Today I'd like to share a chibi I drew for myself, as a response to an art challenge posted by my friend on my message board back in April 2017. The challenge was to draw something from one's first anime. When I thought very hard about it, I realized that, technically, my first anime was The Hobbit! Although it is a Rankin/Bass film, the animation was done by what would eventually become Studio Ghibli. So, to complete the challenge, I drew the cutest Bilbo Baggins I could!
"Chibi Bilbo"
ink and Manga Studio, 4x5"
Completed 9 February 2018
I've always loved the incredibly unique art style of the animated The Hobbit adaptation (as well as that of its sequel, The Return of the King). It was very fun to take that amazing style and process it through my own chibi style to come up with this super cute Bilbo! I started by finding a good reference image from the movie and then began sketching.
Completed sketch.
I used my Plumchester sketchbook to draw this piece and the sketch was done with a simple mechanical pencil. Interestingly, I didn't move directly onto inking. For whatever reason, I forgot about the project entirely until my friend posted his completed challenge drawing a week later XD
Erasing pencil.
Completed inking.
I used my Sakura Micron pens to ink. I may have used a small brush pen of a different brand as well, but I honestly can't remember anymore, lol. I cleaned it up and got it scanned in and digitized for coloring on my PC but, again, for whatever reason, I totally forgot about the project and didn't start coloring it until nine months later!!
My digital working environment with reference and color swatches.
What got me to finally pick this project back up was my need for digital work to do during the months when I was in-between homes earlier this year. I was extremely fortunate to be in a place where I could stream art on Twitch despite my awkward situation, but digital was MUCH easier to do since I had a rather small workspace. That's how I dug this file back up and finished it off! You can watch the whole thing happen in the video below!
The coloring of Chibi Bilbo in real time.
So there we have it! Took nearly a year but I finally completed my friend's art challenge XD I'm really happy with this chibi, it reminds me just how much I truly love that awesome, unique art style from Rankin/Bass's version of The Hobbit~
This year I did something I'm actually surprised I never have before: drew all my pets in chibi form! Pet caricatures are something I've done here and there in the past, but this year I've been taking it to the next level, promoting this artistic service as an inexpensive way to obtain custom artwork in my unique style. So, who better to model for this product than my own precious fur babies?
Click images to see them larger :D
Another reason I drew this set of chibis was because I needed subjects for the weekly themed drawing I started doing for my Twitch livestreams, Chibi Friday. I wanted to avoid too much fan art and everyone loves animals, so I figured my pets were a great subject that anyone could enjoy (^^) Each of these drawings took about two hours to draw, give or take, so they were also the perfect fit for my standard streaming window!
"Chibi Kiba"
ink, marker, colored pencil, 4x6"
Completed February 2018
The first pet I drew was my black Manx, Kiba. I don't know why I decided on this, but I started with him because I wanted to draw everyone from smallest to biggest. The reference photo I used showed him laying on the floor on his side, looking up at the camera. I'm not sure if that comes across here without a background, lol.
Here's the video of Chibi Kiba's creation!
"Chibi Kiki"
ink, marker, colored pencil, 4x6"
Completed February 2018
Next, as the second smallest pet in the house, I drew my cat Kiki. Her full name is actually supposed to be Tanuki because of her adorable striped tail, but that name was very quickly shortened XD For her chibification, I chose another unusual pose as reference. I wanted to challenge myself to draw chibis in positions that I never have before. So she's sitting on the floor, looking straight up at the camera, in her reference image.
Here's part one of chibi Kiki's creation...
...and this is part two!
"Chibi Bear"
ink, marker, colored pencil, 4x6"
Completed March 2018
Next on my list was Bear, my second largest pet and the biggest cat. He's also the oldest pet! If I remember correctly, Bear's reference image was unique among this series because I took it right before I started drawing. We had only just got his weight back to normal after years of trial and error so I wanted to draw him looking his healthiest (^^) He wasn't very amused by my picture-taking so that's why he looks kind of annoyed in the drawing, lol.
