Disclaimer: some elements cannot be displayed in the cellphone. To live the full experience, read in the computer.
πΎπ... πππ πππ πππππππ ππππ
πΎπ'ππ ππππππ ππππ πππ π ππ
πππ ππ πππ πππππ ππ πππ'π
ππ'ππ ππππππ ππππ πππ πππ!
...
β©
Hello there, cosmic creatures!
Anyone who had the chance to follow Steven universe since the beginning, and also the new wave of loyal fans, knows that this little, cute, catchy melody itβs only the start of a huuuge pile of feelings, and more importantly, existentialism.
Behind all of the beauty of the simplicity that cartoons bring, a lot of deep thoughtful plots are hidden, making cartoons enjoyable for all ages. But, this is nothing new! Since the creation of cartoons, adult jokes and deep topics were touched by those apparently silly-childish-completely innocent animations, in a way that only adults can understand and still allowing children to enjoy the βcolorfulβ part (interesting character designs, a simple scrip structure and the humor that mark this drawing/animation style.)
But, lately, cartoons have been including a game change in their histories. Something that makes them even more attractive for the audience, something that plays with all the nostalgia and gives more elements to the writers to make amazing epic scripts, giving the cartoon drawing artists more visual resources too: Manga/Anime innuendos.
α΅α΄Ή α΅αΆ°α΅ Β²β°ΒΉβΈ αΆα΅Κ³α΅α΅α΅αΆ° α΄Ία΅α΅Κ·α΅Κ³α΅.Λ
α΅α΅Λ’Λ α΅Κ°αΆ€Λ’ αΆ€Λ’ α΅αΆ° α΅α΅α΅Κ°α΅αΆ°α΅αΆ€αΆ α΅αΆ€αΆ αΆ Κ³α΅α΅ α΅Κ°α΅ Λ’Κ°α΅Κ·Λ
Steven Universe is a clear example of this. Created by Rebecca Sugar, with a clean soft animation and a sensitive message about love and acceptance, this cartoon took this idea to another level, and through its 5 seasons we can see the evolution of Steven and all of the characters, emotionally, mentally and sometimes physically. We get to see some power ups, good fights, emotional breakdowns and of course, savage plot twists. This drawing is born from the last one... one that changed completely everything.
In order to fulfill my fangirl emotions, Iβm making this tribute to what I think is one of the most complex, emotional and visually beautiful cartoon ever made. Let's begin this journey!
β¨ β β¨
I tend to make only b/w drawing, since the scanner likes to "swallow" the ligth colour effects I apply in the drawings. This time, I'm happy to say that all of the colours were saved from this (yayy!) so I can finally work with the materials I have in hand. (I still don't know how to do digital art, that's one of my goals this year. π³)
This drawing took a few days to be finished.
π΄ππππππππ:
β© A piece of paper.
β© Colored pencils.
β© Correction fluid.
β© A sharpener.
β© Markers (I used my trusty liners, 0.1 and 0.2 respectively)
β© lots of time and love. (the secret formula)
πͺπππππππππ πππππππππ ππππ π ππππππ:
| Pearl | Rose Quartz | Pink Diamond |
|---|---|---|
 |  |  |
| The main protagonist of this drawing. A devoted gem who is forced to keep a secret. Her pain its the main inspiration of this. | The aparent saviour of the earth. She is first showed as a kind, ethereal being, but as we see steven discovering things from her, this image gets a bit distorted. | One of the members of the gems supremacy, the Diamonds. Her truly indetity was the biggest plot twist that this cartoon had so far. |
α΄Ώα΅Λ’α΅Λ’/Λ’α΅α΅α΅α΅αΆ° α΅α΅α΅
π»ππ πππππππ:
β©α΄¬Λ‘Λ‘ α΅αΆ α΅Κ°α΅ α΅Κ³α΅αΆα΅Λ’Λ’ Κ·αΆ€Λ‘Λ‘ α΅α΅ α΅α΅α΅α΅αΆ€Λ‘α΅α΅ α΅α΅Κ·αΆ° α΅α΅Λ‘α΅Κ·Λ α΅Λ‘α΅αΆ°α΅ Κ·αΆ€α΅Κ° α΅α΅α΅Κ³ΚΈ α΅αΆ€αΆ αΆ€αΆ° α΅Κ°αΆ€Λ’ α΄³αΆ€αΆ Λ β©
| First, I made the sketch. Since this is a mix of elements, I needed it to be harmonic, so I tried to make all of the elements flow in the drawing with pearlβs face. (like a tattoo.) |  |
