Here is my assignment I am painting using Procreate, which is a process I have been trying to learn from a long time so, even though I know some tools exist, I am not used to using it. The blender tool is a blessing and a curse, it can make one focus on details too much, which is an issue I encounter as many. I was eyeballing colors mostly, but I did use the eyedroper a little when I really could not figure out one color. I tried eyeballing first, picking a color the closest I could and then comparing it to the color from the eyedropper to understand where was I wrong and why. I used whatever tools I felt would be useful and practical to use, such as the shape tools, different layers, clipping mask, etc.. For the first red ball, I was wondering "to what point am I able to make it the same ?" so I ignored time and just tried my best. It took me 7 hours, but now I know I can make it really close. In comparison, the second red ball (the one with visible wood under it) I did took me 2h20, which is still too long considering I tried to not overdo it, but I always end up overdoing it. I am acknowledging that issue and trying to work on it. Perfectionism has to be tamed to be able to create and to have fun while creating. I am happy with my assignment as I can see myself progressing so much and understanding a lot of things way better now. Thank you for the course, it helps a lot.

Phew boy! Those were challenging! I feel like I learned a lot about general to specific, how to prioritize putting down broad colors before honing in and getting more and more specific. It's definitely a skill you have to refine. Hand in hand with that is brush size, choosing the correct brush size painting really makes a difference. It was really hard to pick the right colors by eye, especially when there are so many complicated ones right next to each other, they don't look right unless they're in context. Towards the end of each of these, I stopped picking by eye, and used the eyedropper, but pretty often that meant that I realized that ALL my colors were off! I also had a lot of trouble with blending, trying to keep the shapes (especially of cast shadows) correct while getting the correctly soft edge! The blending tools, I feel like, are hard to get a feel on, I don't know what the Q-tip in Krita is going to do a lot of the time it feels like, I just put it on something, rub and hope for the best. I also learned that making a line art and tracing the original thing really helps. When I'm in colors mode, it's really difficult to understand relative angles and proportions sometimes, and making a lineart to follow, even if it's only temporarily to get everything laid up, allows me to focus much more on the painting itself with the frustration of "THE ANGLES AND PROPORTIONS ARE TOTALLY WRONG!" Even so, there were times when my impatience got the better of me. All in all, I learned about workflow and, I feel like, how to paint wisely. But down a couple base colors first, they don't have to be super accurate, but they should represent the end colors. Don't be afraid to do some sketching first. Use layers to your advantage. Be conscious of brush size. Move around the canvas. Get up and stretch often, take breaks. Stay hydrated. exercise patience. So. So much patience.

I tried this both digitally and traditionally. From observation first (image 2, 3 and 4) and then from memory only (image 1), I tried to make new poses. It was hard but fun !

Here is my bio mashup. I had so much fun doing it ! I am so glad there are imagination exercises as well, I really do need some. I tried and mixed a long maned wolf, a jerboa and a porcupine. I ended up using colors as well because I had ideas about the fur pattern, so I wanted to put it down on "paper"

No color picker except a bit for the red ball, because I was tired and wanted to be done. My main issue is knowing when to stop. I at first am having too much fun painting so I don’t want to stop, I put too much energy and focus then, and have nothing left to finish what I planned to do

A pencil and digital, one day apart. Have yet to watch the critique. The pencil was an improvement over digital to be sure, but it took a long time to work the proportions. Overcompensated a bit compared to yesterday - the face now too wide as opposed to too narrow. Used a blue pencil to sketch the proportions which helped massively. Fewer pencils were usable than expected to differentiate values. Used the full range at 6B, 2B, H, 4H, and white color, and even still the differentiation isn’t as intense as I’d like. the paper seemed to present its texture no matter how I used the tip. The lips and ear are surely the messiest. Struggled to get coherent shapes. The eyes are also looking at the viewer, rather than the bottom right.

Began by simplifying shapes, trying to capture the characteristic dark patch on the neck and frill. For better or worse, the “sphere with spikes” had a Sonic vibe to it. Not sure if the end result is as sketchy as the assignment called for. Also not quite sure I sold the head tilt perspective on the final piece. But the design forms a relatively pleasing shape. Also maybe it lacks some of the required exaggerated character?

I'll share how that project went for me. It was quite a journey to be fair. I made 2 attempts at this project, one before watching the demo and one after. The first one was quite messy. I chose to draw a black merle, and thought that I first had to study it, as I don't know what makes a merle a merle, what differentiates it from other birds. So I studied a lot of different pictures to understand that bird better. As you can see I lost some reference pictures, the process was quite messy.

Here is my attempt at this project. The hand felt good to draw. I do not think much about the penguin. I felt that I need to work on my ellipses more with the VR girl. I would love some critique. And I am going to watch the demo now !

Great exercise. It's hard to unlearn drawing habits. I love how Stan Prokopenko manage to explain something as simple as "lines". I'll try to remember to use CSI because I feel like it helped me a lot. As often I got lost in details on the skull, and I did it whith a low attention span so it's kinda detailed and messy as the same time. I'll know to not draw when tired next time !