This is chibi Bear's video~
"Chibi Sun"
ink, marker, colored pencil, 4x6"
Completed March 2018
Finally, the last pet in this series, and the only dog, is my Shiba Inu, Sun! His name is pronounced "soon" like the Chinese surname (I named him after the Sun clan in Dynasty Warriors and Sun Wukong, the monkey king X3). His might be the most difficult pose I took on but I'm extremely pleased with the result! In the reference image, he was laying upside down in a recliner, lol.
And here is the creation video for chibi Sun!
So that's everyone, three cats, one dog, Kiba, Kiki, Bear, and Sun~ If you'd like me to chibify your pet, or even your favorite animal, I am always open for these quick projects! Just email me at Denise.Mikarts@gmail.com to get set up!
In this blog post, I'm going to share a group of chibis that I recently created in January as a way to show supporters, and especially potential supporters, of my Patreon what a "chibi" actually is, since chibis are a big part of the rewards system there. I decided to draw two human chibis, one in physical media and one in digital, and two animal chibis the same way. I hope that the four chibis together will be enough to show the variety of subjects and finished looks that my supporters can choose from when they receive a chibi drawing as a reward.
Ink, marker, and colored pencil on index paper, 4x6", Completed January 2018
So this chibi is the first human, done in physical media. I used a photo of myself from a 5K race that I had run just the weekend before as reference. This drawing is pretty much all in line with the reference photo except that I changed the color of the mug I was holding (it was an awful neon green originally) and added a generous red tint to my hair and eyes. And well, of course I went really strong with the blush on the cheeks, just as I always do with chibi humans X3
Ink, marker, and colored pencil on index paper, 4x6", Completed January 2018
Next is the first animal, done in physical media. I decided to draw the Studio Mikarts mascot, Ranger, a black and red (as opposed to tan) Shiba Inu. I had only ever drawn her once before and I realized that not only was she a perfect subject for this series of chibis, featuring the artist and the mascot serving as examples of Studio Mikarts, it was a great opportunity to draw her with my current level of skill. I still like the original drawing of Ranger, but this one is definitely much more well done.
Manga Studio and Lazy Nezumi Pro, 4x6", Completed January 2018
This chibi is the second human, done in digital media. I used a reference photo of myself again but this time chose a completely different look. Instead of a sporty, post-race runner, now chibi Mika is a glamorous newlywed! Indeed, I used a photo from my wedding reception as reference for this chibi :3 My chibi dress turned out super cute, lol. I was able to use a lot of techniques here that really show what's different about what I produce in digital media.
Manga Studio and Lazy Nezumi Pro, 4x6", Completed January 2018
And finally, this chibi is the second animal, done in digital media. It's the Studio Mikarts mascot again, Ranger the black and red Shiba Inu! The two previous drawings I've done of her were both stationary positions so this time I searched for a really active, dynamic reference image. I think Ranger looks even better leaping! Shows off her pretty markings. In fact, I had to decide on her fur pattern in some areas while drawing this because the other positions never showed those areas of her body. The biggest thing I gave her in that respect was the cute skunk stripe on her tail :3
As I said at the top of this post, I created these chibis as reward examples for my Patreon supporters. That could easily include you! Every backer at the $5 level and above gets entered into a monthly contest for a free chibi character. Some higher support levels include discounts on art commissions (which obviously could be used toward chibis) and the top level includes a free chibi each and every month, on top of the chance to win the monthly contest! You can check it all out and become a member of Studio Mikarts here: https://www.patreon.com/studiomikarts
A lot of, "Wow, finally!" with this drawing! For one, this was the first piece I completed this year, in the very first week of January, and yet I'm only posting it now, in the last week of February XD For two, and much more impressive, this is the second in a series of chibis that I started way the heck back in 2008! It's been practically a decade between my first entry and my second entry (⊙_⊙) Hopefully, I'll be able to complete more before another ten years goes by!
