February sketch-a-day

[sholio]

And here is the final version of the sketch-a-day project! Ack, have I really not posted an update since Feb. 7? I meant to do more WiP posts for this!

It was really interesting to do a whole drawing one isolated square at a time -- definitely good practice for my drawing and visualization skills. There are a couple places where my mental plan got a little off track, but overall I'm pretty happy with it, and it was very relaxing to sit down at the end of the day and cross-hatch. It felt something like putting together a jigsaw puzzle.

If you'd like to try it yourself, the March template is here: http://darthneko.deviantart.com/art/March-Sketch-a-Day-2017-666081351. Click on "download" in the upper right-hand corner of the screen, and then print it out, figure out what you want to draw, and do a daily square! (Or two. I did keep getting behind and having to catch up with two or three at a time.) Thanks again to darthneko for making these available. :)

Comments

[muccamukk]

I like the bunny.

[sholio]

Heh, thanks! I ended up with a couple of really boring squares that were basically just grass, so I needed to stick in something to add visual interest. :D

[brightknightie]

For whatever reason, as this post loaded and I saw the illustration before reading a word, what popped into my head was: Wendy Pini, circa the issues that became the second Starblaze volume (the green one).

:-) Thanks for sharing.

[sholio]

Heh, Wendy Pini was probably my biggest art influence as an aspiring young artist, AND I've just been rereading Elfquest recently ... so you're definitely not imagining things. ;)

[st_aurafina]

Oh, it came out great! And I love the animals - it's like those picture books where you hunt for the tiny details.

[sholio]

Thank you! :) I had fun putting those in.

[winter_elf]

that came out really pretty. I saw the blank and was all confused on how in the world one was supposto do a coherent drawing without planning out first. I can understand jumping around for different blocks - but putting it all together... that I just was totally flustered by.

[sholio]

Thank you! :) Yeah, I was nervous about trying this, but pretty happy with how it came out. I've never tried anything like that before.

[nywcgirl]

Wow, I said it before, you are really taented. It turned out fantastic.

[sholio]

Awww, thank you! :)

[sheron]

nice! maybe i'll do the march one ....maybe XD

[sholio]

Good luck if you do! I haven't figured out what I'm going to do for March yet (or if I'm gonna do it at all - but I had a lot of fun with this one!).

[magistrate]

That is very cool! And I'm fascinated and impressed by your ability to pull everything together into what looks like a seamless drawing. (I glanced at the March template, and my immediate reaction was vast anxiety. It's interesting that I preferentially write by jumping all over the place, but the thought of drawing that way unsettles the crap out of me. ...then again, if I had to write in a specific, defined, non-contiguous order, I might flip out at that, too.)

I'm totally interested in seeing more WIPs, if you end up doing the March one. :D

[sholio]

Ha, I was SO nervous looking at that blank page and trying to think of things to draw in the first few boxes that wouldn't completely screw me over later! I actually found it easier than I thought it would be - and I did cheat on a couple of boxes (drawing into the next one over, or skipping one that was really stumping me and coming back to it when I'd filled in a couple of the surrounding ones). I found it an interesting exercise, but a very different experience from writing out of order - which I also do a lot. :D I think perhaps in part because you have more ability to edit writing to make it fit with the surrounding paragraphs. It'd be more equivalent to that thing some people do in fandom where they write a whole novel-sized thing by posting out-of-order short stories from all over the timeline, where you CAN'T go back and edit (much) because it's already out there.

[torachan]

Wow, that turned out really nice!

[goss]

Awesome! :)

[lferion]

Gorgeous!

[darthneko]

omg that's gorgeous! I love your ink style. and eee, the bitty bunny and the fox and kit! Really fabulous ink textures, I'm envious. ^_^

[umadoshi]

Oh, wow! That's beautiful. ^_^

[mific]

Oh I like that enormously! Love the animals peeking out, the mystery of the fallen stones, and the contrast between light and dark foliage. I must do a DW post for mine, I clean forgot to. :)