by fiveducks

Hey! Been a while. Been a weird year.

I participated in Art Fight for the first time last month. Call it part of my “being less of a hermit” arc. Which is funny because I dropped Twitter and barely pay any attention to any other social media. (I did say less of a hermit.)

But enough about the downfall of the modern internet, I’m here to talk about Art Fight. Which also wound up having drama, funnily enough, though I didn’t pay much attention.

I know folks in Somnol have some mixed feelings on how this year went. I guess I do too, but I’ve got mixed feelings on everything all the time. The theme was vampires vs. werewolves, which– yeah, they inadvertently pitted the furries against everyone else.

I joined team vamps, natch. Drew this Berry:

Anyway, want some art highlights?

death from above!

Not my very first piece of the month, but it was fun to kick off the fight with a dynamic group pic. I was planning on doing a little sequel piece to cap it off, but I couldn’t find the time or the right mood. Still, got to experiment with a crunchy brush (actually the default CSP pen with anti-aliasing off—also I bought CSP more on that eventually, maybe). Super fond of it, I’m redrawing site graphics with this look.

rockstar

Deenosars’ Hale in demon form (because, y’know, I gotta draw a pink demon).

This is probably still my favourite piece of art fight. Snappy posing, a decent-looking prop, super flashy. I think I want my art to look like this all the time (certainly Wisp, just less polished and time consuming).

Once change I would make? More flashiness. I want to have to put an epilepsy warning on it.

some rapid-fire picks

going home

In terms of finished pieces, this was the most productive month I’ve had since last November (17 attacks, not too bad). I fiddled around with brushes and styles, tried some different kinds of characters, got some cute pieces back, and really loved the responses I got on these. All in all, it was a good fight.

It was also the most social interaction I’ve done online in a long time, which is strangely exhausting in its own special way. I’m also noticing some things about what I want out of my art, and what I hope for next year. I got mostly art of Berry, which was adorable and I loved! But I’m thinking I’ll hide my sonas to try and get that love spread around the rest of my lads next time.

And I will be there next year! Listen, I’ve got a bad habit of doing something once, getting really shaken up or discouraged, and nuking it. I don’t know, ego and shame are my main driving forces. I’d like to keep plugging away at it, because I know I’m capable of plugging away at things.

Although, towards back end of July, I found myself really itching to just draw Wisp lads again. I kind of missed looking at their faces? Wanted to apply some of what I tried with other people’s characters, and I dove right back into it as soon as I wrapped up my last handful of revenges. It felt good! It felt like coming home.

That’s all I’ve got right now. Ironically at the time I scheduled this I won’t be at home, I’ll be in Toronto, very likely filling up at a churrascaria. So, uh, I’m gonna get back to my meats.