Well, I woke up bright and EARLY to get to work on my drawing today. It was necessary, for sure. I made some quick progress on my tattoo design for the day, then moved on to my warmup and gestures. A little bit backwards, but I wanted to make sure I chipped away at the most important task for the day before I did anything else.

I’m trying to combine the cartoon and the movie into one illustration. I exaggerated some features, simplified the hair (to make it easier to tattoo AND to make it more graphic), and worked some more on inking the design.

I started using the tilted pencil brush in Krita today for my warmup. I’m really enjoying it, and I have my drawing glove back!
I don’t think the tilted pencil is anything I will use for final designs, though I DO enjoy the texture.

I’m happier with these gestures than any of the other recent gestures I’ve been producing. Daily practice really makes a difference. My issues lately seem to be with thinking too much about the gesture instead of trusting that I know some shorthand that will come out naturally as I’ve been studying and internalizing them.
I still have a lot to do with gestures, but I’m glad that they’re starting to simplify and become more dynamic.
And once I got to work, it was time to work!

I’m pretty happy with how the tattoo turned out, but not so much with how the photo of the tattoo turned out. The sandworm looks warped where it wraps around his quad, so that’s making it look…off. It looks pretty awesome in person, though!
That being said, the face could have used more love, but his skin was worked to the point where I couldn’t touch it without swelling, so I had to call it a day.
What went well?
- My family STILL doesn’t have COVID!
- Lots of art time, starting super-early.
What needs work?
- I need to spend more time planning large-scale tattoos.
What did I learn?
Deadlines are TIGHT and I don’t know if I can keep up the pace I’ve been working. I’m exhausted and don’t have enough time to plan big pieces like this one.