Renn's Fingerpaint Art! 👉👈

I know I've been spamming the Museum forum a lot today; sorry folks! I just wanted to record my thoughts on this before I forget. Here is a before and after image of my Celeste Raffle artwork.

BEFORE:


AFTER:


Other than adding the adorable cat (decked out in Ghibli gear, so sweet <3), here are some changes I implemented:
  • Separated Celeste and the Cat to create more balance to the composition
  • Increased the Bloom (layer setting) on the shooting stars, to have more of a bright, hazy comet trail. Added some prismatic airbrushing, too.
  • Adjusted the foreground to be less curved, otherwise the others might need to fit the fish-eye perspective, and I ain't got the skills for that, lol.
  • Added shading and highlights to Celeste, based on the sky as the only light source (would've looked totally different with a glowing star fragment in between).
  • Adjusted the sky color balance to be less green (which may be a result of my blue-light filter settings changing how it looks on my computer).
Overall, I think the final piece is an improvement, though I know there are some tricks I don't know how to use, yet. Anyway, thank you for joining me on this art journey. 💕 🌟
 
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I have been working on these Animal Crossing stamps for the past week, and it is SO MUCH FUN! 🤩 If you are interested in a free stamp, lmk in the thread here: https://www.belltreeforums.com/threads/free-camp-tbt-2021-commemorative-stamp-shop.597145/

I have completely trashed my normal process while painting these-- there is no sketch or lineart. It has forced me to recognize shapes and when I just dive right in with the paint, there's no commitment to a sketch or structure; any mistakes are easily forgiven and I can just start over quickly. For someone as indecisive as me, this "line-less" style has been low commitment and high reward. And I'm not sure if it's the cheerleader effect, but they just look so dynamic and colorful as a group. <3 I'm so proud of them!
 
I think the Camp Bell Tree 2021 galleries are closing tonight, so I wanna memorialize my entries here:

This Ranchu Goldfish netted me the rainbow jellyfish:


Crystal Ballers cabin flag entry, inspired by The Starry Night:


Postcard front and back:




And the stamp that started the whole Commemorative Stamp Shop


And the watercolor Rajah Brooke's Birdwing butterfly that was way more work than I expected lol:
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What a great time!
 


I made myself a Halloween pfp, which was originally meant to serve as a sample model for my Halloween pop up shop. I am super bummed that I won’t be able to make these for everyone, but just gotta be careful with my health. 🤕

I particularly love the texture brushes I got to use on the rag doll of Ketchup, though the details get lost once the image shrinks for the profile. I totally forgot the leaves I had planned around the hyacinth flowers on my hat oops lol.

One of the many things I struggle with in my search for a personal style is the eyes. For once I'm pretty satisfied with the workflow and shape of these eyes, particularly with the pupils as just empty ovals; the filled pupils felt hollow and kind of like a dead fish before. I'm just now realizing there's a giant blob on the iris lineart, though. URGH.
 
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I made myself a Halloween pfp, which was originally meant to serve as a sample model for my Halloween pop up shop. I am super bummed that I won’t be able to make these for everyone, but just gotta be careful with my health. 🤕

I particularly love the texture brushes I got to use on the rag doll of Ketchup, though the details get lost once the image shrinks for the profile. I totally forgot the leaves I had planned around the hyacinth flowers on my hat oops lol.

One of the many things I struggle with in my search for a personal style is the eyes. For once I'm pretty satisfied with the workflow and shape of these eyes, particularly with the pupils as just empty ovals; the filled pupils felt hollow and kind of like a dead fish before. I'm just now realizing there's a giant blob on the iris lineart, though. URGH.

renn, this is so freakin’ gorgeous!!! i’ll literally never get over just how far you’ve come since i first saw one of your artworks. you always create such stunning pieces. 😭💜

i’m sorry to hear that you’ve injured your non-dominant arm and won’t be able to do your halloween popup shop; it sucks when stuff like that happens, but your health is absolutely much more important, and i hope you heal up quickly!

plus, i’m sure there are quite a few users on here who wouldn’t object to a halloween popup shop opening up any time of the year, even if it’s not spooky season. if christmas in july can exist, then so can halloween in like,, november or december or something LOL. 😉🎃
 


I made myself a Halloween pfp, which was originally meant to serve as a sample model for my Halloween pop up shop. I am super bummed that I won’t be able to make these for everyone, but just gotta be careful with my health. 🤕

I particularly love the texture brushes I got to use on the rag doll of Ketchup, though the details get lost once the image shrinks for the profile. I totally forgot the leaves I had planned around the hyacinth flowers on my hat oops lol.

One of the many things I struggle with in my search for a personal style is the eyes. For once I'm pretty satisfied with the workflow and shape of these eyes, particularly with the pupils as just empty ovals; the filled pupils felt hollow and kind of like a dead fish before. I'm just now realizing there's a giant blob on the iris lineart, though. URGH.

You continue to amaze me with your art work and style(s). 🤩💜 And the background is so gorgeous! I have been enjoying seeing your rep’s different outfits throughout these different seasons ☺️ along with Ketchup of course 🙂.

