Best posts made by Adrian K

So here is my entry. I thought it would be fun to illustrate “Big” without actually illustrating anything that was big, just the suggestion is there.

Here is my first contribution to this contest. Sorry about the image size

Not a whole lot of time this month, so I went with a more simple approach than usual. More of a scribble than a painting. (Digital/Procreate)

This is titled “Lest ye Forget”. (Krampus leaves a parting gift)

Wasn’t sure I’d be able to participating this month due to how busy I’ve been, but yesterday this popped in my head. Hope you all like my “the Moment Before”.

“Love knows no boundaries”
I wasn’t planning on participating in this months prompt, but a side project I’ve been working on seems to fit just fine here. Hope you all like

So I decided to do Krampus this month, but after finishing I didn’t think this would qualify under the October contest as this is more of a parody. Still, this was fun to do and wanted to share it.

A bit closer on the overall look. Decided to keep the straight border with the winding branches.
@chrisaakins I tilted the bird in the second pic as per your suggestion, also did a version of him looking down to bring the line of sight back into the pic. Not sure which I’ll do yet, I’ll digest it for a bit. Also I do like the idea of adding another character, but given the story only has two characters, I think I’m limited on what I can do, maybe a small critter in the boarder.

Hi all, my name is Adrian, I'm new to SVS and have been really enjoying all that is offered here. So here's a little bit about me. I'm 38 (non professional) and up until now I've been working in strictly traditional media, mainly ink and watercolor although I'm familiar with multiple other mediums. I've alway resister digital art in the past, seeing it as a bit of a cheat (at least for myself), preferring the earthy tactile feel of traditional media. Well for several reasons, about a month ago I decided to make the move to digital art and so got set up on an iPad and procreate. now after a sharp learning curve, here's my first piece. its a take on ''Little red ridding hood''. Please any critiques or comments are very welcome. Thanks all.

I’ve been playing around with a part scribble, part crosshatch look. Trying to get a soft feel to it.

I hope everyone has had a great Christmas/holiday. Finished this about two weeks ago, had to wait before I could share this commission. “ Cats playing D&D”, one cat is missing an eye.

Pretty much done at this point, and I’m happy with how it turned out. Feel free to critique as you wish. Feedback is always useful.

I’ve got to say, working digital is a weird thing. Sometimes I feel like a kid in a candy store, there are so many directions, styles, colors, little cheats and workarounds you can do, it can get a little overwhelming. One thing I’ve found that I miss (surprisingly) are the limitations inherent in traditional media. Limitations force you to be creative, so that you can get the results you want or hope for, despite the added time or hassle it takes. And often those creative efforts lead to something unexpected, organic or new that you can use latter. But having too many options can lead to a creative traffic jam in your head, or at least in my head. Sometimes these little cheats are a little too good and the picture is left looking stale or just not quite right some how.

I’ve been working digitally for a little over a year now, and I’ve gotten comfortable working in several different styles, but I think I’ve finally found the one that sings to me the most (yay!!) To an extent I’ve limited my approach to a traditional one. Using brushes and colors that replicate a traditional style. And I’m avoiding those brushes and techniques that leave a more digital look.

I always get lost in the smallest details of a picture, and have no issue spending way too much time there. However, in this pic and the last couple I’ve done. I’ve kept the base sketch somewhat loose. As apposed to getting clean crisp edges with even and precise crosshatching, rather I chose a messy scribble that tried to capture the feel of organic shapes fallowed up by only a little cleanup afterwards. This was then followed by color under the sketch, and then white pencil over the sketch. So far I like the results.

I’ve always liked the look of white pencil on toned paper, it brings a sense of realism that graphite on white seems to be missing. I tried to keep that in mind as I worked on the areas with limited color. I particularly like how the bridge and water turned out.

Anyway, hope you all enjoyed this.

Alternate version.

I’ve been working on concept characters, colors, and consistency.

A little more completed. Thinking of keeping the background image in a limited pallet to avoid competition with the outside characters.

Here’s two pieces of my work. Happy to be measured amongst these fine artists

“The Call” (digital)

“Cats playing D&D” (traditional, ink and watercolor)

So here’s an update with the direction I’m going. I still have a bit more on this one in adding colors/characters, and playing with warm and cool tones.
@Kevin-Longueil thanks for the suggestion, it actually reminded me of one of my favorite artists Alan Lee, I had forgotten he does a lot of framing in his images. @Amber-Lynn-Benton thanks for the direction in Illustrators for me to follow, it’s helped.

I think I may have concluded this (design/color wise), a little more blending to do. I decided to go for a coffee or tea stained look, while dark, I kinda like for the mood. Also decided not to include any secondary characters as they all seemed to feel a bit shoehorned. All thoughts, opinions, critiques welcome.

Edit - lighter version

Congratulations @Laurel-Aylesworth and @BRADEN HALLETT. Great work . It’s always fun to see all the talented imagery here on the forum. Thank you @Lee-White.

Sometimes it’s good to let a picture breath a bit, then come to it with fresh eyes. Sometimes what is needed is quite obvious, other times not. Anyway, revisited Samwise and Shelob.

Need some help on this WIP. I’m looking for possible alternatives to the double border I’ve added here. I like adding borders because it gives me a way to break the 3rd wall to a degree. But I’m having trouble finding different examples of these, is there a name for this kind of border? All my searches bring up unrelated results like picture frames and matte board . Maybe a simple border would be better given the amount of detail I’ve added here, but I’d like to find some alternatives or at least some thoughts as to weather this works or not.