Digitober 2020: In Closing

While I ended the challenge with my last post about Trey, I decided to give this challenge a proper closing.

Digitober Thoughts

After a month of Digitober, I can definitely say I made some notable development as an artist. I learned a lot of techniques in digital painting--from watercolor techniques to generating lightning to painting rain. Pixel art-wise, I didn't feel like I had learned much apart from creating 2.5D sprites. Still, it's something. 😄

Prior to this challenge, I had always felt so daunted with Photoshop. It just felt like something that was a pain to figure out and work with. Admittedly, I also still preferred to use Pixelmator over Photoshop because I was so familiar with the former, even though it had been a long time ever since I touched a Mac (it was a weird and irrational thing I just needed to get over). Now, I feel a lot more settled and comfortable with using it, and I came to realize it was also more convenient that I used it anyway because most tutorials involve the use of Photoshop over other applications.

I don't know if I'm gonna be keen on doing another month's worth of challenges in the future. I realized how time-consuming it is to just make the art and brainstorm on how to draw what I have in mind. I definitely missed my evenings and weekends of just gaming. It's nice to be productive, but I really burned out near the end of the challenge, and getting sick for three days only made it more difficult for me to keep up.

I noticed I've also been making Gator Buddies focal in most of my work. The more I see these characters in digital, the more I want to further explore and develop them. However, it does leave me a bit bored seeing the same style of painting over and over sometimes, so...

Improvements

Now, I would like to focus more on perspective drawing. There's a lot of stuff I want to draw but can't because I don't know enough about perspective. I want to take the time to just draw stuff in perspective, in freehand or with perspective grids, just to get a feel for it and learn how it works. I have a number of photos I can use as references...

I also wanna do more anatomy studies as well. My drawing style of people has highly unchanged since 8 years ago, and I just really wanna improve on that. I also realized how inconsistent my anatomy tends to be too, so that's another thing to improve upon.

All in All...

Will there be another Digitober or Inktober next year? Hard to say right now. It's still too far ahead in the future, and I don't know how I'll feel then.

Will there be more art this month? Yes, but I'm still fairly burnt out from last month's challenge. I need a break from art for like a week or two, just to refresh my head again. Won't stop me from taking some time to make perspective drawings as practice though.

I'm still disappointed about not being able to finish Digitober this year, but honestly, I'm quite satisfied knowing I've made a lot of stuff for the challenge and that I've made some kind of progress with art. And there's surely more art to come. 😊

Trey's Threads

Oof, didn't make it in time this year after all 😫

Anyway. For this piece, I've decided to feature Trey from the Beaver Brothers! I haven't really featured him in any of my work, so now was a good time to do that. Looking as swaggy as I imagined. 😄

With the turn of a new month, I normally would make something to catch up to my missed days of Inktober. I really should do the same for this challenge, but I've decided to end Digitober with this post of Trey. Digitober was great while it lasted, even though I'm disappointed that I didn't finish on time. I learned a lot of new things about digital art that I wouldn't have if I didn't do the challenge. However, at this point, I just want to have evenings again for a while, and spend them building model kits and playing games. And maybe get more hours of sleep. Sleep would be great. 😴

Shimeji Sketchdump

...Seems my lack of motivation to finish the challenge is really, really telling.

I was recently introduced to the concept of shimejis, which were, surprisingly, nothing to do with any mushrooms. Apparently, these are these little desktop buddies you can activate so they can lounge about on your screen doing their own thing while you work. A friend of mine has a website where she makes them for a living, and I downloaded a Dreepy shimeji from her site just before I bought my Dragapult plush. You can check out her site here; feel free to show her some support too!

Anyway, I decided to make use of this idea of shimejis by making a half-assed sketchdump of my Swamplands characters chilling and doing whatever on my screen.

Borgars

I happened upon this news at work. I was incredibly tempted to order via Grab, but I stopped myself, mainly because I didn't want to spend, and I just spent nearly $100 USD on these bad boys from Shopee.

Instead, I did a quick doodle to suffice. I wasn't really thinking of putting too much effort into keeping all the ingredients accurate. I was more concerned about just ensuring they all had a level height, and that each had the necessary and prominent ingredients to be just distinguishable from each other.

Yes, there is a pineapple slice in that burger; that's just the way it's made and it tastes amazing. Don't @ me 🙄

Zip's Tools of the Trade

Just a quick something I cooked up for my about page, for all the stuff I use to make art. Of course, I've mostly transitioned to digital media now, but there's still a rare occasion where I do traditional stuff, so the ones I use for pencil sketches and inks are still worth mentioning nonetheless.

