all my characters could still show up on a Halloween party despite lacking the usual outfittery. An for some reason (I predict it is the sheer simplicity of the piece) this one is the most popular artwork that I’ve done yet.

Fiară – Souvillaine’s Lover [Halloween Special]

Honestly… I wasn’t sure if I could manage to even work on a Halloween Special once Krita stopped working correctly. The rest of my Watcher Special was a real chore and it probably suffered from it in terms of quality. I knew, I had to look for a new program and found Clip Studio Paint, with which I grew quite accustomed to already. In not any more than 3 sessions, I could complete this in time and to be honest, it doesn’t quite differ from what I’m used to. There’s a few tweaks I still need to make and figure out the different brushes the program provides. But this is a good way I’m standing on, I’m happy that it is working and that I could adapt so quickly. Anyway, this artwork represents my penchant for Chiroptera and tall and lithe body builds. Hmhmhmhm yes I like the outcome of this…

Upcoming Work & Pre-planning 

 The next days will be spent to test out and improve on my understanding of CSP. Then I am planning to do an art trade with the awesome , probably some Vietnam themed artworks too until my inspiration has been exhausted. Maybe I will also redo a very old artwork of mine for my anniversary and maybe there’s a birthday I have to cover up in the meantime. A busy month but I can’t say this one wasn’t and I still managed it somehow… somehow.

Shoutout

Here is where I honour all the wonderful artists I found this month. Don’t hesitate to check their profiles out!

 pookadoodle

The start-off to my shoutout makes a rather unusual artist but with a splendid and very vivid style. Simplistic, colourful and dynamic are the core treats of Leah’s artworks. The contents of the gallery itself are so various that you can’t predict what comes next!

 tithendar

I, adore, those painting skills! Traditional fantasy designs to breathtakingly stunning fantasy artworks, cold, dark and believable. His paintings always stick out from one another… and definitely from the crowd. Sketches have just the right amount of details to be perfectly understandable and when they are detailed… they just melt my eyes away. Seriously, if you have just a grain of sensibility for dark medieval themed paintings, go, watch, now!

 kenket

The last slot for shoutouts this month goes to yet another amazing painter. Tess convinced me at first glance with her work. Warm, saturated colours, high lighting contrasts, on point composition and this unique soft yet very detailed style that gives you an in-depth perspective of the artwork.

Also thank you a ton for reachin’ the 300 mark, it means a lot to me!

That’s it for this month’s reflection!
 See you at the end of November and wish you a wonderful night of festivities!

 ~Souvillaine