ArtSnacks - January 2017

The folks at ArtSnacks helped get 2017 started on the right foot with the interesting, fun supplies they included in the January box. There were four different types of item--marker, paint, pencil, brush--but a total of five items thanks to the inclusion of two different paint colors. I'm here to share my unboxing with you, so let's check this stuff out!

 

Here's what's on the menu for January:

• Kuretake ZIG Art & Graphic Twin RB+F Marker
• GOLDEN High Flow Acrylic Paints
• Princeton Snap! Series Paintbrush
• Koh-I-Noor Magnum Black Star HB Graphite Pencil

Kuretake ZIG Art & Graphic Twin RB+F Marker

I've now been introduced to so many ZIG tools throughout my years with ArtSnacks that I'm always happy to receive their products because they're always good. This marker's title is long but aptly describes it. “Art & Graphic” is self-explanatory, “Twin" indicates that it has a different tip on either end, and "RB+F" describes those tips: real brush and fine. The marker uses water-based dye ink and the 037 Persian Blue color I received is quite beautiful. I found that the brush tip laid down color fairly evenly when used with a light hand and produced an interesting dry brush texture as I pressed harder. I didn't test it, but I think dipping the tip in water would allow it to create large lines without the dry texture, perhaps making it useful for filling in relatively large areas with color. The fine tip, on the other hand, gave me a steady line that didn't waver in thickness. Since the ink is water-based, I ran a water brush over marks made with both tips as well as running the marker tip over a damp section of paper. All of these tests produced different, cool effects that would be useful in artwork, especially if the artist knew what look they wanted to achieve ahead of time (or was simply making an experimental piece).

GOLDEN High Flow Acrylic Paints

I was surprised to find two full bottles of the GOLDEN paints in my box and was pleased to read on the Menu that it wasn't a mistake. How generous and fun to send us two different colors to play with! I received two fluorescent colors: green and chartreuse (yellow, to my eyes). These paints come in squeeze bottles (be sure to remove the protective seal under the cap before squeezing or you might end up with an explosive mess on your hands, literally) so they can be used straight from the nozzle or poured out for use in everything from refillable markers to airbrushes. For my part, I tried them straight from the bottle, with a dip pen and with the Princeton Snap! brush and water. The paints performed admirably in all applications and my colors in particular looked really cool swirled together with water on a blank watercolor postcard (pics at the bottom of the post!). The only problem I encountered was when digitizing the dried postcard: it took a good deal of color adjustment to get the digital copy to read well. I'm sure it was an issue caused by the bright hues and not by the paint in general.

Princeton Snap! Series Paintbrush

I don't have many filbert brushes and I didn't have any in size 4 so I was happy to receive this one. In the days I spent testing it out on various little projects, I've washed it many times, sometimes quite roughly, but haven't had a single bristle fall out. To me that's an indication of a well-made piece of equipment. Aside from the bristles, I think the attractive finish on the handle is further evidence of the brush's quality: at the right angle, it's possible to see a shadow cast on the wood by the letters printed on top of the clear varnish. That kind of detail is so satisfying! In action, I could find nothing to complain about with this Snap! brush; the bristles held a reasonable amount of pigment and laid it down evenly and smoothly. The filbert shape allowed me to create both wide blots and relatively thin lines, making this tool useful for multiple applications.

Koh-I-Noor Magnum Black Star HB Graphite Pencil

It's hard to get too excited about any graphite pencil but this Koh-I-Noor has proven to be a satisfactory example, gliding smoothly across the page, stippling, lining, and shading with ease. The latter is probably this particular pencil's forte, since it's much fatter than your average drawing pencil. The chubby body also makes the Magnum very comfortable to use. The only drawback here is that the large size requires a larger sharpener (or the more risky knife-sharpening method) which luckily is not an issue for me, thanks to the wide variety of sharpeners I've obtained from previous ArtSnacks boxes over the years.