The Problem With Self-Diagnosis

...Or it's something that just doesn't mean anything at all.

Not gonna lie, this was me these last three days until I found out it was just a mere case of tonsilitis. Some Tylenol, Rexidol, saltwater, and ginger tea did the trick, along with several hours of rest and not being at my laptop all the time. I did have a weird craving for pizza the whole time, which I sated this afternoon 😆.

Holy cripes, I have so many missed days of art for the challenge. Here's hoping I catch up and actually make all my entries on time! 😫

Ryusei-Go

Finally, a style that deviates from the usual! 😝

Yesterday, while I was taking a break from doing my comic, I was looking through my shelf full of Gunpla on display, fondly reminiscing days of when I spent some of my afternoons at the sharehouse just building model kits for hours. My display features a fair number of blue and white Gunpla, like the 00 Raiser and the Exia. What caught my attention, however, was the Ryusei-Go, which stands out fairly differently because of its predominantly magenta color scheme, and the quirky shark face it has.

Now, I've never watched Iron-Blooded Orphans myself, but I don't think I need to watch the anime just to admire how nice this mobile suit looks (Same goes for all the other Gunpla in my collection 😊). Needless to say, when my comic was done, I pulled the Ryusei-Go from the shelf, started tracing its bust on Photoshop, and got painting.

I'm quite happy with this messy piece. I wouldn't mind seeing this on a shirt or something. 😄

Gator Meets Gatorgrass (Part 4)

Friday unfolds quite differently compared to the past five days... But it's only getting better.

More experimenting with stuff in this comic. In the fifth panel, I wanted to draw a bunch of crooked lines for the lightning, but then I decided to try something different. I discovered this simple tutorial for lightning in Photoshop, and it turned out more impressive than I expected. Of course, it somewhat deviates from my usual style so it looks a bit out of place... 😅

The second panel looks a bit half-assed to me, with how I drew the canopy. The ones in the other panels I really like though; I used a few of those scattered-looking brushes to get that effect of the sky peeking between the leaves. In retrospect, I probably should have used that for the second panel instead... Ah, whatever.

As for the rain, I drew it as per usual, but to get that sort of misty and somber ambiance, I slapped a new layer over each panel and painted the whole thing in light purple. Afterward, I set the opacity to around 18-24%.

[2/15/2022] Edit: Change file format to PNG.

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🐊 Gator Buddies 🐊

Gator Meets Gatorgrass
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5

Gator Meets Gatorgrass (Part 3)

Seems it's taken a liking to Honey Lemon too. ...As well as everything else Crocigator's handed over to it. 😛

I've been trying to paint something different but to no avail... It doesn't help that I feel the call of procrastinating by playing more video games instead. Oddly enough, I feel more drawn towards further continuing this series of comics, so maybe I'll try to keep this going while I can.

[2/15/2022] Edit: Change file format to PNG.

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🐊 Gator Buddies 🐊

Gator Meets Gatorgrass
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5

Gator Meets Gatorgrass (Part 2)

Crocigator makes new friends too! 😊

This was my first time drawing speed lines in Photoshop. I used the photos on this link as a reference. The one I made could be better, but it did have the effect I was going for.

I wasn't sure how the panels for this comic would go at first, actually. Then I remembered an excerpt I read from one of my Japanese animal encyclopedias which mentioned how an old man easily kept the mouth of a crocodile shut with one hand; this was because crocodiles don't have a lot of strength in their mouths and snoots, and they won't be able to open their mouths when they get clamped shut.

[2/15/2022] Edit: Change file format to PNG.

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🐊 Gator Buddies 🐊

Gator Meets Gatorgrass
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5

Gator Meets Gatorgrass (Part 1)

That's no weed... And it certainly doesn't look too pleased either.

Lagging behind again 😫 But, turns out I just needed a proper night's sleep to get my creative juices flowing again. I should be good to get back on track again, hopefully... Fingers crossed. 🤞

Anyway, lots of flowers on this one. I wanted to feature more swamp vegetation in my work that isn't just reeds and cattails, so I looked up some quick on Google (I was also getting sick of painting almost nothing but different shades of green all the time). The swamp mallow/swamp hibiscus caught my attention; it's bright and flashy enough to be noticeable in the swamp. It's also a fairly common flower in wetlands, and I imagined a bunch of these things just growing on the side of Crocigator's shack and he just tends to them.

