𝓡𝓮𝓼𝓹𝓮𝓬𝓽𝓼❀ | Oc Fan Art |

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Edit: Wow! Thank You For The Featured!

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What’s this???? Fan art that isn’t of Kawaki????? What a surprise! Quite frankly I’m just as surprised as you, I’m surprised that I finished a drawing that isn’t of Kawaki. Normally I’d lose interest, but for some reason, I felt “Attached” to this illustration. It’s likely because it’s of my original character but I’m just surprised that my unmotivated brain could stick around to finish this illustration. With all bafflement and surprise aside, Here’s the newest illustration of my original character, Kai Nishida.

I started sketching about a week ago, I was chilling on the couch while watching my brother play Mario one late night. I felt like sketching without worrying about whether or not it would turn out well. I had already planned out this illustration days prior, I knew that I wanted to draw something “Moody” and sentimental. So, that’s how this drawing came to life. I wanted to officially draw Kai myself, and I wanted to draw some flowers. I’m terrible at drawing them, and I’m still learning about flowers and how to draw them accurately. So this was great practice. This was my second time drawing flowers, I had drawn a bunch of different flowers for my mom on Mother’s Day, so I felt somewhat confident in drawing them. Kind of.

Here’s a bit of lore for this illustration, Kai is paying respects to his parent’s grave, mostly his mother whom he had a great relationship with before that dreadful mission that had snatched her away from him years ago. He visits their graves regularly, Each time bringing flowers to show that he still cares. Speaking of flowers, Both of these flowers have different meanings. The white lilies represent “Peace”, Like many plants, peace lilies carry symbolism. The peace lily's meaning is associated with sympathy, healing, hope, purity, and—naturally—peace. The plant is commonly given as a gift to those who have lost a loved one. Next, the “Amaryllis” These stunning flowers are believed to mean pride, strength, and determination as they stand tall above all other winter blooms. The Amaryllis is the symbol for the Nishida clan, That’s one of the reasons why Kai incorporates the Amaryllis in his bouquet. Their meaning plays a huge role as well. I’m happy with how this turned out, it’s not perfect, but I really like it. Now, let’s get into the progress photos.

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The Progress Photos:

The Line Art: The Sketch: The Coloring Progress: Brushes Used: Proof: The Background: The Speed Paint Video: References:

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The Sketch:

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I started by sketching my reference photo, it took me a while to figure out how to draw the nose and lips. The side profile is always the hardest part for me to draw. It’s the bane of my existence.

Like the majority of my sketches, the sketch in the beginning is very loose. And messy. I always sketch out a funky-looking “Half Of A Stick Person” just to get the pose right. “A Skeleton” if you will. The sketching process isn’t anything exciting- Just plan scribbles and chicken scratches. I tend to sketch very loosely, I usually sketch better and more accurately if I’m sketching loosely. I’m quite heavy-handed, So I can only sketch so lightly without making things stiff. While In the sketch phase, I constantly flip the canvas to make sure that everything looks alright and not wonky. Whenever I flip the canvas I adjust whatever needs adjustments and then I flip it back to see if it made any difference. Sometimes the “Flipped Version” looks better than the original version. Crazy how that sometimes works eh?

After I laid down the “Skeleton Sketch” I went in and brought out the lines that were “Better” than the others. I make a new layer and lower the opacity of my first layer (The Sketch Layer), and I start going over it again and bring out the lines that give me the results that I am looking for. Afterward, I usually fix any errors in my first sketch whenever It needs a bit of adjustment. Like sizing the head down or adjusting the eyes and nose. I make a lot of last-minute adjustments. Whenever I sketch out my drawings I paint the canvas a light gray color so the bright white background won’t mess with my eyes. Oh, and just in case you are curious, For sketching I use a “Ink Pen Brush”. It’s my favorite brush for sketching. I like the rough texture it gives. I might share a screenshot of the list of brushes I regularly use.

