Experimenting with color & my first art book | SHW #16

Happy Sunday, friends!

This was a special week for me as it was my first week of self-employment! My last day at work was supposed to be this past Friday, but for whatever reason, my computer was locked up early, so I got paid to do nothing this week. What a dream! 😄

What I worked on this week

Given that I no longer had to go to work, I was able to get lots of drawing done. Here’s a sneak peek of what I worked on throughout the week~

I had a lot of fun making these, especially the Persona fan art. I’ve been really focused on portrait studies and haven’t made any fan art in a while. It was nice to apply everything I’ve been learning to something new. I’ve drawn Ann a few times before as well, so I was able to see how much my skills have improved and my style has changed over the years.

I recommend redrawing some of your old art and seeing how much you’ve improved over time. It’s a great motivating force 💪🏾

Experimenting with color

I’ve mentioned this a bit before, but I’ve been forgoing color in a lot of my drawings lately. After completing the line work, I’ll add grayscale values or stick to a very monochrome palette.

I really enjoy color though, so this week I took the time to think about why I’ve been shying from using it. My hypothesis is that highly saturated colors don’t work very well with my current style.

In my fan art of Ann, you’ll see I used a less saturated color palette, and I like how it turned out because you can still clearly see the line work. The rich, dynamic line art is my favorite part of my work. It’s the aspect of my drawings that I want to draw attention to, but dark, saturated colors distract from the line art.

I’m going to continue experimenting with color next week, and see if I can nail down a flow for choosing these soft color palettes.

My first art book!

I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned this in my newsletter yet, but I’ve been working on an art book!

Art books are my absolute favorite. This week I put together a shelf next to my desk just to hold the dozens of books I’ve had laying around. I have a variety of art books for specific artists as well as with concept art from video games and film.

Personally, I prefer to own an art book by a particular artist over prints. I love seeing a full collection of their work. It’s fun to compare the different pieces and see what remains consistent and what aspects of their work they experiment with. I also love to see the growth over time.

My love of art books inspired me to create my own from the art I made throughout 2022. I received a final proof and am waiting on the bulk order to come in. They’ll be on sale around the end of November or early December.

I’ll share the release in this newsletter first, so keep your eyes peeled, and subscribe if you’re not already to be notified!

That’s all I have to share this week. I hope you have a wonderful week and a very happy Thanksgiving if you celebrate 💙

Cheers,

Rachel