An older piece from 2018 to get my InkBlot gallery started. 💖 I'm still struggling with art block and making time to practice my skills, but getting better day by day! <3 * Tools: Photoshop CC 2018, Wacom Intuos 3 * Date: 4/18/18 --- Self-critique 🖊️✨ --- *What I enjoyed:* **Having an illustration with a background and actually finishing it.** I’m happy with how the feeling of depth/atmosphere worked out, especially with the clouds. In the past I’ve struggled with digital illustrations that have a background; I want to push myself to practice scenery/environments. **Creating a fancy costume!** I just love making up details and choosing bright colors. I actually dialed back on some of the detailing because I realized too much was taking away from the composition (where does the eye go first when everything starts feeling extremely detailed?) *What I’d like to work on:* **Saving time by making decisions early on.** OMG, so much wasted time on this one, redoing so many things – the costume, the hair, the background! I really learned the importance of not wasting brush strokes…the hard way. I painted over soooo many brush strokes. So. many. If I’d had a better plan (thumbnails/composition), had better lay-ins of paint (based on the planes of the forms), and had color palettes, I’m predicting this would have taken much less time than it did. **Save the details for last and work on the painting as a whole.** No, really. Patience makes the painting process so much easier. It is worth it to be patient. Mostly just to avoid rework, like mentioned above, but also because laying in the masses/shadow shapes will make the piece more realistic and impactful. There is something so disheartening about completely painting over a section you thought was “finished”, only to realize you were off on proportions/shading/whatever. Full self-critique (and more art) at my blog: https://delightedmuse.com/2018/04/self-critique-the-sorceress-of-eventide/

Finished this on my new iPad, which feels so different than using a Wacom Intuos! I kept making stray marks on the canvas every time I rotated it. And I missed having multiple keyboard short cuts while working. But it was so convenient to draw in bed or at the kitchen table. :D Still need to figure out how not to tense up too much when drawing digitally, because right now my shoulder is unhappy T_T [Image description: digital sketch of a redheaded, pale woman holding an ornate mask with wings. Below the drawing is the text: Meet the Artist. Delighted Muse, she/her. Likes: Hazelnut Lattes, Dungeons and Dragons, The X-Files, Camping. About: Web developer, born in the 80s, Midwesterner, Neopagan witch.]