Hey Hive!
We're back again with another Art Attack! If you're new to the series, this is where I share my drawings and the process behind them. A behind-the-scenes look at my artwork, if you will. This is not to say that I'm very good at art, or that I'm a professional in any way. In fact this is the opposite, and serves as a reminder to how I first started, and lets me track my progress too!
So if you missed the last couple of posts, I recently finished writing about one of my craziest art challenges ever - the Christmas Countdown Challenge! Which is where I draw pieces according to the song; The 12 Days of Christmas! And last week I shared on Christmas Day 2020 a super special piece for my girl friends with us as Overcooked characters cooking in my kitchen!
At the time I was pretty burnt out from doing so many art pieces but I still had one more special art present to do - for Sean! I was planning on drawing something for him for Christmas but then I got caught up with the Christmas countdown challenge and I actually ran out of time.. welp. So I made it a New Years' gift instead, and I actually started working on this piece on 26th Dec 2020! So I had just 6 days to complete it! Oh boy.
So the idea for this piece has been at the back of my mind but I never really had a clear idea of what I wanted. Since Sean has been into Dance Dance Revolution for some time, I wanted it to be DDR-centric with him playing on the machine front and center.
I knew the themes and items I wanted to include such as a neon arcade sign and a vapourwave background, but I was reluctant to draw an entire arcade since it would need so much time with so many details.
Source: aliexpress
Source: deviantart
I was initially intending on drawing him on the machine with just a black background and the arrows coming toward the screen kinda like the VR game, Beat Saber.
Source: Sassy Cleaners
But I found so many good reference images though, and I really loved the pastel arcade aesthetic! So eventually I sucked it up and got to work. Since this was the last piece I was ever going to do on Clip Studio Paint (as my trial was going to expire) and also the last art piece I was doing in 2020, I decided to go all out!
I tried to find as many arcade machine vectors I could get so I could just trace the machines since colouring would take a long time.
But here was my sketch:
I started with the neon arcade sign and it actually turned out pretty well! Then I started working on the background, and I tried my best to do an ombre sunset background.
For the floor I was picturing some lines on the floor similar to the vapourwave background. I couldn't draw a perfect circle on Clip Studio Paint but I tried my best.
I found some vectors for the crane machine to put at the front, and I wanted to draw a racing machine since there are lots of those in arcades but I couldn't find a suitable vector so I decided to trace a shooting machine from one of my reference images.
Source: Vecteezy
And eventually we end up with this sketch:
Then it was time for the big one - the DDR machine! I had to adjust the perspective a little bit since I wanted the dance pad and buttons to be seen.
I also found this nice vector of a retro arcade machine to trace too since I needed something more in the back.
Source: Free Vector
And eventually we end up with this outline!
Then it was time to colour! I wanted a retro look for the machines so I went with this cream colour which I thought was easy on the eyes.
I also wanted to add in the pastel arcade machine so I used that for the crane machine! And I drew We Bare Bears in the machine since we love them! And we actually did win a bear like Grizz from a crane machine!
Then I coloured in the arcade machines at the back and I really loved the colours! I wasn't sure what colour to use for the other machine but I thought the turqoise was nice.
And I ended up drawing an old Asteroids arcade machine on the right, copied from one of the reference images!
Then it was time to colour in Sean! I actually traced him from a picture I took some time ago while watching him play since it would be tough to get the position right. And I drew a cute Godzilla on the back of his sleeveless shirt since it would be pretty plain without a design on the back.
I tried my best with the shadows on Sean and from the machines before drawing in the dance pad!
I was actually surprised with how well this piece was progressing! Sometimes I wouldn't be happy with how it was coming out while I was drawing but this one was coming along pretty nicely!
Then it was time for probably the hardest part - the cabinet of the DDR machine! Since this one had a lot of details. And I also wanted to draw in the title screen.
Eventually we get this! It took quite a long time drawing in the "speakers" on the arcade machine and especially the cover art on top with the people dancing, but I think it looks pretty dang accurate! I did trace that though but it was hard to get it perfect especially the colours and shades.
I was actually torn between drawing the title screen or him playing a song specifically, Possession! Sean talks about this song a lot since it's pretty challenging.
And instead of drawing the normal 2 player screen, I wanted to try drawing the cover art of Possession which looks like this:
Source: Remywiki
So I basically traced it and we get this!
And this was the version with the title screen:
@duck.a.designs was my old instagram handle btw, but I've since changed it to @imtacocat.art to match it with my Twitch handle!
I think in total this piece probably took me around the full 6 days of work. I'm pretty sure I was working on it even on New Years' Eve! But just after midnight on 31 Dec 2020, I finally showed this piece to Sean! And he was so impressed and ecstatic! I had accidentally revealed my reference images to him during dinner one time so he was kinda expecting something, but I don't think he really expected this. And he immediately used it as his cover photo on Facebook and Telegram! 😍
Sean said I should post this on the DDR subreddit so I did! It's a pretty niche subreddit so I wasn't expecting it blow up or anything like that, but there were still quite a few likes and wholesome comments which is always lovely.
But most importantly, I'm glad Sean loved it so much! It's definitely one of the most elaborate pieces I've ever done for him and I loved it too! While it did take a crap ton of work, the colours, details and general aesthetic were awesome and well worth it. It's probably one of my favourite digital art pieces I've done to this day.
But that concludes all the art that I did in 2020! December 2020 was definitely when I really got into digital art and when I improved the most I think, with all the art presents I did and of course the Christmas Countdown Challenge. But it was definitely worth it and even though I was absolutely exhausted, I feel like I learned a lot. And it challenged me to be a more creative artist for sure!
Sorry for the long post but I hope you enjoyed it! if you got this far, thanks so so much for reading!!
To find out more about me, check out my intro post here!
