It has been a while since I started digital art,
Quite a while.
So here is a 'progress over the last two years' since I gained access to a drawing tablet.
:D
This is my first ever digitally illustrated piece- compared to my latest one-
So, a little bit different.
I do think my art took quite a jump around June 2022, when I took a break from my Steve comic strip, (for obvious reasons- it was about Technoblade's polar bear so...) and decided to try practicing gesture drawing to see if it helped my general anatomy knowledge. This is before,
And this next one is after.
The most obvious change here is that I switched to using thinner lines. There is a gap of about two months between these.
This was when I realised that you could improve art by practicing it (mind-blowing I know), and then started to do just that. Some other notable jumps forward would be when I discovered the airbrush-
Well, discovered a new method of shading with it anyway.
Then after that I had a few pictures that I actually still like, despite them being pretty old at this point, the one below is actually from September of 2022-
I mean, the hands are a bit iffy, but the rest looks alright. This was when I was going through a bit of a melanie martinez phase-
This next one was from January of 2023, I'd only just gotten into bungou stray dogs via some random memes on pinterest about this weird brown haired guy who had lots of bandages and who had this running gag with wanting to die- I actually looked him up at one point, but that didn't really explain much. The main one that I remember was 'life is short, so make it shorter, shorter than chuuya~'
Which at the time was just kind of confusing,
Then I watched the show and it made perfect sense.
I'd discovered ascendance of a bookworm in like, 2021, but I hadn't really been doing fanart of it since I was mainly doing dsmp related stuff and I kind of assumed nobody would know what on earth I was referencing. Turns out tumblr has a lot more bookworm fans than I orignally anticipated. Instagram still has no clue. I think maybe one person out of my followers on instagram knows what I'm on about-
Then we've got these two which I am still proud of btw-
The first one is from a dystopian/time travel fanfic called viridian.
The second one was after I learned about rim lighting. It was inspired by a song actually, 'crash' by noevaii. (and yes I found that song from a sad-ist animatic, it was cool) The character isn't anyone in particular. They're both from February 2023.
Then there's probably my most liked picture on instagram, (not tumblr, since tumblr knows about bsd and bookworm, but y'know. This was even sadder than I originally intended since the last half of my comic strip was finished AFTER everything happened)
Then the final conclusion of my Steve comic strip in May of 2023.
I don't think my art really changed much in between those, but eh.
Then I switched to doing a bunch of ascendance of a bookworm stuff to see what would happen and turns out there are way more fellow fans out there than I anticipated-
Then I guess my next breakthrough in tumblr popularity, (even if it might not have been a breakthrough in art skills necessarily) was when things went DOWN in the bsd fandom with chapter 109 and I did probably one of my most liked tumblr posts I have ever done-
If you want to see the rest of that, feel free to scroll down on my tumblr page, the original's like eight pages long-
This was before anyone knew what was going to happen btw.
I still think it's hilarious that I put in chuuya having contacts. My reasoning being, they're on a film set,
It was a pretty interesting exercise in shading in monochrome.
Then I started a 30 day art challenge in October that I didn't get past day six of, but it was still pretty fun. This is the best one of those-
After that I spent most of my time studying for the jlpt n5, so I didn't really do that much art related stuff,
This is one of the two non-commission related pictures that I finished over the two months after I kind of gave up on the art challenge. This one's from November,
Then I finally finished an art commission I'd been working on for the three months prior, as well as studying. Here is an example of the type of pictures I was doing for that,
Then I was occupied with christmas and birthday presents for my siblings, both my little sisters are into ascendance of a bookworm- (completely my fault I am proud to say) so I was able to do stuff related to that, here's a couple of snippets, but you guys don't get the colour version hehe
And one of them has also read the entire fma manga just like I have so-
Anyway, it's been quite a progression since I resolved to master digital art in 2021.
I reckon I've come a fair way since then. I mean. My art skills in general are way better than they used to be.
The last two or three years have been pretty interesting.
Also-
Just had to include this one, I'm gonna do a more detailed version but still-
I think it's funny so I'm posting it here. Even if it's not really related to art progression-
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I said this in a much longer post, but I wanted to dedicate a post to it... but a lot of y'all's hatred towards Luke is just racism. You're racist.
The show's refusal to address race and y'all's obsession with Nick being with June is having an effect on y'all. I mean, you were racist before ever seeing the show, probably, but the show's refusal to just say it outright isn't helping. Its touched on in the book, but not so much in the show or movie... I'll solely address the lack of understanding towards Luke's circumstances and just... leave the whole Osblaine thing alone.
In the book, the racism is just as clear as the misogny. JUST as clear. You barely see black people (and nonwhite people in general, but I'm talking about black people and the book actually touches specifically on black people as well) in this setting simply because in Gilead black people are not allowed unless their ovaries are promising. Black women didn't become handmaids. They were just killed or sent to the colonies, and if they were lucky maybe they'd get to be a Martha. Its silly and naive to think the gendered slavery or horrids stopped at just forcing women to be bastardized surrogates when there's room for so much more horrendous realities, whether it was shown on screen or not. This isn't something you had to read the book to get a grasp on. Its just... heavily implied either way. This isn't saying much because there were few, but most black women we've seen on screen at once is when we saw Unwomen...
Some of us have noticed the few times the show has hinted to how race is being handled and how it affects everything. To some of us, even without those hints, its obvious... The racism of it all is implied actually. Its so implied, it almost, doesn't need to said. However, to most of you? You're oblivious, so it should've been said. Over and over, actually.
Luke is doing the best he can in a system that was literally built to go against him. Even the current system, where the focus is mainly on women, is built against him despite the fact he's a man... he's still black. Imagine the fear of living as black man of America... Now take all the worst parts of America and put them into their own country... Now imagine the fear navigating that... Imagine what the level of fear does to you... Again, this isn't something you'd have to read the book to wrap your head around... There's a lot of pressure on Luke not only as a man, but as a black person and he's clearly just very very scared, as he should be.
With all things considered, he's doing great. He's been doing great this entire time. He didn't ruin anything this episode, nor has he ever. He did what needed to be done. He didn't need permission or extra context. He has never had the time or space to pause, consider context, and be gentle with his wrongdoers the way people like June or Serena has... This being a hard time for women, doesn't erase the reality of how black people are treated. In fact, with so much freedom to treat people however, it just heightens the racism towards black people. Again, not necessarily something you needed to read the book to grasp.
Either way, Serena is a literal war criminal and a serial rapist that stepped foot out of her allowed space. Whether he called or not, immigration was coming for her ass, and he did the right thing by speeding up the process.
After being kidnapped AGAIN... calling immigration and the police on the woman that helped enslave, imprison, and rape his wife was the only option... How do you see that and then still rage? What else was he supposed to do? What are your expectations of him? Not just in this episode or the last, but this whole time... What the hell was he supposed to do as a black man? Try to save her and stick out like a sore black thumb and end up getting himself and June killed?? He's not Nick. There was no helping her. The anger literally doesn't make sense and its getting to the point I have to assume its simply racism.
The inability to understand his circumstances... How harshly he's judged... yeah...
Luke was just as "useless" in the book and 1990's movie, yet its only when it comes to the show, where he's portrayed as a black man, do I see any commentary on how truly "worthless" he is. Its interesting.
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