I really enjoy this shift to making more comic strips. Nothing like bringing more of your own characters to life and weaving a story with them.

[2/15/2022] Edit: Change file format to PNG.

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🐊 Gator Buddies 🐊

Gator Meets Gatorgrass
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5

To the One That Would Have Been

I have a bunch of ideas, but I couldn't decide what I ought to start with... And then I found myself reminiscing about Stardew Valley and of the time when I used to play it every day as a means of coping with my struggles three years ago. I feel as though I've regressed to such a state as a result of this pandemic, but I try to stay hopeful that things will get better for me eventually.

I've said once before that I used to dislike what I looked and I felt completely inadequate compared to other people. If I tried hard enough I could change what I was by attempting to be something else, I would be able to feel better about myself... And it took me a long time to realize how self-destructive that was. My hair becoming incredibly unhealthy as a result of my attempts to straighten it was a testimony to that. I won't say I'm completely better off now than I was then, but I can certainly say that I'm a little more accepting of myself, and my hair is a lot more grateful for it too.

And it wasn't just my hair. Trying to mingle in an attempt to fit in a community I didn't really belong to, trying to be that overly friendly person... I utterly cringe thinking about how toxic I was being towards myself; I became everyone's doormat and it infuriates me to think about how I could have allowed myself to be like that.

Still, I know I did what I did was just an attempt to find self-satisfaction and adequacy. To feel like I was worth something. So as cringey as it was, I also think it's important to be able to accept even that cringey part of ourselves, of that time when we did all the things we probably shouldn't have but did anyway. It's part of what makes us who we are, and mistakes are merely a part of life.

I don't believe I can ever become whatever greatness or ideal self I once strived to be, but I can be content as long as that I don't need to pretend to be something else to live my own life... Even if this pandemic is making it difficult. 😅

On a lighter note, I'm really happy ConcernedApe finally added a freaking wardrobe to his game (the clothes my avatar is wearing in this pic is the same as what I changed into in-game). Being able to dress up and change what I'm wearing every day of the week of every season is nothing significantly game-changing, but it certainly adds to the whole RP value, and I love it. 👌

Honey-Toothed

"Oh, jeez." Nightlight sighed as she watched the little gator sloppily put another piece of honey lemon inside his mouth. "So this is where you've been off to."

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Currently lagging behind schedule again, orz, but that hasn't stopped me from catching up to get content done! 🎉

This was actually a WIP I had on my computer for like two years. I didn't know what I ought to do with it then, so I shelved it. Then I took another look at it just a while ago and realized I could do more with this piece now, given what I've learned in the past two weeks. It was also a good opportunity to feature honey lemons. 😊🍋

Crocigator's Shack - 1F

Ever wondered what it looks like inside a lazy gator's house in Gatorville? Say no more. Yes, that's a Venus flytrap with a face beside the bookshelf.

Back at it again with the pixel art rooms. It's not as good as my first try, but this works just fine.

Only did the first floor because stuff's been happening IRL that's keeping me away from doing my work on time. I'll post the pixel art of the second floor on a different date, preferably once I'm caught up with my missed dates for Digitober. 😊

The Betrayal of the Water Horse

"Dh'èirich Mi Moch (b' Fheàrr Nach Do Dh'èirich), which is a really intriguing song, and one I love very much...  It's quite interesting because the main character in this is the creature called the each-uisge or the water horse, who is this creature of the otherworld and who is often portrayed in songs as the terror. And then there's a victim, usually a woman, who was taken away by him. But in this song, things are turned around, and he's the victim. He has had a love affair with a mortal woman. She's borne him a child and she's left them. And he can't care for the child and he's begging her to come back. And I like that contrast and in terms of the characters, and the sense of loss from this allegedly terrifying creature's point of view."

- Julie Fowlis, in The Making of "alterum" 

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A short comic inspired by a song from my favorite Scottish singer. And the best part? It fits the page. 😄

A few years ago, I drew the each-uisge in a separate post, and since I'm such a fan of Julie's music, I wanted to feature something from her songs for once. Now I can't speak Scottish for shit, but I had known from the get-go years ago that this song was already gonna be depressing. And when I found out what the lyrics meant, it only became much, much worse.

Here's where I got a reference on how to paint rain, if in case you too felt like painting rain as well.

