HAND DRAWN AVATARS: @JACOBTOTHE
I drew this actually in December of 2024, but right after I uploaded the images and saved the draft, I went away to see family for the holidays and subsequently forgot to re-order the images and write it up...so this one kinda feels like old news to me, even though it's technically still fresh material.
I haven't been doing as much artwork lately, just kinda been caught up in all the other things...but going through these images and putting this together has reignited some excitement - plus I got a big ol' box of alcohol markers in December, and still haven't even used a single one!
As I have come to love doing, I blew up the original image and added a grid.
I then created the equivalent grid on my paper and put down that sweet red border...that's a nice touch, !
With the border in place, I began sketching in the linework. I made a big mistake on this one, the same mistake I made on 's...I assumed it to be simple at first, underestimating the complex geometry and the critical nature of getting the arcs and angles right. But don't worry, I erased things and redid them until they were pretty decent.
Once the linework was penciled in, I outlined using my sweet sweet Temu pen.
For the remaining coloration, I opted to use the only thing I had at the time that can produce those stark tones - the Sharpie oil paint pens. These do a really nice job of creating brilliant colors, but as we saw with my attempted remake of 's avatar, they can't cover up bad work. I'm still anxious to redo that one, but hope to first build my skills so the next one will come out a
little lot better.
Next I committed a typical Albus Lucimus faux pas of signing the work before completing it. Doesn't technically hurt the work, but I generally think of that as being bad form...even though I do it all the time 🤣
Here is one of my signature "cool angle" shots of the nearly finished composition.
...and here it is head-on.
Next, I colored in the final fill, and took another round of angled and straight out shots, strictly for entertainment purposes only.
This time, I erased the grids and used digital editing to correct the white balance to get as close as I could to the true colors as seen on paper IRL.
...and finally, I did the iconic side-by-side shot. I don't have too many color variations in Sharpie paint markers, so I was honestly impressed with how closely I was able to color match...due to no skill of my own, I assure you!
...and that, as they say, is that! Another one for the books!
—AZL HAND DRAWN AVATARS—
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