Goodies & Bonuses

As with every monthly ArtSnacks box, this one included some extras: the Menu, a list of all the tools and their descriptions (plus a wonderfully cheesy art riddle); an information pamphlet from GOLDEN about the High Flow line of paints; an ArtSnacks sticker (my pencil shavings jar is getting prettier by the month!); and a yummy Life Savers candy :3 I don't know if I've ever said, but I am always pleased to receive an actual snack with my ArtSnacks~ I'm glad they send one every time!

I made a colorful mess!

Overall, January was a solid box, a great start for a fresh new year. I think my favorite item was the Art & Graphic Twin RB+F marker. I just love art markers, so I'm always excited to try new ones. The RB+F didn't disappoint and the color I received was beautiful, so it's a welcome addition to my collection. I was surprised how much I liked the High Flow Acrylics, too. I'm not a fan of acrylic paint in general, but the fact that these can be used with dip pens means they're not just acrylic paints for me. I rarely paint with acrylic but I use dip pens all the time. I'll remember these next time I want some trippy fluorescent linework. Heck, even the Snap! brush and Magnum pencil from this box, though basic, are still welcome additions to my supply horde. Who can't use an extra brush or pencil?

This was a really fun experiment~

I'm looking forward to what ArtSnacks will bring me throughout this year. If you received this month's box, let me know what you got and what you thought of it! Also, feel free to send me any questions about this box or its contents, I'd be happy to clarify anything I didn't already cover. Finally, if you did an ArtSnacks Challenge with the January 2017 supplies, link it in the comments so I can check it out!

I mailed the finished postcard to my good friend, Sarah.

Inktober 2016 - Day 2: NOISY

I'm already getting behind on my Inktober entries!  I finished my Day 2 drawing early in the morning on the 3rd (I did start it on the 2nd, it just took me longer than I thought to finish) and here I am just beginning to compose its blog post when it's almost October 4th (O_O!  My ArtSnacks October box arrived today, too, so in order to get back on track with Inktober while allowing time to write an unboxing post, I'm going to skip Day 3.  If I find myself with extra time later this month, I'll do it then.  For now, though, let's talk about Inktober 2016 Day 2!  The theme was "NOISY".

It was easy to come up with an idea for NOISY.  The first thing that popped into my head was our housecat, Kiba, who loves to make a racket when he's hungry, lonely, or just wild & crazy.  He's a black Manx so he's not only vocally appropriate to the theme, he's visually perfect for inking, and furthermore brings to mind this month's big holiday: Halloween.

I'm quite proud of how easily I drew Kiba himself.  I didn't even look at him; I was able to draw fairly true-to-life from memory :D  The meow-bubble came along without many hiccups but it took a really long time to fill in the amount of space I wanted to.  My intent was to get across just how NOISY Kiba can be!  All the cat-talk was based specifically on Kiba's vocalizations, not just generically chosen cat noises.

I started with the Copic Multiliner to trace all the thinner, smaller words (I used the Kuretake ZIG brush pen for the few Japanese mews).  Next I used the Kuretake ZIG nib pen and sumi ink to work over the medium-sized vocalizations and to ink Kiba's outline.  Then I switched to the Princeton Kolinsky brush to fill in the really big letters and Kiba's body.  After that, I picked up the brush pen one more time to fill in the medium-large mewling.

I didn't mention it in my first Inktober post but on top of the mechanical pencil, I've also been using an eraser to clean up the pencil lines after all the inking is done.  As with the pencil I'm using, even though it's not from the Inktober box, it still matches the ArtSnacks theme because I received it in a previous monthly box :3  So, after I cleaned up my Noisy Kiba drawing, I finished it off with a few small detail lines and my signature, the date, and a title using the Multiliner.

Before I forget, I want to voice my satisfaction with the paper in the Inktober Denik sketchbook.  I was worried that the wet sumi ink would bleed through since I always apply it rather thickly to ensure an even look but I've had no such issues!  It doesn't even show through on the back of the page, much less leave marks on the succeeding leaf.  I can't say whether other inks or wetter media would fare as well (watercolor may not bleed through, but I have a feeling it would wrinkle the page something awful) but for now it doesn't matter since the only things I'm using in this sketchbook have already been tried and shown themselves up to the Inktober task.