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The Line Art:

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I HATED inking his hair, for some reason, I really had a hard time with lining the strands of hair. Maybe because of how short his haircut is? It was so bad :sob: , But it is what it is, I wanted him to have shorter hair. I’m regretting my decision, just a bit. The body doesn’t look that good either tbh, I go in later on and adjust the position a little bit. It’s not perfect and I try not to look at it for too long, But it could’ve turned out worse. So much worse.

As Usual I changed the color of the line art last minute. I switched it from black to a multi-colored liner. It’s a personal preference I’ve picked up recently for my style. It’s barely noticeable. I like changing the colors of the line art on the face, the nose, the eyes, And the mouth. Sometimes just straight-up black liner looks too harsh on certain drawings and in certain areas. Whenever I do change the color of the liner I usually change the color of the lines for the eyes, Hair, Mouth, Nose, Hands, And clothes if I think it needs it. I also erase some of the bulk from my lines. That’s normally around the hair or face. In certain areas like the chin or neck, I keep the lines a little thicker.

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The Coloring Progress:

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The coloring phase wasn’t too terrible, I didn’t have a lot of trouble with shading/rendering everything. The clothes weren’t exactly what I call “Fun” or “Easy”. I always struggle with rendering clothing or fabrics, they’re too flowy or hard to make accurate regarding the different textures. The hair was a lot of fun, I’m trying out a new technique for rendering hair and strands of hair, it takes a little less time to finish but I like the way it looks after I’ve finished adding all the different layers.

I attempted to incorporate more blue tones in this illustration, I wanted to make it more “Moody” Plus, I wanted to use blue tones and experiment with my style a little more. This piece was strictly about me having fun and letting loose, I didn’t want to stress myself out by trying to make EVERYTHING look perfect. I just wanted to enjoy my music as I worked. And I think that it turned out well. At first, shading the skin gave me some trouble, Nothing that made me want to yank my hair out. But it wasn’t a cakewalk. Oh, and as you can probably tell that I changed the position of the flowers last minute. I didn’t like how close they were and it drove me crazy.

The flowers look pretty decent, They aren’t the most realistic, but I like how they turned out. They add a nice pop of color to the piece. I wish that I could’ve added more shading to the individual flowers to add some depth. Meh, Maybe next time.

As you probably can see from my progress photos is that I like to color and shade my drawings in a semi-realistic style, i don’t go overboard with my rendering as it can start to look creepy! I Love coloring in a semi-realistic style as it fits my overall art style the most opposed to the flat Anime shading. I don’t add crazy details like individual pores- or individual freckles/moles. I like adding a subtle lash or individual hairs on the brow or the silhouette of the hair. I add different textures with different brushes that are available to me in my tool belt. I use a mixture of hard brushes and soft brushes. I also use the airbrush for the first of shading. I use it to add a top layer of warmth to my coloring. Like yellow, orange, or blue. It mostly depends on what color palette I’m working with.

Adding the different textures was a lot of fun. For some reason adding dirt is a lot of fun. As I normally mention, Is that I want more textures and liveliness in my pieces. So I use an abundance of different textured brushes to achieve the look that I want. I also use the “Blur Tool” often whenever I’m shading. I usually have it set on a low setting so I won’t overdo it and cause everything to mix in and look muddy. I use the blur tool for my background needs as well. Another brush that I use regularly is a “Flat Hair Brush” for the hair texture in all of my drawings. I add different layers to hopefully mimic the appearance of layers and strands found in hair. It’s nothing too fancy, But it’s time-consuming. I use a “Water-Color” brush for most of my shading. It gives a more raw painterly texture that I personally love for my illustrations, I had to be careful with how I use it as I don’t want the colors to become all muddy and messy. It’s really easy to overuse and make your drawing look muddy and gross. A dear friend of mine gave me tips for rendering skin tones, She suggested using peach colors and some different shades like orange or even a subtle red. It’s helped me a ton with my shading. I even add some blue hues in my skin tone rendering just to add some realism. Amino won’t pick up on that small detail, unfortunately.