I sketched the rough lines on paper, drawing the bear, staff, and Sean separately.
I then combined the sketches in Photoshop.
I'm actually quite sure I will have more to add to this series before the end of 2018. I've decided to follow up the "birthday person's favorite animal ACEO" theme that I did in December 2017 with a new theme for the entire year: fantasy chibi birthday person! The most basic idea for this series of chibis was thought up by my friend Trent ("draw your friends as chibis") and I decided back then to draw everyone as a sort of fantasy RPG-type character riding on the chibi animal that I felt fit them. So the first chibi I did, way back in 2008, featured Trent riding a black horse. I truly intended to make more, even thought of a couple more friends' outfits and animal mounts, but at the time, the first chibi had been one of the hardest projects I'd ever done (and I think that's why the drawing still holds up quite well today). I think I burned myself out and that's why it took me so long to come back to this project.
Final lines completed in Photoshop. It was my first use of Lazy Nezumi Pro.
I left the areas under the visors intentionally light or blank.
So here we have my husband, Sean, whose birthday is the first one of the year on my list. He really likes tabletop gaming and one of his favorites is Shadowrun, a sort of cyberpunk magical world based in Seattle, WA (or at least, that's how his explanations make it seem to me). Using that as the basis for what kind of fantasy character he should be, I designed all the armor and the background to match. I decided on a black bear as his mount because Sean is like a big, cuddly bear in real life. I considered other bears--brown bear, polar bear--but the black bear's general reputation (or really, its lack thereof--grizzlies are known as ferocious, polar bears make people think of the environment) fit Sean the best.
I really surprised myself with how quickly I was able to complete this piece. I didn't time myself when I created the first chibi in the series but I'm sure I didn't get it done as quickly as this one. I finished with enough time to print, dry, trim, and frame it before Sean's birthday! It's probably for the best that it took me so long to try making more fantasy chibis; there's no way I'll burn out now with my current level of skill and experience (^^) Here's hoping the rest of the chibis I intend to draw for birthday people this year are just as quick and easy so that busy birthday months aren't tough to manage!
Ink and marker on index paper, 4x6", Completed December 2017
This piece was an original character commissioned by a client during Tomodachi Fest 2017 (the convention's last year and ironically my most successful artist alley there). I was asked to choose the two animals to make up the gryphon so I chose a harpy eagle and a black jaguar. The dark plumage and fur matched the gruesome appearance of the character (being blood soaked was a requirement) so that's why I chose those animals. I also designed the dress and am really pleased with the result! Note the repetitions of four throughout the character design--that was my addition, an homage to the Japanese superstition around the number four, because it is pronounced the same as "death".
Welcome, everyone, to my very first art tutorial! Several months ago, around the time I started this blog, I put out a poll on my deviantART profile asking what subject I should cover in my inaugural lesson. More votes were cast for "Chibi Basics" than any other option, so I started brainstorming. Surprisingly, despite using the word 'basic', I came to realize chibis--my chibis anyway--are actually quite complex! After some consideration, in order to keep the tutorial relatively simple, easy to follow, and true to its title, I decided to focus on one very specific thing: the process I generally use to draw a chibi.
There are many ways to draw a chibi, many types of chibi to draw, and many decisions & considerations involved when creating a chibi. For this tutorial, I thought it simplest to focus on a human chibi that was not based on a real person (i.e. caricature) nor on a popular character (i.e. fan art). With that in mind, I chose to draw my own character Mika, who, in a side note, I have imagined as my inner voice of strength (and when I fail at something, admonition) ever since I invented her. Her visual design isn't very complex and her character quirks shouldn't interfere with the lesson so I hope you'll find her to be a pleasant teacher.