Inktober 2016 - NOISY by AnimeGirlMika on DeviantArt  

How are you doing at Inktober this year?  Right on schedule?  Or falling behind like yours truly?  Link to your own Day 2 entries in the comments!

Inktober 2016 - Day 1: FAST

This year ArtSnacks came out with an Inktober Collection and, as with all of their collection boxes, I couldn't resist.  Unlike any collection before, this one has a very specific purpose: to give the artist everything they need to participate in the annual Inktober Challenge.  I've completed an October daily drawing challenge before--Drawlloween--but this is my first time doing Inktober.  I'm excited!

Although I received my Inktober box weeks before this month began, I was so busy with final wedding preparations (we got married on the 22nd of September!) that I only spent about five minutes looking at all the inky goodies before closing it up again.  This meant that, although I saw all the tools, I didn't notice the useful calendar with daily drawing themes which the ArtSnacks folks provided.  I'm glad I noticed it before I started the challenge!

So today's theme was FAST.  The first thing I thought of was a cheetah but I could only visualize the cheetah art from one of the quests on Habitica.  It didn't feel like I could pull off an original-looking cheetah without undue effort so, searching for other ideas, my mind next landed on Sonic the Hedgehog.  Awesome!  I've been so busy with wedding planning for the past year+ that I haven't had time to really do art for myself.  Starting this challenge with some fan art of one of my favorite game franchises (well, recent entries have really quite lost me but I still have all my old favorites!) felt exciting and fun!

Yikes! White balance always ruins my phone screen in photos XD

 

I started with a pencil drawing of Sonic using some Google search images as general reference (all of my Inktober drawings will be done in the special Inktober Denik sketchbook that was included in the ArtSnacks collection; it's been great so far!).  I wasn't going for a particular version of Sonic, just a fast-looking pose.  To keep it an ArtSnacks-specific challenge, I made sure to use a mechanical pencil that I had received in a previous monthly box :3

I began inking with the Pentel Arts Pocket Brush Pen.  I love brush pens but this one was the most difficult to get started that I've yet encountered.  Putting it together was easy enough but the instructions said to hold the brush tip-down to let the ink flow into the bristles.  I did this for a while, sometimes swiping the bristles on my test page in case that might help, but I eventually had to--gently!--shake the pen to force the ink down.  The ink flowed perfectly after that.

After I inked the main lines, I moved onto the Princeton Kolinsky brush and Kuretake ZIG sumi ink to add some interest with block shading.  I outlined my blocks with the mechanical pencil first which helped me make sure I wasn't overdoing things.  Throughout my drawing process, I used the Inktober Collection Copic Multiliner any time I needed precision lines.  I often filled in or rounded out brush lines with it but the most visible use of the Multiliner is in the speed lines all around Sonic.

I didn't do any actual drawing with the Kuretake ZIG nib pen this time but I did use it to sign my work (^^;  It was interesting to see this style nib from a different company than I'm used to; I've only ever seen them produced by Deleter before.  I own a decent few, actually, and really love them for inking so I wonder what the price difference between the two brands is.  I didn't notice any performance difference so it would be good to do a price check when I need more in future.

Finally, I started to prepare for bed thinking I was done but when I began exiting the Google image search on my phone, I realized I totally forgot to give Sonic ears!  He has such a simple character design that I didn't feel I could get away without adding them.  I had already inked so much space on his head, however, I had to cheat a bit and use white ink (hey, even if it isn't from ArtSnacks, it still fits with Inktober!) to clean up the criss-crossing lines.  I decided while I was at it to clean up and enhance a few other spots, as well.  The ear I added isn't ideally placed--it should really go right where the big black block below it is--but I think it's better than nothing and doesn't ruin the overall effect.

Inktober 2016 - FAST by AnimeGirlMika on DeviantArt

If you're participating in Inktober this year, whether the ArtSnacks version or not, I'd love to see your completed drawings!  Link your day one entries in the comments!  If you haven't jumped in on this challenge yet, I encourage you to join.  It's really fun and can seriously stir up those creative juices :D

Tutorial - Chibi Basics I

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.

Difficulty Level (Beginner, Easy, Intermediate, Advanced, Expert): 

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!