Recently, Losian approached me for a new profile picture. I included a WIP of that piece while it was being rendered. It comes along with a question though. What is it that makes a profile picture effective, as opposed to a regular portrait? Same as with stickers; it's the tiny format that totally changes stuff. I have an attitude of observing everything that fares well. Maybe it's random to a degree, but there's always a lesson to be learnt.
The Theo portrait was begun in Webbypaint, which I have been enjoying a great deal.
The wolf caricature is intended as a gift for a friend, but it is very hard to find time for it. I've supplemented it with some other related attempts at recent gifts from last year, none of which have made it into the hands of the people they were intended for. (God, that green fox one is just *evil.* what happened?!)
Portraits are something I *badly* want to do, but still struggle with. While Junk Shots mostly require good rendering, which is not a bad exercise in itself, a portrait contains more individuality. They're an opportunity to pull out all the stops in terms of tool use too. Yet, moreso than with junk shots, the question is *what* those stops even are for me. One thing is certain; I do tend to spend too much time on things, working intuitively will help.
I recently attended a portfolio day at the art school that rejected me in 2016. It turns out that they were not looking for any digital art at all. Instead, they wanted traditional media. Begrudgingly, I have to admit that holding real tools has always been more comfortable and fun than a ditgital pen. When I still worked as Monosol, on sfw art alone, I often used paper. And barely anything that came out was any good, but it was real, physical. It was mostly the porn that made me hyperfocus on fundamentals of academic art, which I am still far from mastering, but the porn also added the pressure to work in ways that would be pleasant to a wider audience. There is now a growing a fear of having abandoned some kind of spark in a sea of projections, growing pebble-smooth. So, what better way to combat that fear than by splashing around on paper. Also, if you are interested in a portrait, hit me up, I'm down to work at a discount - working in Webbypaint and on Paper, originals can be shipped ^^