#11 The long and cold sleep
Brace yourself, this one is long.
Hi! How are you? It's our first Christmas together. We probably should exchange wishes, shouldn't we? If we have to, I wish you joy and understanding. Joy of the amazing journey, and understanding that sometimes to make it even more amazing you need to stop feeling joyful for some time. You can't talk, so I'll wish me on your behalf, ok? "Citrus, I wish you unlimited supply of alcohol and everyday sleep till noon." Omg what a wishes, that's what exactly what I want, thank you!
On a more serious note, (I'll try to say it quickly, it's only the third interlude before the art, do not leave yet, please!!!), I thought that with time I'll start to like my own works... well... I do not. I know they are getting better, do not get me wrong. But it means I also notice more mistakes and what to create better things. It's just a quick note, the progress won't mean you will like your work more. Even less, I dare to say. It's normal, be prepared for it, you ARE getting better! Do not let this feeling stop you.
This piece is my most advanced one so far, first 128x128 one but also first animation (even if simple). I'll be using many tools here, like down-scaling (I have no idea if it's the right term, but I do not care, we already established that you have no voice). I do not think that it changes much in terms of learning. All of it I could do manually, it would just take a little longer.
Same as always, the silhouette and colors. My best advice is to start working on layers, I didn't do it on this one, but man, it would be helpful (I imagine).
That's where I "down-scaled" the fox. It didn't really change anything, just fixed my absolutely fucked up sens of the proportions. The same, I would, I achieve if I listened TO MY OWN ADVICE and properly mark the areas that I wanted to draw in at the start. So please: do that.
The damage has been more or less fixed. Idk why but I really like the leg. Don't ask me why... I just think it looks nice... really nice leg.
One of MANY changes of heart. It's supposed to be a little burrow, but only brown, it looked like the fox was laying in the puddle of mud.
The details, here I really felt my progress. It took me like no time to get it right. If something like this happens to you, cherish it, it is the legendary progress, not the amazing instant change of your skills. It's not a movie (if it is, it's a terrible one, they should have canceled this shit). Also, as you probably noticed my keen-eyed friend, I like to surround every thing I draw with black. But in this case the cave was black, so it didn't work. Lesson: you can use any much darker color to outline the shape, if the black does not work for any reason.
Here I did my very usual shading. Dark color on the outside and one middle line to smooth the transition. The shape of the cave also changed, it'll be a common trope. Yes, I also remembered to turn on the preview... 25 minutes into the drawing... Did I mention that I'm completely unorganized failure?
Now it looks, a little bit, like a cave. There were many "why not-s" during this sequence. Make some weird linear shading on the cave entrance? Why not? Surround it in some gray mass? Why not?
Usual, random bullshit go stuff. Something looks flat? Add random dots on it. It's not gonna make it worse. The two gray parts in the corners are supposed to make it look like a 3d mound. It does not work very well, but making it look more realistic is far beyond my skill. (There is a little plant, say hello to it!)
There is no point in showing the creation of every little being, so I'll summarize it here. The most important part are the shades. Really! These random pools of gray carry the whole work. The rest is just random brown shapes with a little "snow" on top. Making them is also incredibly easy, just make a darker (than a ground) shape roughly resembling the object, and it improves the feeling of it ten times! If you wonder, what is this panel on the bottom. It's my failed attempt to animate the snow, do not worry about it.
The whole animation thing is the art of making many really small changes. There is no much to show, because the layout will differ from program to program, and the rest you can see with your bare eye.
Here you have both finished png and the animation.
In the end, I want to thank you for coming here. It really means a lot, that you can go thought even the longer posts like this one. Hope my effort also helps you a little bit. Do not stop on your journey, I believe in you!