As Xara said, if you decided to try making the new shop later on regardless what season or month it is, I for one would definitely check it out :) (once I earn more tbt that is). I love your art so much ☺️. Your shop ideas are so cute and creative by themselves! 🙂

Sorry for bothering you again; just wanted to send u more well wishes and admire your new art work ☺️💜🍀. Looking at your art and art in general just really brings me lots of joy ☺️. Have a safe and speedy recovery. 💜
 
@kiwikenobi asked if I could draw horses. Despite living in Texas and galloping to school on my horse everyday (I kid, I’m a city gal), I have never really drawn a horse.
Following the advice of an artist I follow, I started to gather references for anatomy and drawing horses. The following documents my adventure…

1. From a tutorial:
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2. From a reference sheet:
2_Ref_Sheet_Horse.png

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3. From a photo:
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These creatures have so much muscle and crazy form to consider. How the heck do those spindly legs support that big barrel chest, much less a rider? Crazy to think these beauties were somehow domesticated by clumsy human dorks…

Anyway, back to my spree of Pokémon commissions. If someone dares to request a Rapidash, now you know what you might be gettin’.
 
Those horses look great! You told me I wouldn't want to pay for your horse drawings, but I might commission you to draw me a horse (or another horse-like creature) one of these days!
 
Surprise @mocha. ! For the art trade (I know you are busy with your queue, no rush) don’t panic!


speedpaint:

For this, I only used the default round brush and it took me a rather concentrated 47 minutes. I know I could've spent more time, but I don't understand hair shading and cross hatching well enough yet to know where to apply them. It was a good exercising for thinking about line weight and values overall. I'm still kinda just tracing where the outline would be; there will come a day when I stop closing all the lines. 😅
 
It has been almost a year since I started making art. My first time opening Procreate was in January, making art on the touchscreen with my pudgy, shaky fingers lol. It is thanks to the folks of this forum that I've had a place to explore this hobby and I'm so grateful for the experience. I hope you are all well and despite the difficulties of the year, that you also find something about yourself or your experience to celebrate.

Here is a summary image of some of my faves from each month. Thank you for the commissions and believing in me, friends.


Image features art for:
@xara
@*The Oakboro Mayor*
@SpaceTokki77
@Yanrimasart
@Aquilla
@tiffanistarr
@Firesquids
@Dunquixote
@Sheep Villager
@S.J. (dunno where the original pink shirt file went... lol)
@Corrie
@IonicKarma
If anybody else wants the template for making this summary image, credit goes to Mossygator with a link to the files here:
Just know that the fonts mess up once imported to the iPad or an Apple product that doesn't have the original fonts...
 
Happy New Year, friends!
I wanted to compile some lessons I learned on my art journey this year. You may or may not agree with these, but I'm happy to hear your thoughts if you want to chuck in your 2 cents.

1. Tracing to learn: I don't think tracing is a problem as long as you don't claim the art as your own to profit from it. I made this as a gift and my takeaways were that I need to learn how to blend (because I love the look of that painterly style), that I need more muscle mass on my male characters, and that there is so much more curvature and motion that can be added to make a composition interesting.
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2. Color picking directly from the reference is not always best. Don't be lazy, come on, think about it, Renn!

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3. Building a reference board is so incredibly useful!
Reference board vs. Final result:
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4. Fix things in the sketch stage; it is way way harder later on! (The images below are thumbnails, if you are interested in clicking them for the full size image).
Draft 1Draft 2Draft 3Draft 4LineartFinal Art

5. Experiment with the brushes if they aren't feeling right!

That's it for now. Looking forward to learning more and making more! ^_^
 
I have several art improvement goals for this year, one of which is Lineart. I am particularly proud of something I am working on right now:

I am just using the ink : technical pen in Procreate with the stabilization turned up for my shaky grandma hands. My dexterity is a little higher than last year when I started, but nowhere near my goal. Art is work, y’all. 🥰😮‍💨
 
Surprise! I actually did turn my TBT Camp 2021 stamps into stickers:
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Who wants some snail mail?! These aren’t for sale because the print quality is kinda junk but I am super proud anyway.

It (the Cricut machine) was such a nice gift from my sister; this is a whole new adventure!
 
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Couldn't sleep and woke up right before dawn today; most of the frost is gone from my yard, but a few errant snowflakes or crystals blew off of my roof and I just couldn't get the image out of my mind. It was such a pretty, tranquil moment.
Made myself a new pfp to commemorate. ^^


I am pouring my art efforts into painting (so focusing on shapes rather than lines) and color theory; I hope it shows!
The artist that I'm following the techniques for does mostly Genshin art; her videos are pretty relaxing:

Edit: here are the non-animated and color corrected/filtered versions:
 
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Couldn't sleep and woke up right before dawn today; most of the frost is gone from my yard, but a few errant snowflakes or crystals blew off of my roof and I just couldn't get the image out of my mind. It was such a pretty, tranquil moment.
Made myself a new pfp to commemorate. ^^


I am pouring my art efforts into painting (so focusing on shapes rather than lines) and color theory; I hope it shows!
The artist that I'm following the techniques for does mostly Genshin art; her videos are pretty relaxing:

Edit: here are the non-animated and color corrected/filtered versions:

i was literally just looking at your avatar in another thread and thinking, “damn, that’s so gorgeous” lol. your art is magnificent as always. 🤩💗
 
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