![[PROCESS+BEHIND THE SCENES] The trials and tribulations of Astarion's head.](https://img5.samsuka.com/storage/11/yh/rt/c6f9d9-019e8cc1-c918-72f4-948f-c49ef711dc77.gif)
![[PROCESS+BEHIND THE SCENES] The trials and tribulations of Astarion's head.](https://img5.samsuka.com/storage/10/kt/fe/c6f9d9-019e8cc1-c925-7c87-8bbb-15be82247a8b.png)
![[PROCESS+BEHIND THE SCENES] The trials and tribulations of Astarion's head.](https://img5.samsuka.com/storage/12/yn/oa/c6f9d9-019e8cc1-c92b-7322-8ff0-1c6bbdced893.png)
![[PROCESS+BEHIND THE SCENES] The trials and tribulations of Astarion's head.](https://img5.samsuka.com/storage/11/nj/pe/c6f9d9-019e8cc1-c94f-7c3b-b119-4c7dcb9b6291.png)
![[PROCESS+BEHIND THE SCENES] The trials and tribulations of Astarion's head.](https://img5.samsuka.com/storage/1/qf/ff/c6f9d9-019e8cc1-c951-750a-ae9a-d21c185aada1.png)
![[PROCESS+BEHIND THE SCENES] The trials and tribulations of Astarion's head.](https://img5.samsuka.com/storage/7/ca/td/c6f9d9-019e8cc1-c960-7417-9f2f-a3a159f96190.png)
[PROCESS+BEHIND THE SCENES] The trials and tribulations of Astarion's head.
Added 2025-04-03 16:39:25 +0000 UTCBad news! Art never stops being in a pain in the ass.
This was supposed to be a very simple drawing, but every once in a while you make the mistake of trying to work through pain-killer haze (I had a little cable-management induced back injury, I'm all better now) and sleep deprivation and frustrate yourself into oblivion. I figured this was a teaching moment, LOL.
NOT ILLUSTRATED - how I actually tried rendering both of those scrapped sketches for at least a few hours before realizing I didn't like them π
I almost called it quits on this one, to be honest, but after my back got better and I had a good night's sleep, I fixed it very easily first thing in the morning π€¦ββοΈ
Comments
It's difficult to explain! Usually when something feels "flat" to me, the problem that I pinpoint is that I was trying to fit too much into the image unnecessarily - in this case, that being Astarion's whole face and smile when burying some of it into DU Drow's hair turned out being more visually effective.
MEANBOSS
2025-06-15 19:35:28 +0000 UTCJust curious, what do you mean by a pose feeling flat? Like, unnatural or stiff? What are the giveaways? (This might be a language thing for me). I'm curious because I genuinely don't see what you're seeing on "sleep deprived" sketch. Do you have advice on what makes poses less 'flat'? Sorry for such a nuianced comment, I've just signed up for your patreon to see your process/study what your art can teach me. No pressure to reply!!
jackiedrawsart
2025-06-15 13:16:01 +0000 UTCSeeing this progress really illustrates (ha!) on how important it is to come back to a drawing after staring at it for hours. Even just the slightest adjustment to a head placement greatly improves the overall emotion and theme for a piece. This certainly is a nice reminder that it's something I gotta do myself lol.
Surya Asura
2025-04-11 05:24:20 +0000 UTC