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Proof And Background:

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This is a long art post I apologize for the lengthy-ish texts and photos. Amino is gonna have a great time processing these photos. Hence why I write down my progress ahead of time before I even start/finish my new art projects. You just can’t trust Amino sometimes! But for proof purposes, I need to add as much detail and information as possible so that I’ve got reliable proof of my work. I’ve even added a different watermark on my drawings so that it’s a little bit more difficult to snatch up my work. Might as well make it difficult for art thieves right? It’s not exactly an investable tactic and I know that, But I’d rather be safe than sorry. Nonetheless, I’m proud of my “Homemade” watermark that I made on PicsArt. It just appears so professional. Of course, I still use my “Old” signature. I still use it because I also post my drawings on Twitter. I have a different name on Twitter, therefore I don’t want anyone getting confused. So I still use my signature with my watermark. If you’re curious, I made my watermark on the editing app called “PicsArt”, it’s a very useful app that I use frequently. It’s come in handy countless times.

The background isn’t anything too fancy, I wanted to use muted shades of blue and gray to add some contrast against Kai. I wanted the background to mimic a gray and rainy sky, so I debated whether to add some raindrops to the background and the foreground. But I decided against it. I didn’t want to make the mistake of making the piece look too busy, I wanted to keep it plain and simple. Luckily I had enough restraint to keep everything simple and clean. With most of my recent backgrounds including this illustration right here, I like to use many different brushes. I use “OilBrushes” “Flat-Brushes” And many more. Whatever my background is I tend to be adept with its “Needs” Recently I’ve been learning how to draw/render my backgrounds properly. I’ve been trying to use the “Blur Tool” less frequently, I want texture in my pieces, Including the background! So I’m trying to use the blurring tool less in some areas. I’m only using it for the objects that are in the far background or the foreground. I’m breaking the habit guys. I’m also attempting to use more colors in my backgrounds. It makes my drawings more lively and clear. But It’s very time-consuming.

To finish off the drawing I add an overlay of shadows on my “Finished Illustrations” I go in and deepen certain elements to make the artwork pop. I usually do this with the background as well whenever I feel like it needs “redefining” I also add lighting depending on the setting of the entire illustration itself, I add small details like the “Catchlights” or shines on the face, Sometimes clothing as well. I work with a lot of different layers as well, Every layer has a different purpose for every illustration. I usually have up to 100 layers depending on the environment. I’m a layer junkie. Nowadays after I’ve finished the overall illustration I tend to go in and add texture on top of the layers. I use different textured brushes to add a little texture in certain areas that need a little extra oomph.

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More Photos And SpeedPaint:

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I highly appreciate you checking out this new art blog, I love sharing my art journey with you guys and sharing stories. So I truly appreciate you checking out this art blog of mine, I work incredibly hard on these blogs with writing and making the actual art. So it takes me a little while to finish these! It’s a bit awkward at times to write these as I am a bit “Shy” when it comes to writing. So your is always really appreciated. Oh, Here’s my Twitter/X ! Just in case you’re interested in checking out more fan art from me. Or just random stuff.

My Twitter

I drew this piece on my iPad (The 9th Generation) with a basic stylus. ( Not an Apple Pencil) All references were found on Google or Picsart. And the drawing app called IbisPaint X the app I use for occasional editing is called Picsart. And as always thank you for checking this post out, it’s highly appreciated. I hope all my efforts have come through the progress photos. I worked very hard on this piece, along with the actual blog. I hope it all shows through.

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Do NOT USE MY ARTWORK WITHOUT MY PERMISSION :bangbang: I work hard on my drawings and it hurts me when I see my work being used without my permission. Please ask me to use my work. It would be highly appreciated. Thank You.

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