| Then, I did the line art with the markers, being careful to not put a line wrong. (It would bother the colored pencil process if so.) Anyway, I made some lines thicker for extra shading. |  |
| After having all the line art done, I gave some extra shading (this is a dramatic drawing, it deserved a dramatic shading). |  |
β©ΛΛΛᴬα΅α΅αΆ€αΆ°α΅ Λ’α΅α΅α΅ "Κ³α΅Λ’α΅ α΅Κ°α΅Κ³αΆ°Λ’" αΆα΅αΆ°α΅α΅α΅Κ³Λβ©
| The next step was giving it a proper shading with the screening technique I love so much. I used different types of screening for each part of the drawing. |  |
β© Shade, shade, shade.... β©
| I wanted to portray the Rose/Pink blending, so I used a βSmokeyβ effect subtly sliding the marker over the sheet. The colors will do the rest of the job. |  |
β©α΄΅α΅ Λ‘α΅α΅α΅Λ’ α΅α΅α΅α΅ Λ’α΅ αΆ α΅Κ³α΅β©
| After all the shades were done, was time to put some colors on. I started with pearl, as the main figure of the whole composition. |  |
| I continued with the coloring work, making the smoky effect of both gems. Then, I colored the gem tail and the earth. I used the liquid corrector to add sparkles to them. |  |
| I blended the colors with an eraser (it helps to light the bright zones) and darkened things with the black colored pencil. |  |
| The last step was adding some background, and the ultimate color effects (contrast). I used the old trick of sliding the finger over the color pencil residue (the one left by the sharpener). |  |
β©α΄΅ Λ‘α΅α΅α΅ α΅Κ°α΅ α΅αΆ αΆ α΅αΆα΅ αΆ€α΅ αΆΚ³α΅α΅α΅α΅Λ’Λ β©
After scanning, I considered to make a filtered version using an online photo editing tool. You can see the results down below:
| Just scanned, with a regular edition. | Fully edited. |
|---|---|
 |  |
πΉπππππππππ: (or feelings exposed in the drawing π’)
Pearl was forced to keep a secret that triggered a war between the gems. The pearls have to be devoted to their βmastersβ (Diamonds), but she also fell in love with hers (Pink Diamond), forcing her even more to stay quiet about the plan she had. When she had the chance to finally show Steven the secrets she kept, we were able to see the suffering she had to go through all this centuries. She lost mostly of her purpose as a pearl, so now sheβs dealing with a βfree lifeβ, getting to know herself better and helping Steven to find out more clues about his mother and the diamonds.
α΅α΄Ή α΅αΆ°α΅ Β²β°ΒΉβΈ αΆα΅Κ³α΅α΅α΅αΆ° α΄Ία΅α΅Κ·α΅Κ³α΅.Λ
β©α΄±α΅Κ³α΅Κ° Κ·α΅Λ’ α΄ΎαΆ€αΆ°α΅ α΅αΆ€α΅α΅α΅αΆ°α΅'Λ’ α΅αΆ°αΆ€α΅ α΅α΅ α΅Λ‘α΅αΆ°α΅α΅Λβ©
The two gems fusing in the back of pearl show pretty much the secret she had to keep, like the tails coming out from each one shutting her down. One of the tails is made of different type of gems, representing the gems war and Rose quartzβs alleys, and the other is made of little pink lianas decorated with flowers, showing her desire of staying in earth. (Also, the flowers are the same as the episode that inspired this.)
The color close to each gem profile in the background has their same color palettes. Also, the earth (the battlefield and the place where everything happened) is showed behind everything. Last but not least, in the center of the whole thing, the Rose Quartz gem, showing that everything happened because of her, shattering as the perception we had about her changed completely.
β©π¨ πππππππ π
πππππππ πππππππ
πππ ππππππ ππ ππππππππππ. β©
I recommend you to see this cartoon (whenever you want, no pressures). Every chapter lasts only 15 minutes; itβs not hard to keep track of it and has interesting characters. I leave here the full chapter in case you want to be severely spoiled, and if you already follow it, I invite you to share your feelings about it.
βUβnβiβcβoβrβnβiβaβ β2β0β1β8β.β β
α΅Λ‘Λ‘ Κ³αΆ€α΅α΅Κ°Λ’ Κ³α΅Λ’α΅Κ³α΅α΅α΅Λ
π«πππππππππ:
I do not own Steven Universe. All the reference images/Gifs in this post belong to Rebecca Sugar and Cartoon Network.