The following images and instructions were put together in a way that will hopefully allow you to draw along and create your own chibi as you read. You don't have to draw along, of course--my writing here does not exclude readers who are simply interested in my process--but it could be fun! If you do draw a chibi using this tutorial, please share, I would love to see it! For study purposes, you are free to copy my drawing exactly, if it helps~ Now, on to the tutorial proper!
Tutorial: Chibi Basics I
Description:
Instructions for drawing a female human chibi character in a stationary pose.
Easy to Intermediate (Requires some familiarity with anime-style drawing.)
Tools & Supplies:
Graphite Pencil (mechanical with 0.5mm lead)
Rubber or Vinyl Eraser (the thinner the better)
White Paper (at least 4x6" or A6)
OR
Digital Drawing Program
Instructions:
Step One: Circles
Draw two circles, one on top of the other. The top circle should be large and very round. Make the bottom circle smaller and more elliptical.
When drawing a chibi human, I always start with two circles, as pictured above. The first--the larger, more round one--represents the giant chibi head, and the second--the smaller, more ovular one--represents the entire chibi body. Because the head is much more important for a chibi than its body, I always draw the larger circle first. When adding the smaller circle, I generally draw it at around 3/4 the size of the head (but I'll sometimes draw it larger or smaller than that, depending on the desired height or intended pose).
Tips for My Students: When drawing these circles, it's important to use a light hand and attempt to get the circle down with as few strokes as possible. It's ok to draw the circle several times over to get the desired size and shape--you can see above that I worked the lower circle a bit more than the upper one--but drawing as lightly as possible will make it easier to erase cleanly later (of course, when drawing digitally, we can simply draw on a separate layer). Don't spend too much time trying to make the circles perfect; there will be plenty of opportunity for fine tuning as we progress.
By drawing these basic circles before anything else, I'm able to claim my space on the page, planning the pose and compositional placement of the chibi. They help me determine if I'll have enough room for what I want to do, give me my first visual idea of how the character will look, and they're simple enough that erasing and redrawing, multiple times if necessary, won't ruin the paper (of course, some of these issues aren't as important when drawing digitally, but I still use the circles to begin visualizing the character).
Step Two: Outlines & Guidelines
Define the basic body structure and pose with rough outlines. Add crosshair guidelines wherever necessary. Don't add too much detail.
At this point, the chibi already starts to take on a recognizable shape. Using the circles from Step One as a guide, I define the chibi's head, body, and pose. For this tutorial, I drew the head in a three-quarters profile view where one ear shows on one side of the head while the indentations and protrusions from the brow and cheek are depicted on the other. You may notice that I added crosshairs where the face should go. This is a useful way to map out facial features and it's actually the first thing I do. Using these guidelines allows me to pose the head and then draw the cranium, cheeks, jawline, and ears to match.
As for the body, since it will be less detailed and is overall less important than the head, I only used a single crosshair (I suppose that just makes it a hair? lol) for this particular chibi. This crosshair indicates the direction the body will face and gives me a baseline to build around. In constructing this chibi's body, I used several more oblong circles to map out the arms. Sometimes, if the pose is unusual or the character's design more complex, I will define the hips, legs, chest, etc. with small circles, as well. Here, though, I didn't find it necessary.
Tips for My Students: When drawing the head, remember to place the face lower than you would for a more realistic character. Giving chibis extra-large craniums really adds to the cute factor. When drawing the body, remember to make the hips wider than the chest, since we're drawing a female chibi. Also, do not give the hands too much definition; draw them simply as the smallest end of the tapering shape that makes up the arms. For the feet, indicate their protrusion with a couple small, simple lines. The chibi body gets smaller and less defined as one looks it over from top to bottom.
Step Three: Cleanup & Definition
Erase guidelines and other marks that are no longer necessary. Add definition to the female anatomy.
This simple step helps me because I have a hard time deciphering messy sketchwork, even though I'm the one who created it just minutes before. If the drawing gets too overloaded with unnecessary lines, I not only get confused, I get frustrated. So here I cleaned up a bit by erasing guidelines that I knew I would no longer need, especially in the tiny area that comprises the body.
