Today’s subject is cars. I pulled one reference from Insta, and the other from life. I really like drawing vehicles, they seem the most ‘puzzle-like’ to me of figuring out the proportions and details. I start with a 3D box, then start breaking it down into details. I’m still working on proportions. And one funny thing is that I get to the end of my sketch and realize that all three tires look different and don’t line up with each other! I often have to make adjustments there! I’ll have to look at how other artists handle windows and the ground (cast) shadow. Include it? or no? I’m not sure what I like. But I had fun with this one. It’s the easiest subject for me, so it makes it easier to get going.
Next time I will focus on the box proportions and wheels including the axle so the tires are actually attached to the car! LOL! I think if I practice it more, I might get better feel for how tires work. They are improving.
pencil and tombow fudenosuke brush pen on Strathmore sketch notebook, 5×8 inch
I just released my 10th episode of my Longplay series! This is a big milestone. I haven’t hit 10 consecutive episodes before. And especially in this short of time-frame. I have been doing a new episode each week.
I am absolutely loving this series! I took all the things I loved about filming and kept those, and removed the things I didn’t love.
Keeping: small cute builds, playing at my own pace, focus on building, not advancing, relaxed, quiet videos
Removing: massive builds that take a long time, complex filming and editing, recording with voice, trying to be in ‘performing mode’ on a group server
The result is a series that is fun and easy for me to film, which means no burnout and a sustainable effort. I can do an episode each week because of the smaller, simplified process. And I’m starting to find my new audience. I’ve seen a few unsubscribes, and then around an equal number of new subscribes, but my views and viewed-minutes is going up! People who are looking for relaxed Minecraft videos are finding me, so it’s great to see.
Now, I am still working on my big castle on Arcadia. It’s coming along really well now that I am not trying to record my voice. It’s just going to be a timelapse with music. So that’s still happening. And I do enjoy everyone on the Arcadia server. But it’s funny how most of the creators on small SMPs are constantly trying to do big builds to compete with the full-time YouTubers, and then continuously get burnt out.
I saw a video with Mogswamp and fWhip where they were talking about how each one of their videos takes a full-time 40+ hour per week effort because ‘that’s what the audience requires’. Massive builds with amazing details requiring hours of effort in materials collection and building. And they are correct that there’s a level of competition there that requires that level of effort. BUT, why not try to change that? Why not try to make smaller builds with more lore and design story behind it?
So, I guess that’s what I’m trying to do with this series. A quieter, simpler way to do Minecraft videos with smaller builds. And I’m having so much fun doing it!
One thing I want to bring back into my videos is my art. But I’m not sure how or where. I like the simple filming process that I have. It’s not easy to film traditional drawing and painting. At least it’s not easy for me. I would need better, more consistent lighting and I don’t want a big setup for that. That’s why I was thinking of digital art, but I don’t like my style there yet. So, I haven’t been doing art for my videos, which is fine for now. I might do some paintings and post them here. It’s something I can get back to eventually. For now, I’m just enjoying my simple Minecraft time! 🙂
This wasn’t planned at all. I just haven’t been doing much of any drawing or painting and was mad at myself, but also having a hard time grabbing supplies and starting something, so nothing was happening. I was watching a Shayda Campbell video on Storybook houses and decided to grab my watercolors and just start. This painting is a house built in Minecraft by Etat. My goal was to simplify! I feel like I get too caught up in details and trying to get everything right, instead I wanted to focus on loosening up and simplifying. So instead of going from pencil-liner-watercolor, this is pencil-watercolor-colored pencil. And I like how much looser the style is. There’s things I want to fix for sure, but I want to explore this style some more.
Next time I will keep my perspective simpler. The reference image shows the house with the horizon line in the middle, so looking down at the lower level and looking up at the roof. But I got confused by that and some of the angles are off. Instead, this is supposed to be simplified, so just look down at the house, it will be easier. Also give myself time to let things dry, I kept trying to move fast and keep up with the video, I needed to move slower.
Koi watercolors, Prismacolor pencils on Strathmore Mixed Media 500 sketchbook.
This took about 60 minutes to complete this image.
Reference for the house from this video by Etat in the first few seconds of the video:
Today’s subject is critters! I haven’t drawn a page of bunnies in a long time, so it was fun to try them again. And my skills have been getting better. One thing I think is helping is of course just pencil miles, but also using different materials and finding things that I like. The Fudenosuke brush pen feels like cheating it’s so good. The reality is that it’s more easily giving me line variety that I have trouble achieving with microns. It’s possible, but I have a harder time doing it, especially with this very rough paper. I can also do the same with colored pencil, but I need to sharpen my pencil to give me finer lines, that I can then go back and add depth. So, the brush pen is helping me feel better. I also looked at simple line sketches from artists that I like to have an idea of where to head with my sketches. I am very happy with these sketches, even though I’m seeing issues with proportions. But that’s something to work on. Note, I’m not adding shading or color or texture yet. Those will come. Just trying to establish a daily practice with simple pencil and ink sketches.
Next time I will do more proportion measuring to try to get better on the overall proportions. I also selected baby and adult animals, so it’s throwing some proportions off. But it’s ok, as long as I measure. But maybe stick to adult animals next time. Need to also watch some videos from JelArt to see what she uses for rough sketching.
Mechanical pencil and Tombow Fudenosuke brush pen on 5”x8” Strathmore sketch book
Today’s subject is cars. I really like the exercise of cars. They have a simplicity to them – they are boxy objects with similar structures. But they have a lot of little details that you can either ignore or try to fit in depending on the level of detail you are going for. They have great lessons in perspective and proportions. And wheels are so tricky! All my wheels are very wonky, but I’m getting better. I think as I get more familiar with the patterns and structures, I’ll be able to work faster. I was fairly slow on this, but wanted to get better proportions.
Next time I will focus on measuring proportions better. My first sketch was way out of proportion. But my next two were much better. I also want to work on tires. Maybe trying some out in Procreate so I can trace over them just to figure them out better.
Mechanical pencil and Micron fine liner on 5”x8” Strathmore sketch book