And with that, I'm finally caught up on Digitober again! Hooray! 🙌 I just might finish this on time after all this year! 😄

Hotdog Appreciation

More food today. 🌭 This time I was inspired by seeing some paintings in GTA Online, particularly the ones you can use to decorate your Casino Penthouse with.

Here in the Philippines, there's a local chain of fast-food restaurants called Jollibee. They sell a hotdog on their menu called a Jolly Hotdog, which looks basically what I painted: brown sausage in a hotdog bun with ketchup and some kind of mayonnaise/relish, topped with grated bits of cheese. Not the healthiest thing to be eating, but it sure tastes hella good. 👍

This was originally supposed to be a painting about my ideal cinema foods, but it instead became just one about hotdogs.

Exotic Foods From the Swamplands

The Swamplands has its share of culinary delights. While not as sophisticated as what humans have, these are nonetheless considered local delicacies by swamp inhabitants.

Semi-Vectored Ruiner

Ack, late! Well, at least I somehow managed to catch up...

Anyway, for today I decided to try doing vectors. Almost-vectors. I was watching this video about someone drawing a vector of a car and thought, hey, I have a ton of cars in GTA Online that I'd love to try this on. Looked pretty simple too.

So I loaded up my game, pulled out my Ruiner from the garage, and took some screenies of it. I loaded the screenies in Photoshop and got to work. I thought then this wouldn't take me as long as it usually would; boy, I thought wrong. Instead of a mere three hours, this project got me for seven. 😑

Still, I found more stuff on Photoshop to fiddle around with, like the Magnetic Lasso Tool, which I had no clue of until I watched that hyperlinked video. Now I know how people manage to snap off stuff from other photos so cleanly... Really good to know. 😄

Aside from drawing the rims (which I decided not to actually do for the sake of meeting deadlines) on the tires, I think the trickiest thing on this piece was the text on the door. I couldn't figure out what the font used on the Ruiner was, so I decided to just trace the font myself. After that, I used the Select Tool to just create some really thin lines across the blue parts and erased the selections to get the same design nailed down.

Artsy Blep

(Edit: Changed the hair a bit.)

Time for something that isn't too fancy-lookin'!

I actually had something else planned for today, but I came to recognize that drawing cityscapes are still kinda too much for me to be doing in one day. That said, I shelved the idea for now and decided to do a quick doodle instead, so I stay on schedule for Digitober.

Honestly, I'm starting to feel the burn of doing so much art in one go... Most of my free time is just devoted to doing this art challenge now, and sometimes I just wanna go back to grinding in GTA Online. Maybe I just need a nap. Ten hours oughta do it. 😴

Anyway, I was thinking of slowly adding more to this piece so it's not just a simple doodle of me working on my tablet. Something to make this more colorful, turn it into some kind of collage. Maybe add more OCs in the back doing stuff...

This also makes me want to revamp my profile pic again...

Skritt and the Shiny Rods of Westwatch

In Guild Wars 2, my most favorite map is Auric Basin, which features a golden city named Tarir in the middle of a lush jungle valley. Sentient, magical gold constructs called the Exalted live there, and are tasked with protecting the crystal dragon Glint's legacy.

In the outskirts of the city are outposts, named based on which direction they are located: Northwatch, Westwatch, Southwatch, and Eastwatch, the latter turned to ruins after being overrun with Mordrem, minions of the Jungle Dragon. Events in the Auric Basin focus on the activation of these outposts and golden pylons scattered throughout the valley and recalling Enchanted Armors that can be used to defend Tarir.

My favorite event chain to run on this map is the one for Southwatch. It takes longer and is more daunting to do compared to the other outposts, but it's for the same reason that I love doing it, to begin with. However, in terms of the most enjoyable, I'd say the event chain for Westwatch is my favorite. I love the light-hearted interactions between the Exalted and the skritt (a race of rat people who love shiny things); it's a welcome sight when you think about how the entire Maguuma is just trying to kill everything not nailed down or on fire.

This is my first time actually drawing the Exalted, and there doesn't seem to be enough art of them anywhere... Can't be helped though. They're a bit of a pain to draw. 😅 I did, however, enjoy drawing the skritt.

Also, more watercolor-style painting. I was kinda rushing on the colors so I kinda half-assed it, but I like the messy look. And I dunno if it's just because I scanned the original drawing, but it also looks more like a piece made with colored pencils instead of actual watercolor.