The only thing I added here was a small curved line to indicate the other breast.
Tips for My Students: Feel free to skip the erasing step if you don't feel it is useful for you. We will have more cleanup opportunities later. Also, don't try to clean up the entire drawing at this point. Only erase enough to give yourself a clearer vision of the drawing as a whole.
Step Four: Facial Features
Draw the eyes, eyebrows, and the mouth.
This step seems simple, but it can be difficult to get right on the first try (as we will see later!). When drawing the face, I always start with the eyes. The crosshairs I drew a couple steps ago become the most useful at this point. I line the eyes up along the horizontal crosshair, and try to place each eye the same distance away from the vertical crosshair. Once the eyes are done, I add the eyebrows, spacing them evenly above each eye with the eyebrow ends reaching just a bit further than the eyes themselves, and finish with the mouth whose corners line up approximately with the eyes' pupils. (In case you're wondering, I don't draw noses on my chibis. I just think they look cuter without.) For the expression, I decided on a mellow smile (a bit of a reflection of the way I was feeling at the time). Now chibi Mika is starting to appear~
Step Five: Clothing
Add clothing. Erase obsoleted lines as necessary.
Now we're coming to some of the funnest parts of drawing chibis. Adding clothing, whether it's predefined (as when drawing a caricature or fan art), or it's being pulled directly from imagination, is very entertaining because we get to make it so small and simple. I suppose this is the same reason why I find baby versions of grown-up shoes so adorable and amusing, ha ha.
Anyway, in trying to keep with the "basic" theme of this tutorial, I gave chibi Mika a very simple outfit comprised of an A-line skirt, a ribbed sweater, and some boots. As I drew these items, I erased lines that were no longer needed. For instance, once the skirt was drawn, it had 'covered up' the thighs, so I erased those lines. Again, this erasing process is simply the way I keep track of what I'm doing as the drawing develops and becomes more complex.
Tips for My Students: When drawing your chibi's clothes, don't forget to consider the thickness of the fabric you're trying to depict (notice how the lines for the sweater, in my example above, sometimes bulge away from the lines that indicate the arms) and attempt to draw folds even though the chibi body is so small. Including these details helps impart a realistic touch to an otherwise unrealistically proportioned character. All good caricaturizations, including chibis, need a balance between exaggeration and familiarity.
Step Six: Hair
Draw the hair. Use outlines and avoid adding too much detail just yet. Again, erase obsoleted lines as necessary.
Arguably, drawing hair is an anime-inspired artist's favorite thing. It's definitely one of my top favorites, anyway. The organic, flowing shapes, the wild styles, the personality...it's so fun and creative! Recently, I changed Mika's normal hairstyle. When I first designed her, she had a buzz cut everywhere except her bangs and long queue. As you can see here, I drew chibi Mika with her new style, which is mostly the same except the buzz has been replaced by a french braid.
As with the previous step, I erased any lines that were effectively rendered useless by the addition of the hair. Tips for My Students: When drawing a chibi's hair, always use the head as a reference for the length and volume. Don't use the body as a comparison except when drawing long styles. For example, when my character Mika is drawn with normal proportions, her side-bangs fall a little past her shoulders while her queue reaches down to the small of her back. So, normally, her longest bangs are around 1.5 times the length of her head, while her queue is 2 or 3 times that length. Now, when translating those proportions to a chibi and using the size of the head as a reference, the bangs still size up to about 1.5 times the length of the head, but the queue is much smaller. This is because, although we want to make the hair match the head's proportions, Mika's queue, if it were 3 times the length of her chibi head, would end several centimeters below her feet, effectively forcing us to draw hair that drags along the floor (nasty) in order to maintain a proportional length. With that in mind, I feel it's better to make the hair match the size of the head EXCEPT when it's so long that it would exceed the length of the body.
