The Vessel & The Vespid Has A New Entry!

I wasn't expecting to finish Heart of the Peak as quickly as I did. But due to some headachey issues, I spent an entire afternoon and evening drawing instead of editing videos (the latter would not have helped). And surprise, surprise, I finished another big art piece as a result. Bright side!

With Tranquil Bench, I was drawing and coloring on paper much larger than I was used to at the time. It was also the first entry of a new series of pieces I didn't even know I would start, but thanks to encouragement and inspiration from my boyfriend (who loves Hollow Knight to death), I turned a simple suggestion of drawing mosscreeps (a.k.a. bush beans) in my style to a full-on scenic piece from a well-known and iconic area of the game: Greenpath. 

I received some feedback on my lines, lighting, and colors in particular for Tranquil Bench from a very knowledgeable and reliable source. TsaoShin may be a digital artist, but digital and traditional aren't as different as people think; just the resources you use are different! He suggested that lines in the forefront be thicker and lines in the back be fainter or nonexistent, and that I pay more attention to lighting and shading (particularly if there are multiple sources of light).

I took a lot of this to heart as I worked on the second piece, which I struggled to come up with a title for until I settled on Remembrance. After thinking that I wanted to work on another Hollow Knight piece, I asked my boyfriend what he thought I should draw next. He eventually suggested Deepnest, one of the darkest (color palette-wise) areas of the game. He initially could not decide between whatever Beast's Den was and a tram of Deepnest. After some consideration and asking a few others I went with creating something located in Queen Herrah's Den of Deepnest.

The colors on that were hard! Because Deepnest in general is a poorly-lit area, the general color scheme of anywhere in the area is quite dark, so it makes it tricky for a traditional artist trying to color some fanart of the area. That said, the colors and linework in particular were a fun challenge to overcome, especially since that's what was suggested I most work on from feedback for Tranquil Bench!

When I asked my boyfriend about the next area to work on, his first thought was a place called Crystal Peak. It wasn't terribly specific, because I discovered the Crystal Peak is a rather large area, but after only a little research I found something and came up with the idea. The initial outline was tricky to figure out for this one, mostly since it was a high angle and 3/4 view, and I essentially had to improvise the angle / dimensions / anatomical aspects of the large guardian creature on my own.

I initially was worried about the colors, and though I could have made many darker, I am rather pleased with the end result. This did not feel quite as ambitious as Remembrance but that's not a bad thing. The final result turned out great and I'm just glad and amazed I didn't make it too complex! This definitely could have ended up being a very complicated piece but not today thankfully! The colors in Heart of the Peak do give off a similar aura when compared to Remembrance, but I think it is different enough that I am satisfied.

My boyfriend already has a suggestion for the next entry in the series. Apparently he always thought the Hive was a cool location, but I still have yet to look into it. I may have some little ideas, since I don't know much about the Hive, but only time will tell!