Ingrid and my current art style

I just want to talk a bit about what I have been doing in art; people have been seemingly super interested in my brushes and how I am achieving the kind of wild rendering I am doing! It’s actually… like it’s a lot of trial and error generally, but it’s not TOO much work, and I think it offers a good, really dramatic feel!

The first drawing was actually a ton more work tbh because the background itself was like five layers hahaha, BUT GENERALLY here is the sitch: I have been using a lot of photo reference, lately, and so I take photos of myself and then draw versions of them using the standard Clip Studio charcoal brush. I then take a regular brush and just fill in all the flats with consistent colors, but very NORMAL colors - like typically those you would see if there were no lighting whatsoever.

After that, I put a Multiply layer of a color on top of the flats layer and drop the opacity down to about half; the color of this layer will affect a lot, and so it is something I might fuck around with once I have done all the other steps. On top of THAT, I use the charcoal brush on a Glow Dodge layer for lighting effects and try to use a color that really POPS wrt what the multiply layer is adding. If I decide to change the color of the glow dodge layer, too, I just connect a layer on top of it and color hold it to whatever other color or colors I want. So yeah, I just end up fucking around with the layers until I decide that they are done and that the image POPS.

For instance, I didn’t think the third drawing here would be in the daylight, but I realized, 1) I almost never draw anyone in broad daylight, ESPECIALLY not night-owl Ingrid, and 2) it just created a vibe that I liked in the moment, especially once I put that nice, rich blue background behind it. A lot of my illustrations just kind of…happen during the process. I often have no idea what I am going to do with colors until I am actually DOING it, especially because, with illustrations, you are not telling a story in the same way you have to when coloring comics (this is why coloring comics is infinitely harder, and a lot MORE trial and error in terms of storytelling through color, at least in my experience).

So…yeah, that’s basically what I do! Sometimes I might do a bit more - like on that first drawing where I have more effects and color holds on the line work, or like on the third where I have layers ON TOP OF the line work to add a bit of extra PUNCH to the lighting - but generally, it is all pretty simple. I hope this has been illuminating to you all, and especially to the artists who follow me who are interested! I find that art is just… it’s about constantly playing! And having fun! Nothing is ever right; you just decide when something is done and you move on.

Thank you all so much for your continued patronage! Hope to have more exciting stuff for you soon! 😊😊😊