Witch Crys commission #2

I was commissioned for Crystal in a witch costume again! Thank you so much! If you haven’t seen it already, here’s the last Witch Crystal comm, which I enjoyed drawing very much.

With this piece, I started thinking a bit about my style again and doing some tinkering. The way I draw has been in a lot of flux over the past year, maybe because I started earning money for my art. I’ve started to really ask myself, “how can I make my art better?”

My conclusion is that I have to try new things to see what suits me. I have to try different brushes, new techniques, or studying some other artists that I like and incorporating those elements. Get out of my own head.

I’ve previously written about how much I love Endou Okito’s style, and I’ve been trying to figure out why it speaks to me. He makes everything feel so delicate, and maybe part of it is how detailed and precise he renders cloth. The many creases and folds makes it feel like the clothes his characters wear are substantial― that if you touched it, it would move and shift.

I’m not as good at it as I’d like to be, but I wanted to be more deliberate about the clothes in this drawing, and making sure things aren’t too smooth. I want them to scrunch up and crease and fold up.

I also looked at some WWII plane nose art, many of which convey motion really dynamically, and the idea of Crystal flying on a broom reminded me of it. I like that the wind catches Crystal’s skirt a little, but maybe I could have done a little bit more, like having her huge witch hat be a little more off kilter or the Great Ball candy basket swing more wildly.

Actually, the Mario Strikers art does a really great job at super dynamic, exciting sports action! While I don’t quite want to emulate that style, it does give me a lot to think about when I practice drawing motion.