Step Seven: Details
Add final details (individual strands of hair, folds, small accessories, blush marks, etc.). Make final corrections as necessary.
This is the last drawing step in my chibi process. At this point, I add remaining accessories and other character-defining visual traits, reevaluate and correct existing linework, and scrutinize the details so that I can finalize the drawing as a whole. In the example above, I added individual strands to Mika's hair, drew in her monocle-sunglass (if there's a proper word for such an invention, I would love to know it!), erased and redrew one of her eyes as well as the hair at the crown of her head, added small details to her face (blush marks, eyelid creases, ear curves) and subtly changed and added to the clothing (especially the thickness of and wrinkles in her sweater).
This step, though it doesn't necessarily produce a distinctive visual change, is still one of the most important. Adding small accessories, such as Mika's distinctive eyepiece, helps to bring out character. Correcting unsatisfactory lines--for my biggest change, I added more distance between the eyes to make the whole face look cuter--prevents glaring mistakes from monopolizing the viewer's attention. Focusing on details and making subtle changes ensures the drawing looks polished, even when left in a rough, sketchy state.
Step Eight: Cleanup
Erase all unnecessary lines and clean up stray graphite (if working in physical media).
To be honest, I don't usually do this step. Most of the time, I will follow the previous step with inking and coloring but for the sake of this tutorial, which is already ridiculously long for being called the "Basics", I decided to end the drawing with a simple cleanup step. All I did was use an eraser to eliminate all the sketchy lines that were no longer needed so that the drawing was left looking crisp and complete.
Tips for My Students: When erasing around super-small details, don't be afraid to erase and redraw lines that you actually wish to keep. Sometimes, this is the only way to clean up an area satisfactorily.
おわり！
And we're done! I hope you had fun drawing your own Mika-style chibi (Mika both because the chibi I drew here was Mika and because my nickname is Mika) and/or that you found the exhibition and explanation of my chibi-making process to be interesting. I very much welcome any questions you may have. I would be more than happy to expound on any of the steps listed above.
Don't forget to share your chibis with me! I want to see what you make!
The only new art I've been working on recently is my beau's birthday present. Since his birthday isn't for another couple days, I can't share the artwork yet. So, instead of cancelling my New Art post for the week, I decided to review the inked drawing goal that I set for myself in 2014. This post will take a look at a few of the pieces I created while striving to reach my 2014 New Year's goal to make an new inked drawing every week (a total of 52 for the year!).
Some sorta alien~
The drawing above was the very first piece I created for my goal. Interestingly, even though it's only a year old, I feel my skill has markedly exceeded where I was when this was drawn. Even my sketches feel 'better' than just 365 days ago. I'm sure that pushing myself so hard with this goal is a big part of my improvement, even though I didn't particularly try to improve when drawing for this goal (the point of it was simply to encourage creation and exercise, rather than to actively critique and correct myself).
This cute Shiba Inu drawing was also made fairly early in the year, maybe still in January. It's one of many pieces for which I used a reference image (specifically, a photo of a Shiba Inu that was on a sticky note holder that my Beau gave to me the previous Christmas). Over the course of the year, I began to realize the true usefulness of referencing visual elements. There's a weird stigma against such practice in some circles, usually newer artists, "I drew this whole thing without reference!" which is actually unhelpful in the long run. It encourages people to forgo useful research and eventually leads to discouragement. After all, how can one "draw from imagination" if their mind hasn't been properly seeded and fertilized with reality?
I chose this pose because they're forming a heart shape.
This drawing actually became one of my favorite pieces of 2014. It's a mixed physical media piece the likes of which I had never attempted before that year (it was the second of its kind I created that summer, the first being much more ambitious and grand) and I am still, to this day, pleased with the final result. To the point pictured above, I used a combination of reference images and my own imagining. The outfits were referenced, but were modified to my own liking and drawn on figures whose poses were referenced from a completely different image. The hair, faces, and unhuman anatomy were all my own design. Yes, even at this early stage in the work (I continued with marker, colored pencil, paint, and collage) I think this drawing is one of my best of the year.
"Frankenstein"
"Creature from the Black Lagoon"
Now we're getting much farther into the year, October. I participated in a HabitRPG challenge called Drawlloween (which I happened to win!) that was great for ensuring I met my weekly inked drawing goal because it required a drawing every day. I actually had to pick-and-choose which drawings to count towards my weekly goal (it felt like cheating to pick enough drawings to finish the year two months early). Of all the Drawlloween pieces that I counted as weekly inked drawings, these two were my top favorites, probably because they're both chibis~
This was so difficult to ink!
After October and Halloween came November and Thanksgiving. I also participated in a self-set daily drawing challenge that month but when compared to my first ever Thanksgiving card illustration, none of those drawings seemed worth featuring. I've already written about the full illustration here, but the inked drawing prior to coloring is still impressive, if I do say so myself. Compared to anything I've ever created, this piece tops the list for detail and dedication. I'm still very proud of it.
I'm always calling "Beary~!" and he usually ignores me.
This was drawn on Christmas Eve~☆
Once December rolled around, I started to become overwhelmed with projects, tasks, and duties. I'm still playing catch-up even now. Somehow, probably largely thanks to the good art habits I developed and maintained over the course of the year, I still managed to create art. I drew something almost every day, even when I was traveling! These last two drawings were created using some ArtSnacks that came in the 2014 Studio Collection, a combination of ink and marker.
There are plenty more drawings that were created for this art goal. You can check out the full gallery here. It feels extremely satisfying to have achieved something that inevitably took a year to complete. It was not only an exercise of my art skills, it was an exercise of patience and perseverance. My art goals are different this year, but they still have the same aim: to keep my skills honed and my mind habitually creative!
You may remember from my Halloween post that this year I've been working on three holiday illustrations to match my household's three cats. It's a little bit late, but this is my Thanksgiving entry! It features Kiki, the youngest of our brood (and the only female in our home aside from myself and, perhaps, our single goldfish) which makes her the most playful and naughty of the bunch! A lot of thought and effort went into this piece's creation; it may very well be my most intricate illustration to date. I hope you'll enjoy seeing how it all came together~
I started this piece with a handful of thumbnail sketches to work out ideas. I tried several different compositions and poses, but the idea of Kiki with a cornucopia kept coming to the fore. The iconic cornucopia is inseparable from Thanksgiving in the US, making it apt for the theme. Plus, "Kiki" (or even just "cat") and "cornucopia" have a nice bit of alliteration! Once I decided on the thumbnail, I sketched it out at half size so I could work out the finer details.
The grid was drawn in warm grey ink so it would remain even after erasing.
I did a lot of research at this stage. I started by looking up the origin of the cornucopia, which ended up being a good idea. I usually visualize a wickerwork horn but I discovered that those woven icons are actually meant to represent a mythical goat horn that produces endless fruit, vegetables, and flowers. I knew about the food (that's why the horn of plenty is associated with Thanksgiving, after all) but never realized flowers were also included. When I learned this, I did further research to find produce and flowers that arrive in autumn (I didn't want to include anything that would be out-of-season since I wanted the illustration to be as autumny as possible!) and also to see what goat horns look like in real life so my depiction would be more authentic.
Using the grid was extremely helpful in maintaining the composition.
Once I was happy with the sketch, I started redrawing it full size. This is where I started to lose steam and got very behind schedule. There is so much detail in all the fruit and flowers; it was taxing not only physically (drawing tiny details takes a lot of muscular stamina, believe it or not!) but also mentally. It felt really tedious to draw all those things again and larger! The tedium was exacerbated later when I made myself redraw several details because they weren't looking recognizable (i.e. they were too generic).
I only included fruits and veggies that I think are yummy!
I did eventually complete the final pencil drawing after several weeks working on and off. I thought it would be easier from this point on but I was disappointed to find inking just as difficult to stay motivated for. I finished inking faster than penciling, but I think that was probably because Thanksgiving was fast approaching and I intended to get the illustration done in time to print and mail as greeting cards.
The flowers I included were roses, dahlias, and salvias.
Unfortunately, the pressure of my self-set deadline wasn't enough for me to finish on time. I kept pushing every day, but I was already so far behind that I not only missed getting cards made and mailed, I couldn't even finish by Thanksgiving itself. At least I finished before November was over. Better late than never!
The salvias really were the worst part to draw...
...but I persevered and completed them all! Worth it, I think!
Finally I finished inking and was able to move onto coloring. Again I thought, "It's all downhill from here," and again I was disappointed. All those details just kept looming at me like an insurmountable wall. It was during coloring that I decided to give up on deadlines and just work a decent amount every day until it was done (I lost a lot of sleep on the last day, but I managed to finish before my Thanksgiving vacation was over!).
This part was really fun!
The technique I used to start coloring is one I sometimes forget but which is really helpful when I remember. With a light purple marker, I roughly added shadows to everything in the drawing. Not only does this help me maintain my light source (which is easy to forget when working a larger and heavily detailed piece) the marker's color is great for adding coolness and unity to shaded areas.
Here I stopped using references, drawing upon imagination and memory.
It took me longer than I expected--again because I just couldn't find my enthusiasm--but I did eventually get the flat colors laid down throughout the drawing. I tried to choose muted, realistic tones since I was going for an autumny feel, but my love for vibrant color still came through pretty strong. Not that I'm disappointed! I'm pleased with every single color choice here~
I tried to give every color a different hue, especially oranges and greens.
Once the flat color was done, I finally, finally began to get that awesome feeling of excitement which I can only describe as akin to running down a hill after a long, arduous climb to the top. THIS is the fun part of creating art! The closer to the finishing touches, the more everything starts visually coming together, the happier I get. It was still a time-consuming and intricate bit of work, but seeing the illustration nearing its final look gave me the patience and energy to push hard until the end.
I didn't plan on using my paint stick but I'm glad I gave it a shot!
For the sky, I had a stroke of brilliance, if I do say so myself. A bundle of ArtSnacks was on my worktable and I thought to use the Krink paint stick (which you may remember from this earlier post) to add variety to the sky. As I was applying the paint, I wondered what would happen if I tried to blend it using my colorless blending marker. (I remembered that some people use this marker to blend colored pencil and I recently saw a similar colorless marker specifically marketed as a colored pencil blender.) I had a good feeling about it so, even though experimenting on an almost-finished piece might prove disastrous both for the artwork and the blending tool, I gave it a shot. I'm still not sure about the state of my blending marker but the way this experimental technique panned out for the illustration was perfect! I might even use my paint stick in this way from now on, even if I have to buy a bunch of replacement nibs for my blender, ha ha ha.
Highlights are always the most fun part of creating anime-inspired art.
Although I was getting very tired by this point, I was still enthusiastic enough to finish everything up. I added a lot of details in highlighting, shading, and general definition with colored pencil first. Once I was satisfied there, I moved on to adding white highlights. I ended up using three different opaque white tools: an artists pen, a paint marker, and a gel pen. They were all useful and worked together well to create the final look on paper.
That wasn't the end of my work, though. After finishing everything in traditional media, I digitized the image and set to fine tuning in Photoshop. I fixed a few stray marks, added a couple overlays to unify the colors, and drew in Kiki's whiskers. This is a true multimedia work! You can click on the image at the top of this post to see a larger version of the completed piece on deviantART. Please let me know what you think of my process, my struggles, and my final result~
Creating the Gryphia illustrated fantasy novel series & a bilingual rainbow animal artbook. Storyteller filling the world with Everlasting Happiness 💖 Sign up for email updates here!
